And we should keep going down that road whenever it happens.
I would at least say that Holden Caulfield, who you agreed with, blatantly did do that-- "Im 95% sure people hating on it are doing it either decided they werent going to like it going in (either consciously or unconsciously) or are doing it to be cool."-- That's painting a majority of (if not all) people with that broad brush, outright.
... and your comment, "It's definitely felt to me that a lot of people tried not to like it. And I'm sure they don't. But you can hate anything if you go in with a closed mind.", while less committed, still chooses to frame things in that light, and baseless-ly make that assumption about whatever percentage you happen to be referring to.
I'm not trying to attack you personally or anything, but just think about how you would take the equal opposite opinion-- it's a very underhanded, passive aggressive, "come at me bro" way to talk, intentional or not. Is there even any reason to think that more people disliked it under the false pretense of bull-headed pessimistic skepticism than people who liked it under the false pretense of irrational fanboy hype? Both seem equally likely to me/cancel each other out, and there's no way to really make a judgement call for one over the other, so choosing to highlight the side you disagree with seems pretty disingenuous, self-serving, and unfair. It's more or less a vague straw-man argument. Setting up the easier argument that nobody's actually making and knocking it down.
Well like I said. I just feel TFA gets a tougher rap for recycling elements than just about every film series out there.
The sensation I get is some people look for reasons not to like it. I understand it can go the other way. Fanboyism can put on the blinders to flaws. I can't pretend I'm not a huge star wars fan. I changed my name to Han Solo. But I do my best to analyze TFA critically. And yes it has its flaws. Overdependence on nostalgia is one of them, and recycling the X wing assault on a big round superweapon is another. But for me it doesn't bother me all that much. For all the familiarity, there's enough freshness that I enjoy. From a filmmaking standpoint it's a terrifically crafted movie in just about every respect other than the Rathtars and some forgettable John Williams work. The action is well done though the movie does suffer from a breakneck pace at times. I don't know. To me, it's a fun movie. It doesn't do much thats new but that seems to be the biggest concern.
You get to a point where people say it's an awful movie. And the reason is always the same: its too similar to ANH and ESB. It doesn't do enough thats new. The 7th movie in a film series is borrowing too much from the past and THAT makes it an awful movie? Come on.
We've had how many Bond movies now? 24? In what way are Bond movies thematically different? Bond does an action sequence to start the movie, the villain's plot slowly unravels as Bond is put on assignment, Bond goes to exotic locations, fights bad guys, investigates the matter at hand and uses his skills and gadgets to elaborately stop the villain. The difference being that the Bronsan and Moore eras brought the campiness factor and the Craig era films were Nolanized and expanded to delve into Bond's past and psyche. But for 24 films the same elements are present in just about every film to the point where quotes are recycled. No one complains. No one. They keep making them, people keep going to see them, and it's a well beloved series. Indiana Jones is another example, albeit a shorter run of films. Even within the Star Wars original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, elements are recycled. Pretty blatantly. But no one's biggest issue with the Prequels is the recycling of plot and dialogue elements. People don't like the prequels because they are poorly written, poorly acted, and the overabundance of CGI makes for an unnatural cinematic experience.
I just think the familiarity factor is vastly overblown and I do believe in some circles there are those that didn't want to like this movie and were looking for reasons to be disappointed. And I'm sure others just simply didn't enjoy it. But the former group certainly exists in the form of what I perceive to be a hivemind. How big that group is, I don't know for sure but I'd say it's substantial. Just my view. I don't think that every person is disingenuous in their dislike of TFA.
My dog in this race is that I do like this movie a fair bit. I've said many times, it's around A New Hope for me for my personal rankings. I don't think any Star Wars films are masterpieces. Not even Empire Strikes Back. TFA is no masterpiece but to me it's at worst a fun and entertaining movie that from a technical perspective is well made. All Star Wars has to be for me is entertaining. Episodes 4 5 6 and 7 are all entertaining to me. 3 to a very minor extent is watchable. 2 and 1 are insufferable to me at this point. And it's just that popular opinion goes on to define how a movie is perceived down the line. I see far too many people call it terrible with the recycled plot elements being the only major complaint they have. I already think the line between what people perceive too be good and absolute dog **** is paper thin these days to begin with, but I don't think TFA's flaws warrant a label of terrible.