7. Lack Of Strong Female Characters
While the original trilogy certainly had a strong female protagonist in Princess Leia - she was headstrong, whip-smart, self-assured, and cute to boot - the new trilogy suffered a real dearth in this department, especially with the arc of Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman). In the first entry, she is a relatively intelligent politician, cunning and even not too bad when it comes to handling a weapon, but after hooking up with Anakin, she's rendered inert, a mere piece of window-dressing, a plot device used to propel Anakin to the Dark Side. What's worse is that Lucas doesn't even give her the slightest morsel of common sense; it's clear as day to anyone - whether they've seen the original trilogy or simply exist within the Star Wars Universe - that Anakin is turning evil, and instead she ends up crying far too often, which feels wholly opposed to the steely demeanour that had been previously established. It's another instance of a wasted talent, because Natalie Portman - now an Oscar winner - has been a skilled thesp right from her early days in Luc Besson's Leon. Lucas, unfortunately, failed to harness this, and didn't manage to come up with any other admirable female characters in her stead. Hopefully a writer-director with a more firm grasp on writing women will step up for Episode 7.