I never thought I would get into this series of movies but I really enjoyed The Force Awakens.
I think Poe is a bro and a total badass!
I watched the original trilogy and here is what I think.
A New Hope- I liked it.
The Empire Strikes Back- I loved it!
Return of the Jedi- Enjoyed the first half but the second half of the movie bored me.
Should I watch the prequels?
Perhaps you should watch the prequel trilogy
to appreciate the original trilogy for what it had that the others were missing.
The Force Awakens managed to recapture some of that genuine movie magic
and integrity of the characters, where the prequels fell flat with shallow development.
For example, if you compare Rey with Queen Padme Amidala, you can see a huge difference
in development and connection.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/03/29/watch-daisy-ridleys-star-wars-the-force-awakens-audition
I liked the character Rey who carried a sense of back story and context without the audience needing to know.
(When I was in a theatre production of the Crucible, the director had everyone in the cast, no matter how few lines our characters had, to write out our entire history and background, create our character with family and hobbies and what we did in life or didn't like, and a story of how we got there and where we go afterwards just like a real person, so we played our part in context with a bigger framework that gave us substance.)
This was missing with Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala who spouted off battle plans
without any sense of effort or connection. I thought the least Lucas could have done to give Portman's character some credibility as a 14 year old Queen was to show a scene of her alone, praying in ritual to the elders for insight, wisdom and courage, and invoking mystical beings to intervene and lend her strength. What 14 year old girl wouldn't cry or have moments of fear that kind of pressure was too much? In the movie Elizabeth they did a better job of showing this kind of inhuman pressure on someone! Just one scene of her weeping but gaining a sense of purpose and wisdom beyond her years from a "spiritual source" might have helped make that more believable that her vision and leadership "came from somewhere."
With Rey, the show of strain on her was believable and made her endearing.
There was no emotional depth or development to Portman's character at all, just a few scenes of her crying out to Anakin that were shallow. What a shame to waste a good actress using her pretty face and name as a box office draw, and spending all the budget on designing costumes she only wore a few minutes each while doing nothing with any dialogue or script.
