Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review
I don't remember the first time I ever watched Star Wars.
But, the wars in the stars have been part of my life since I was a kid when I played with my brother's action figures that were stored in a giant Darth Vader head. Over the course of my fandom, I've dressed up like Chewbacca (with a poorly-made bandolier made out of aluminum foil and my guitar strap) for a high school pep rally. I've baked sugar cookies with my Star Wars cookie cutters. I've invested in kitchen tools to encourage me to cook more. I've constructed a Millennium Falcon out of LEGOS that is prominently displayed in my house and used LEGO figures to practice my Macro Photography skillz. I've designed my own droids. I've attended Force Friday. I've hung a Peter Mayhew autograph up in my home office. I make the Star Wars panels at Dragon Con a priority because it's my favorite track. I've accumulated a modest Yoda collection. And I've been training to run the Star Wars 5K (which is in a couple of weeks...EEEP!).
Rebecca and Star Wars: A Visual History
I write all of that and include all of these nerdy pictures of me because I want to make it clear that the negative points in this post should not be classified as "hate". I do not HATE Star Wars and to say such a thing would be a mispresentation of me. But, I do have both positive and negative thoughts about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Upfront, you should know that I LIKED the movie, but since I prefer to end on upbeat notes, I'll start with my dislikes.
Re-Hash of "A New Hope"
Star Wars fans, if we're honest with ourselves, we will recognize that much of "The Force Awakens" was directly copied from "A New Hope". There's really no way to sugar coat it and denying it would just make us look foolish...so let's face facts. The main hero of the story was orphaned on a desert planet, goes on adventures with the crew of the Millennium Falcon, visits a cantina (which to be fair, is also an element re-assigned in the prequels), sees her mentor figure die (who is murdered by the big bad) right in front of her, and is able to use The Force when needed. There are other similarities like introducing us to a sassy robot, a villain dressed in a mask and black cape, a Supreme Leader (AKA Emperor Palpatine), a new trio of heroes, daddy issues (though, that's a common thread throughout and I'm okay with that), and blowing up a Death Star (make it look like something else all you want, it was a Death Star). I'm unfraid to acknowledge that the criticism that "The Force Awakens" is too much like "A New Hope" is an accurate and fair one.
"A New Hope" is my third favorite in the original trilogy. That is to say, of course, that it's my least favorite of the original trilogy. However, that movie does a great job of introducing the characters, developing relationships, and taking us through the monomyth. Great heroic stories will contain some of the same elements (the call to action, the reluctant hero, the old sage, etc.), but Episode VII felt like it was following a template built not by Joseph Campbell, but by George Lucas.
Nostalgia Should Only Go So Far
Nostalgia will always play a part in any new Star Wars story. Our love for the new will always come from how much we loved the first three films. Even if you became a Star Wars fan during the prequels or because of "The Force Awakens", you are still effected by the spirit of "A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back", and "Return of the Jedi". Being able to love something again is a wonderful thing unless you are loving something because you love something else.
The more I thought about why I was bothered by the dependence on the original trilogy, I started to think back to when All My Children tried to live on after ABC cancelled it. When the first trailer dropped for the online version of AMC, I was over the moon! I would be able to revisit Pine Valley! Not only was Bianca Montgomery (my favorite character on the show) going to be there, but Eden Riegel (famed for her Emmy-winning portrayal) was coming back to play her! There were some new faces, but I was sure I was going to grow to like them! And hey, I thought they needed to focus on the new generation, anyway (which was the only thing you could really do if you had no Erica Kane)!
Click to view
Within a few days of watching the new episodes, I knew All My Children was in trouble. This new iteration didn't feel like Pine Valley. Bianca was there, but she didn't do much. And the new characters weren't all that interesting.
By the time, the online version of All My Children eventually imploded in on itself, I was wishing that it never came back in the first place. The nostalgia for what once was couldn't sustain what it had become. Nostalgia didn't do anything to hurt "The Force Awakens". In fact, it's probably why the movie earned over a BILLION dollars at the box office. It's why "Jurassic World" was such a huge hit. Conversely, it made a hurtful impact on "Man Of Steel" because some thought it didn't have enough nostalgia for the old days (which disregards evidence that the previous Superman movie was too reliant on it and not well-received).
