Star Wars: The Force Awakens

*********Spoillers*****************

Like Jurassic World, I went into Star Wars: The Force Awakens knowing that no matter how good this film was it could never live up to the original Star Wars films. The most beloved score in cinematic history, the greatest villain of all time: Vader, a film made in an era where character development and not special effects was the heart of film, and the nostalgic attachment many of us have for Star Wars are all elements that could not and would not be replicated. Lucas caught lightning in a bottle with his first Star Wars films and to expect JJ Abrams to do the same could only lead to disappointment. Yet unlike Jurassic World where I had enjoyed the film’s predecessors, Star Wars: The Force Awakens provided an opportunity for me and for all Star Wars fans: a chance at redemption for a series that more recently left a bad taste in our mouths. Like most Star Wars fans I accepted that it could not live up to the originals, but went in begging for it to be better than the prequels; the result was somewhere in the middle.

Characters/ Acting

When I first saw the cast list for Star Wars: The Force Awakens my initial reaction was confusion: “Daisey Ridley? John Boyega? Who are these people? Why are unknown actors the lead roles in something as big as Star Wars?” But then I considered the cast of the original Star Wars: Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford.; none of these people were known actors in 1977 and they turned out to be the perfect cast. Perhaps anonymity and a clean slate was the perfect recipe for the new Star Wars? It seems the casting director got it half right.

Rey (Daisey Ridley): Daisy Ridley’s performance turned out to be one of the highlights of the film for me and yet another example of how effective a strong female character can be on the big screen. From the start she appears self-reliant as she is able to scale the innards of fallen star destroyers for equipment which she sells for food to survive. Once I got past my initial surprise that she has a British accent, I was able to focus on her character and I liked what I found. Rey is an interesting character because of all the complex issues surrounding her: her desire to know and be reunited with her family, her admiration for Han Solo who she looks up to as a clearly capable and like-wise tough individual, her struggles to understand her relationship with the force while at the same time wishing she could reject her greater role. In many ways her character is far superior to that of Luke in A New Hope, who I have always found a bit bland and somewhat whiny, if only because she is playing the roles of Luke and Han Solo simultaneously. Ridley performance reveals a spectrum of toughness, compassion, and wit that has me looking forward to her next role.

Finn (John Boyega): Not all no-name actors are destined for greatness in this film, however, and the proof lies in John Boyega’s performance. I cannot blame him for some of the terrible lines he was given in the film such as “Hell of a pilot” which were not only cheesy but were often unnatural to the context of his situation, but I can fault him for his delivery of these lines as well as many others. His facial expressions, his speech, and sometimes his lack of engagement when other characters were acting left me disappointed in his performance. While going into the film I was interested in getting to know Finn’s character, by the end I was asking myself repeatedly “why is his character necessary to this film?” The more I consider Finn’s character the more I wonder whether the filmmakers themselves knew what to do with his character.

 Like Rey, Finn tries to serve many functions at once: he is the C-3PO comic relief, the love/friend interest of Rey, the side of Solo that doesn’t want to be a hero but just wants to run, and sometimes he is the hero or at least makes an effort to be. Unlike Rey’s character though which is strengthened by all these complex characteristics which mesh well together, Finn’s is pulled in many different directions that glaringly contradict. How is the audience supposed to reconcile the fact that sometimes he is the haphazard, comic relief often in need of rescue himself, such as when he is carried off by the creature in the ship and saved by Rey, while at other moments he is trying to be the hero and go into the Death Star to rescue Rey (only to actually contribute nothing to her rescue). While there are functions that he serves as far as advancing the plot, the melting-pot of personal traits given to Finn did not blend well and was not aided by the mediocre to sub-par acting skills of John Boyega.

Adam Driver (Kylo Ren): My favorite character of any story ever written or filmed is Darth Vader, so naturally the character I was most looking forward to seeing and learning about was Kylo Ren. For the first part of the movie I was very pleased; Ren had the cruelty, dark voice, and cool mask which made Darth Vader so menacing, as well as a unique new lightsaber and an interesting backstory to go with his character. There was a lot of potential for what could be done with his character not only in this film but the others to come. And then he took off his mask…and what was revealed was a weak, pathetic twenty-something-year-old who was a slave to his fear and having a tantrum. Vader was ripped away and replaced with Hayden Christensen. I cannot fairly assess Adam Driver’s performance as his face was given so little screen time, but the moments when his face was revealed I was wishing he would put the mask back on.

Story/ Writing

As much as I would rather not compare Star Wars: The Force Awakens to Star Wars: A New Hope, the fact that this film is in many ways a retelling of the first Star Wars film requires me to do so. From the droid which escapes an imperial force with data critical to the rebellion right up to the destruction of yet another Death Star, this film is littered with not just references but borrowed ideas from the original. Even the characters themselves are in many ways an obvious recycling of the past: Luke is Yoda the wise teacher who has gone into solitude and must be sought out for training, Han is Obi-Wan the wise, old guide who is there to provide direction for the characters until they become self-reliant at which point he is killed by Kylo-Ren who in turn takes the place of Vader the ambitious former Jedi struggling with the inner turmoil between good and evil. The parallels are not subtly introduced but are readily apparent from each character’s introduction. I am conflicted by how to react to Abram’s decision to make the film so much like A New Hope. 

