Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 10 Reasons The Haters Are Dead Wrong

Remember, hate leads to suffering.

The Force Awakens is a bona fide cultural phenomenon. It opened to widespread critical acclaim and smashed the box office to smithereens, and a month on shows no sign of slowing down. This is what every Star Wars fan wanted; a return to form for the venerable franchise after the lacklustre prequel trilogy. However, it hasn€™t all been sunshine and lollipops for the latest episode in the Star Wars saga. If the Internet has taught us one thing, it€™s that haters can€™t abide a huge success. Not long after its release, haters flooded The Force Awakens€™ IMDB page with hyperbolic one-star reviews claiming it was a travesty on the level of The Phantom Menace. Some online critics have taken potshots at The Force Awakens as well, knocking it for being nothing more than a photocopy of A New Hope. It seems the Internet backlash is preparing to go full swing. It's time stop the madness. Let€™s take aim at the haters€™ ten biggest criticisms and shoot them down one at a time.

10. There Is Too Much Fan Service

Some haters have bashed The Force Awakens for containing too much fan service. Over at Indiewire, Rodrigo Perez wrote a piece bemoaning The Force Awakens€™ incessant nods and references to prior films in the series. For him, the constant allusions to past Star Wars glories took him out of the movie, ruining the experiences at times. He even went so far as to claim that all the fan service boded ill for the future of cinematic storytelling. Critics like Rodrigo are viewing The Force Awakens through the myopic lens of hardcore fandom. Star Wars is a mega-franchise with wide appeal, but not everyone watching cares about the minutiae of Star Wars lore. It€™s true there are nods and references a-plenty in The Force Awakens, but they don€™t overwhelm the movie itself. If that were true, then general audiences would be alienated by constant fan service catering exclusively to fanboys. A lot of the references most likely flew over a good portion of peoples€™ heads while simultaneously delighting the hardcore fans. The Force Awakens stands at $1.7 billion at the worldwide box office, after all, and not all of that revenue is from obsessives. Besides, after the mediocre prequels fans deserve to be catered to.
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I'm YA writer who loves pulp and art house films. I admire films that try to do something interesting.