Are we, as Star Wars fans, so in need of the world to like Star Wars movies again that we are willing to overlook how much "The Force Awakens" played on what we loved about the franchise? I'll admit to getting giddy at the reveal of the Millennium Falcon and seeing Luke, Leia, Han, Chewy, R2-D2, and C-3PO again, but I also want to launch into light speed for a brand new adventure.
Star Wars first succeeded in 1977 because it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. I am cautiously optimistic that moving forward, the Star Wars films will tread new ground. "The Force Awakens" left doors open to explore new facets of Star Wars so I'm hopeful that Episode VIII won't just be a carbon copy of "The Empire Strikes Back".
The Necessity (?) of Captain Phasma and Poe Dameron
In the marketing for "The Force Awakens", I was led to believe that new characters, Phasma and Poe, were going to be BIG DEALS. Instead, they turned out to be a case of false advertising. Poe might have gotten a little bit of screen time (though, I don't know that he was all that necessary?), but Phasma ended up being nothing more than Finn's overbearing boss. Maybe they'll play more valuable roles in the future, but as they related to "The Force Awakens", Phasma and Poe were disappointments for me.
C-3PO's Red Arm
Movie-Making is a business. The primary goal of a business is to make money. I absolutely understand the desire for synergy between products that help achieve that goal. But, come on, man! You totally change C-3PO's appearance, mention it but don't explain it in the context of the movie, and then offer "If you want to know what that's about, buy our comic!"?
SIGH.
I realize that nowadays, most big budget movies will have supplementary materials like novelizations and comic books, but they should ADD TO the movies, not FILL IN the movies.
"Man Of Steel" (which happens to be a favorite movie of mine) had a comic associated with it that answered a question that was sort of (?) asked in the movie. I write "sort of" because it's not even that big of a deal in the context of the movie's scene in which Clark discovered dead Kryptonians and their pods on the Scout Ship. The audience witnesses an empty pod that has been opened, but Clark doesn't wonder about it and it's never addressed again. For all we would ever know, maybe a Kryptonian is still alive somewhere on Earth or maybe that was just left open when the Kryptonians on the Scout Ship died? Bottomline, if you didn't read the prequel comic, it wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have taken anything away from the story.
The benefit of having read the [free, with a special Wal-Mart screening that fans could buy tickets for and one in which I did] issue is that we can now wonder if Kara Zor-El is alive on Earth and if she will ever meet up with her cousin. However, if she never does (and they choose to go a different way with the cinematic/extended universe), then it was just a fun "What If?" story written for fans and it didn't cost me a thing.
C-3PO's red arm might not be a big deal to others because after all, droids often need replacements and repairs. But to me, when you fundamentally change the appearance of a character and not explain why, that's a movie-making mistake. Especially, if you bring it up IN THE MOVIE. Why not just explain it with a small bit of dialogue? Or, here's a thought...why not just leave C-3PO the way he was? It's not like R2-D2 has a red leg.
The best comparison I can come up with is an alternation of Cyborg's robotic body. What would it be like if in one of the DC movies, he shows up with all silver robot parts and then in the next movie, without explanation, he has purple parts instead? Wouldn't you think that's weird?
Maybe C-3PO's red arm mystery will be a free comic, but I have no idea what the cost is because everywhere I've looked on The Internet at this point just says "It's coming!" and gives me no actual details on how to get it. The principal of the thing is that I shouldn't NEED to get a comic book in order for me to know something that happened in the movie. Maybe if they never even mentioned it in "The Force Awakens", we could have more fun guessing what happened and a little mystery would have been better than trying to sell me something.
The End of Han and Leia
One of things I adore from the original trilogy is Han and Leia's romance. It was fun to see them go from despising each other to making one of the most iconic declarations of love in cinematic history. "Return of the Jedi" left them in a great place. They had a happy ending.
It was nice to see Han and Leia together again, but was it worth it? They had, what...one scene together and then he goes off to die? In a scene SHE is not present for? And afterwards, we see no real reaction from her about it?
Harrison Ford got what he always wanted for Han Solo, but it was done in the sloppiest way possible when it comes to Han and Leia's relationship. It could be argued that Han's death shouldn't be about the romance and that it was nice that it was in relation to his son (that, oh by the way, he has offscreen with Leia, who by the way, had no screentime with her son because by the way, he was off doing things we never saw), but I felt really cheated by how they treated Han and Leia's love story at the end. If you're going to kill off half of an epic love story, give it some weight. Make me FEEL things. J.J. Abrams, you should probably know this stuff. LOST, that TV show you helped start, was GREAT at this.