On the one hand it makes the film very predictable. For example, once you realize that the film is essentially A New Hope you can begin searching for each character’s equivalent and plugging them into the storyline; for example, once it became clear to me that Han was Obi-Wan, in my mind his fate was sealed. But then again I am conflicted because this is Star Wars not Inception or The Usual Suspects; we don’t see Star Wars for its intricate plot. Return of the Jedi proved to us that we could see the same old story and still love it because it’s Star Wars (just so long as it actually had a plot, and acting, and characters we cared about, unlike 3 movies which are undeserving of the title of Star Wars…) Abram’s intent, much like the newer Star Trek movies, was to give us the nostalgia we have been craving so badly and in this he succeeded. So while some will bemoan that another Death Star was destroyed or that the plot was predictable, this is an instance where that’s fine by me. Because anyone reading this review is more than likely familiar with the plot of A New Hope already, and if you aren’t you should probably crawl out from under that rock you’ve been living under and go check it out, I will refrain from outlining the general plot of the story but shall instead focus on a few elements of the story and the plot which I found to be noteworthy.

Seeing “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away” and the credits begin to roll up was met with thunderous applause by audiences across the world and deservedly so. This famous introduction is iconic to Star Wars and should not be taken for granted.

The character of Maz felt like a missed opportunity to me. Some vehicle was needed to bridge the passing down of Luke’s lightsaber to Rey, but did it half to be a 1,000 year old female, orange knockoff of Yoda? The whole visit to her place seemed very forced and the appearance of the Cantina –like band members was one of the few instances where I had a problem with referring back to/recycling the original film. It was unnecessary and seemed to be nothing more than a throw in just to say it had been included.

The scene where C-3PO was reintroduced ahead of Leia was cleverly written and a good source of comic relief. It was also a subtle reference to the old one-sided relationship Han and C-3PO once had.

One thing I always expect to see when going into a new Star Wars film is a variety of cool new spacecraft so I was disappointed that this film had hardly any and none of consequence. Kylo Ren’s ship, which should have stood out as a display of his authority (much like Vader’s) was nothing more than a folding “V.”

My favorite scene in the film is the introduction of the Millennium Falcon and the subsequent chase scene with the TIE fighters. Really brought me back to the feel of the originals and was a very clever way to introduce the skill set of both main characters

BB-8 is awesome and the perfect example of how effective subtle humor can be (much like R2-D2 was) rather than the sometimes forced comedy of Finn

Why was the film so rushed? There were so many chase scenes or scenes where the characters were running to do different things that there was hardly a moment for them to stop and just talk. This is a significant point because it is during these moments where everything slows down that characters develop most. For example, consider the dialogue between Han and Luke at various moments in A New Hope: sitting and talking in Mos Eisley, sitting and talking in the ship, walking and talking to go find Leia; it was in all of these moments that these two developed from feelings of mutual dislike, to friendship and admiration for one another. Other than the various scenes where Rey was bending over a wounded Finn or vice versa, there was hardly any time for the characters to stop and interact. I’m surprised that Rey’s character was able to develop at all amid all the chaos of this film and not surprised that Finn’s character suffered for it.

What kind of a name is "Snope" for a villain? This is so much the opposite of intimidating that I wonder how it made its way into the film. Maybe Lucas snuck it in somehow...

Any scene where the X-wings and TIE fighters were engaged with each other was awesome to behold and maintained the ships of the old films with an exciting new twist: better CGI. That these scenes were rare in the film was a wise decision on Abram’s part as it allowed the audience to spend more time focusing on the character’s story without being overwhelmed by special effects.

A Star Wars movie where nobody lost a hand???? What is this madness?!

Conclusion:

Better than I could have ever hoped for and having seen it three times now I love it more each time. My few criticisms of the film should not take away from how much there is to love about this movie, but rather they should be viewed as reminders that we should not allow the present hype surrounding this film to blind us to its flaws. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a much needed improvement in the series from the sequels but still leaves some room for improvement. While much of the film paid homage to A New Hope, some of its story, characters, and ideas provide a potentially strong foundation going forward in the series. Hopefully Rian Johnson can execute on these ideas in the second film and not only make sure we never again suffer disappointment and disgust like that of the prequels, but also give us a whole new trilogy to fall in love with.

Grade:

WRAP: 85%

BONUS: Rey's origin

There are many fan theories as to which character Rey derives her Jedi powers from. The most common theories I've seen so far are:

1. She is Han and Leia's daughter

While this theory seems implausible to me since Han and Leia would have known they had a daughter, though it's possible their daughter was stolen and they presumed her dead, those who adhere to this theory argue that it would be perfect to have her revealed to be Kylo Ren's sister, much like Luke and Leia. This seems to be a stretch for me.


2. She is Luke's daughter

People who subscribe to this theory suspect that the reason Rey seems to have such a strong connection to the force is that she must be a Skywalker. Luke is a plausible age to be her father, if a little old.

While Luke is the obvious choice and seems to be the more likely candidate than Han/Leia, allow me to offer a different answer:

3. Obi-Wan Kenobi's Granddaughter

Why you ask? Three reasons:

     1. The voice that calls to her during her lightsaber vision is that of Kenobi not Luke, forming a connection between them that seems otherwise unexplainable
     2. She has a British accent. This may seem a small thing, but I don't think anything JJ Abrams put into this film was done unintentionally and selecting an actress with a British accent only makes sense if her relatives have a similar accent since she grew up basically alone afterwards.
     3. The most telling clue for me however is the lightsaber, namely that it's blue. When Luke constructs a lightsaber in Return of the Jedi it is clearly green and while he uses a blue lightsaber in A New Hope and Empire, the lightsaber he is using is that of his father which is ultimately destroyed in Empire by Vader. But what about Obi-Wan's lightsaber? His lightsaber in a New Hope and throughout the prequels is always blue and we last see his lightsaber being picked up by Vader after Vader kills him in A New Hope. That means it could easily have survived somehow and acquired by Maz who never says the lightsaber is Luke's only that how she got it is a long story. I believe that Luke still has his own green lightsaber, that this lightsaber is Obi-Wan's and is a clue about Rey's ancestry.