How Star Wars Episode VII Could Have Been Better

Mark Holland, Reporter
January 21, 2016

“Star Wars Episode VII” was a blockbuster success and a worthy continuation of the epic film saga. But it could definitely have been done better. Here are five ways that it could have been improved.

SPOILER ALERT! (If you have not seen the movie don’t read any further.)

  1. More Luke-   While Luke does make a brief appearance at the end of the film, he should have been in it more, the famed Jedi was part of what made Star Wars, Star Wars, and without him it’s just not that…well… Star Wars.
  2. A Not-So-Wimpy Kylo Ren- Yes, Kylo Ren was a pretty boss bad guy, his repeated act of slashing everything in sight with his light-saber was pretty cool, and a tad scary. However, it would have been better if he was not some wimpy college-aged dude whose family problems cause him to go dark, seriously? Then again, Darth Vader also started out as a wimpy college-aged dude whose family problems cause him to go dark, so….
  3. Not Being A Copy of Episode IV- This film had a sense of originality, and brought a lot of new characters and places to the franchise, but it also exhibited some of these Episode IV trends: Unexpected Hero Becomes A Jedi-  Luke/Rey;  Friend and Mentor Who is Killed by Bad Guy- Ben Kenobi/Han Solo; Masked Bad Guy-  Darth Vader/Kylo Ren; Planet Size, Planet Destroying Ship That Is Destroyed By A Tiny Ship-Death Star/Starkiller Base; Previously Selfish Character Who Is Motivated To Change By A Pretty Girl- Han Solo/Finn. While all these things made it a good film, it would have been better if there had been more originality.
  4. No CGI Snoke- When The original Star Wars premiered the CGI looked real and it was rarely used on characters. CGI Snoke felt very out of place in the film, almost like something out of the Hobbit. He looks like the Pale Orc! He did not look real at all, that’s not the Star Wars way.
  5. Not Revealing Kylo Ren’s Face- Going back to Kylo Ren being a wimp, he seemed much cooler when he had the mask on and the audience was left to wonder what he looked like. When he took the mask off, it was a bit underwhelming.

“Star Wars Episode VII” was not at all a bad movie, but just like every movie in history, it wasn’t perfect.