Han and Leia deserved better. Full Stop.
Final Shots Turn Good Movies Into Great Movies
As a camera operator, I appreciate where a director and a director of photography place their lens. What will they choose as their last image for the audience to take home with them? What is the final statement going to say about this story?
To be clear, I am concerned with and will be addressing in this post, final SHOTS, not final ENDINGS because there is a difference.
I think Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors alive who understands that your final shot is THE MOST IMPORTANT shot in your movie. My favorite of his is from "Inception". It's the first time I've seen a movie in which I could audibly hear the audience gasp in astonishment because we didn't know for sure if the top had fallen or not. That last shot could make or break the main character's life. Was it a dream? Or, was it real? Or, did that even matter to Cobb anymore? Even today, I think it's a shot that will continue to be debated for as long as people watch movies. Never have I been so invested in a film's finality. Truly masterful.
Shout-outs to other great Nolan final shots: "The Dark Knight Rises", "Interstellar", and "The Prestige". They are more subdued, but they say so much about the story. A dark knight [literally] rose, a new civilization was ready for cultivation, and even though, I haven't rewatched it in a while, I believe this YouTuber's upload is correct and the last shot of "The Prestige" visually explains the magical illusion of that story.
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
"Gravity" (2013)
"The Breakfast Club" (1985)
"Planet of the Apes" (1968)
But, it's not just a Christopher Nolan thing. Other acclaimed films make it a point to end on a powerful and impactful image. Sometimes, they like to surprise. Sometimes, they revel in the plot twist. Sometimes, they end on destruction and sex with the intent on leaving you somewhat disturbed. Sometimes, they try to scare you. Sometimes, they leave characters' fates up in the air. Sometimes, they'll address their fate (in contemplative POV shots). Sometimes, they end on character moments. Sometimes, they're not very extravagant, but they become cultural icons. Sometimes, they are a literal (and I believe I am using "literal" correctly here) summation of a character's journey in a beautifully performed long take. And, sometimes, you might not even understand or even like them, but they stay with you.
While watching "The Force Awakens", my critical brain was working overtime. I kept thinking "I definitely do NOT like this", but also "Hey! I REALLY like that!". I knew that the final shot had the ability to bump up my rating of the movie a full letter grade (probably from a low C to a B). "Stick the landing, J.J.! You've made movies before! You know how this works!", I repeated to him in my head.
As Rey hiked up the cliff to discover a hooded figure, I imagined that the final image of this fun ride was going to be an old Jedi master removing his hood to reveal Luke Skywalker...cut to black.
But, it wasn't.
Much to my disappointment and frustration.
Instead, what Abrams gave us was an aerial pan from a helicopter. Gross.
I think I know what J.J. was thinking. This is the first in a series of movies with a larger story so a cliffhanger had to be in place. He wanted us to wonder what was going to happen with Rey, Luke, and the lightsaber. Was Luke going to take it? Was he going to tell her to keep it? Was he going to decide to train her as a Jedi? Would it be revealed that Rey is actually Luke's daughter? So many questions!
But, those kinds of questions, that will inevitably receive answers in the next installment, are in my opinion, not the kinds of questions we should be asking as we leave a movie theater. When we turn off our televisions until next week's episode? Maybe. But, we're making a movie here, J.J. Not a TV episode. (And if you're wondering if I'm just picking on J.J. Abrams, please check out my review of Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and read how I took him to task on this as well.)
To be fair, the original trilogy had some cliffhangers in "The Empire Strikes Back" that we would want settled. Questions like "What would happen to Han Solo?" and "What's Luke gonna do about Darth Vader being his father?" But, the difference to me is that even with the cliffhangers in the story, the MOVIE still ended in a self-contained way. Even if you never saw "Return of the Jedi", you would still know that this chapter of the story was complete. Maybe you would never know what the characters' ultimate endings would be, but for now, you would know that Luke got a new hand and the bad guy had been dealt with.
The original trilogy didn't have spectacular final images (and interestingly enough, I think Empire's is the weakest of the three), but the last shot of "A New Hope" has a comfy, triumphant feel and "Return of the Jedi" resolves to show all of our heroes enjoying their happy ending to this beloved fairy tale in space. Even if they're boring, stylistically, in my opinion, they're all better than the one in "The Force Awakens". The aerial pan came across as more of a transitional shot to me. It was begging for somewhere to go.
