Episode VII (spoilers)

[Aractus]

No what, the new film is simply a bland formalistic piece with nothing new.

Even people who criticise the prequels relentlessly don't say they didn't have a fresh story. And for their flaws, GL has successfully made some really great sequels - and this is something other directors/film-makers often fail at. He delivered Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and the two truly great sequels to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Although the prequels may not be great - they're certainly not as terrible as some films which were promoted and endorsed by the original creators. Like James Cameron's glowing endorsement of Terminator Genisys, or William Peter Blatty's endorsement of Exorcist: The Beginning.

GL delivered a clean three-act movie with Star Wars (ANH). Don't get me wrong, that's not the only successful way to structure a movie, but it's by far the most popular and most widely understood by screenwriters and critics. Now when I look at that film what I see is a very strong first act, and a great second act that expands the story. The weak spot in the film is the third act, which only around 20 minutes or so of screen time is devoted to.

Let's talk about just the first act. The first act is where you introduce the protagonist, you have to clearly identify their main strengths and weaknesses, and it has to conclude with the protagonist choosing to follow a clear mission (clear to the audience). In the case of Star Wars, the first act concludes when Luke accepts his mission to go to Alderan to deliver the R2 unit to the resistance, approximately 40 minutes into the film. Now the second act is generally used to expand the mission, and of course grow the character of the protagonist. Many truly great films use this act of the film as a roller-coaster ride for the audience, where the original mission seems to be completed, but gets stopped somehow and often replaced with a more difficult mission. If we look at Star Wars, we see this when they arrive at Alderan to discover that it's been destroyed. But then we also find out that the rebel base is not there, and the protagonist has a new task. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The first act is used to place the setting, introduce us to the protagonist, tell us who he or she is. Since we know where the first act ends, if we were to write this story we know we need to tell the audience what's going on, and tell them about the character of the protagonist in this part.

Here we find that Luke is a farm-boy who wants to go to the academy. So we know what his ambitions are. We also find out that the Empire is a military dictatorship much despised by the people, at least on Luke's planet, but of course most of them don't want to get involved. This is Luke's weakness. He wants to feel safe, he doesn't want to get involved in the seemingly futile fight against the Galactic Empire. Indeed when he's first offered the chance by Ben to get involved he chooses not to. But when he sees that the Empire has destroyed his family - who were innocent - in an attempt to recover the droids in his possession, he then chooses to follow Ben and help the resistance in their fight against the Empire.

Everything we need to know about the fantasy universe we find ourselves in is explained in the first act - in this case in the first 40 minutes. We learn about the Empire, the Resistance, the Jedi, and what a lightsaber is. We also learn that most people are not willing to fight against the Empire, even though they hate it. We also learn that the Empire has built a doomsday weapon designed to ensure they can't be overthrown, but that the Rebellion poses an active threat against Galactic Empire rule.

Let's talk about why The Phantom Menace was only B-grade. Again the first act of the movie identifies your protagonist, the setting, and what their mission is. The protagonist's decision is what drives the story. Curiously in the Phantom Menace, we have Anakin becoming the central character - but this isn't until the second act of the film. Therefore he can't be the protagonist. It also can't be the Queen, because her true identity is hidden from the viewer until the third act, and she doesn't make a decision to take a mission until the end of the second act of the film. It's also not Obi-Wan Kenobi, because he spends the whole movie doing what his master Qui-Gon tells him to do, spends lengthy periods of time away from the action (such as on Tatooine where he stays in the ship), and doesn't accept his own mission (to train Anakin) until well into the third act of the film. Therefore he can't be the protagonist either. That leaves us with only Qui-Gon Jinn who must be the film's protagonist. Next let's identify when he accepts his mission - that's easy.

His original mission in the film, when it begins, is to open negotiations with the Trade Federation to end their blockade at Naboo. When that fails, he and his apprentice escape to Naboo, where they first meet the Gungans, and then the Queen. And this is where he accepts his mission - to see the Queen safely to Coruscant. Yet this is only 24 minutes into the movie - so the first act is very short. Also, he completes this mission without a problem in the second act of the film. So now we've identified the structural problems with the film - he shouldn't have been able to complete his mission until the third act. The whole point of the three act structure is that this is when the original problem gets resolved.

Now you might say "Ah, but in Star Wars they also get to their destination in the second act" - but this is not so. Although they do arrive at Alderan, Luke's actual mission is to take the droids to the Rebellion, not to simply arrive at a location. But in Phantom Menace it's made abundantly clear that Qui-Gon's mission is simply to see the Queen of Naboo safely to Coruscant.

So this tells me how I have to structure the rest of the film. The second act is where we develop Qui-Gon's character, and where possible we have failed attempts to complete his mission, where new obstacles arise. But Phantom Menace doesn't do this - instead the mission is completed around 1h20m into the film. Furthermore there's little attempt made to develop Qui-Gon's character.

So you might say - well the mission isn't to take the Queen to Coruscant, the mission is to drive out the Trade Federation. But this can't be the case, because Qui-Gon's original mission at the start of the film is to present a diplomatic solution to do just that; thus since it's his pre-existing mission in the movie he can't make a decision later on to make that his mission. So to summarise, the main problems with the film are all to do with the story's structure, and with not developing the character of the film's protagonist. When you look at the film yourself you might see other flaws in it, but those are the main ones from which the more obvious flaws arise.

The third act of the film all revolves around the Queen's decision to return to Naboo and fight. But she makes this decision at the end of the 2nd act, thus it doesn't drive the story up to that point. Also, Qui-Gon's decision to free Anakin and train him also does not drive the film's story.

So then let's look back at when Qui-Gon makes the decision to accept his mission. In that scene he also appears to want to uncover the motivations of the Trade Federation. Ah so perhaps that decision is what drives the film then? Sadly - no. Although he does express interest in it, he doesn't make a clear decision to uncover the conspiracy at work. And furthermore they don't uncover the conspiracy, nor do they really attempt to for the remainder of the film. So for all intents and purposes, the third act represents a brand new mission for Qui-Gon. One which he argues against as a matter of fact, but as the film's protagonist it should be his endeavours to complete the mission he accepted in the conclusion of the first act that drives the movie.

Now, Episode VII suffers every possible problem imaginable for a bland formulaic movie. The protagonist's journey doesn't drive it. The protagonist makes their decision way too early in the film, and we're never shown what their weaknesses are (not to mention little effort is given to flesh out her character in the first act). Little to no effort is made to explain the film's setting to the audience, instead with the film-makers simply assuming that the audience is familiar with the subject matter. There is little-to-no character development of the protagonist  in the second act of the film. With a sequel such as this, the first act of the movie is where you should be introducing the audience to a new setting, which begins to expand the fantasy universe, and the second act should be used to expand it further still. Yet this never happens in TFA. We're not even introduced to the New Republic.

If what you want to see is a flashy big-budget movie with lots of special effects, and doesn't take any risks, then go right ahead and tell me this movie is amazing. But if you want a fresh story, with new ideas, and a well put together original plot - this movie delivers none of them. All it delivers is flashy action with a predictable plot that follows ANH as closely as possible.