Wait, Rebecca...I thought you liked this movie?
With all of my fan-related gripes and filmmaking grievances out of the way, I'd like to write about the two aspects (that became quite the pair, but I'll discuss them separately) of "The Force Awakens" that helped the movie exceed my low expectations.
I LOVED BB-8! In all honesty, I kind of loved him already after I saw him strut his stuff at Star Wars Celebration (and realized he wasn't all CG like I thought!) so I tried to go into Episode VII with a clean slate on him, just in case he wasn't all he was hyped up to be. I'm happy to report that I found his first feature film appearance to be incredibly charming.
He starts out as Poe's droid, but throughout most of the adventure, he hangs out with Rey and I hope that continues because their dynamic was fun. Like R2-D2, BB-8 is a sassy pants, but also, a good asset in a time of need. Because of the way he could move, it seemed to me that BB-8 was able to express more emotions than R2-D2 and I liked that. Even though R2 is one of my faves in the Star Wars universe, I liked that BB-8 felt like a pet I wanted to bring home with me (I'd like to think Rey feels like this, too, and is partially, why she refuses to sell him). And I was glad to see the mixing of the old and the new with R2-D2 and BB-8 sharing the screen together.
When I first heard confirmation that a new set of Star Wars trilogy films were in development, I (like most Star Wars fans) thought about what I'd do if they were my movies. The top items on my wish list were that the movies focus more on a new generation of characters (who, ideally, would have some familial connections to the original trio of Luke, Leia, and Han) and that one of those main characters would be a female Jedi.
I know we live in a world where we shouldn't feel obligated to put "female" in front of Jedi, but years ago, they weren't prevalent in the general public. We had Ahsoka on Clone Wars and a few minor examples in the prequels, but none as the protagonist in one of the features.
The new main female character of Rey seems to be a mix of Luke Skywalker (she's an orphan in the desert who can use The Force), Han Solo (she pilots the Millennium Falcon with Chewy and can fix the ship), and Leia Organa (she's strong-willed and might be involved in the developing love story) and I think it works.
What made me happiest about "The Force Awakens" is that both of my wish list items were granted. We got the reveal that Kylo Ren was Han and Leia's son and Rey was given the opportunity to wield a lightsaber and use The Force. The fight sequence between them that happens towards the end was one of my favorite parts of the movie, mostly because it overcame a worry. When Rey got knocked out and Finn picked up the lightsaber to fight Kylo, I was becoming internally angry at J.J. Abrams. "Really? You're gonna have the chick knocked out while the dude gets to play Jedi hero?! REALLY?!" So when Rey joined the duel, I did a small fist pump to myself and said a "THANK YOU!" to Mr. Abrams.
I look forward to what happens in the future with Rey and Ben Kylo Ren. I have a feeling she will inevitably try to bring him back to the Light Side and even though that would be predictable and too close what we've seen before, if they give me a good story presented in a well-made movie, I could be up for it. I like my bad guys to be bad without too many sympathetic qualities, but with Star Wars, redemption is a major theme and one I don't mind being tied to the bad guys as long as the writing and performances are strong. Plus, Kylo Ren didn't work so well as a villain which is part of the character's problem. He's trying to be something he's not and he doesn't quite know what to do about it. Not only did he kill his father, Kylo Ren murdered the man Rey was starting to look up to. The Han Solo factor causes me to anticipate the unraveling of Rey and Kylo Ren's potentially intertwined destinies.
I have my issues with "The Force Awakens", but I think Rey and BB-8 are excellent additions to the Star Wars mythos and am looking forward to seeing more of them in Episode VIII!
Overall Thoughts
I'm a Star Wars fan. Always have been. Always will be. But, I'm also a movie fan. Always have been. Always will be.
I've judged "The Force Awakens" like I would any movie so I'm relieved that despite my high standards, there were still characters I fell in love with and things I thought it did well. I hope, in time, I will grow to love Finn (he was sweet with Rey and I thought his free will to step away from being a trooper was complicated and interesting, but he didn't grab me like Rey did) and Poe (gonna need more from him). I hope the intention to make them the new trio will pay off and I will have as much affection for them as I do Luke, Leia, and Han.
I worry that too much Star Wars might be a bad thing. Will comics, TV shows, and five movies in the next four years make Star Wars less special? I don't know, but right now, I'm willing to go along for the ride into the hyperspace of a galaxy far, far away.