Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a fun space adventure that may rely too heavily upon the structure of the original trilogy, but it makes up for it with a few unique twists all its own and a phenomenally diverse cast of characters.
I wasn’t entirely sure exactly how they were going to pull
this one off. I knew I was probably going to like it, after all I am one of
those idiots that actually likes the prequel trilogy, but I wasn’t sure if it
was going to be good or not. As much as I do love the prequels, they are
incredibly flawed films and I was hoping that director J.J. Abrams, producer
Kathleen Kennedy, and writer Lawrence Kasdan would give us something that is unequivocally
good again. They’ve definitely done that, but with a few gripes holding it back
from true perfection.
Force Awakens follows a small group of people caught up in
the race between two factions to find a missing Luke Skywalker. Leading the
side of good you have Rey, a good-hearted young woman mysteriously left behind
by her family on a backwater desert planet who has the inexplicable ability to remain pale white under constant sunlight. Rey is aided in her quest by Finn, a stormtrooper of the First Order who abandons his post
after coming face-to-face with the horrors that the Empire-like cult inflicts upon
the galaxy. Meanwhile Poe Dameron, an ace pilot and agent of the Resistance fighting
back against the First Order, hunts for any information he can on Luke Skywalker along
with BB-8, his faithful droid companion designed to melt the hearts of audiences worldwide.
On the side of the dark there is Kylo Ren, a troubled and
emotionally unstable young warrior with a drive to live up to the legacy of the Sith and be just as cool as Darth Vader (not much luck there though); General Hux, the goose-stepping commander of the Starkiller superweapon (basically a bigger Death Star that can eat suns); Captain
Phasma, Finn’s former commanding officer who leads the stormtrooper regiments; and
Supreme Leader Snoke, the enigmatic ruler of the First Order and Kylo Ren’s
dark side master.
Right off the bat, there are many visual cues and story
elements taken wholesale from both A New
Hope and The Empire Strikes Back
that leaves the plot of The Force Awakens feeling recycled. “A group
of rebels and a vicious military with a ball-shaped superweapon search for a
droid with secret information that can tip the scales of war and a nobody from
a sand planet with connections to the Force gets caught up in the middle of it”
is the same basic plot for both A New Hope
and The Force Awakens. Apparently Abrams decided on the "isn't broke, don't fix it" strategy from the Star Trek reboot films would work here too. And it does, to be completely honest.
Where other people might be bothered by this, I’m
not. As much as some like to make fun of the concept, it has been said by
George Lucas himself that the central Star Wars saga is like poetry; it rhymes with itself.
Repetition occurs to show the cyclical nature of life, war, and the continuing shift
in perspective between the powers of good and evil. A lot of people aren’t
going to accept that, which is fine, but that is the nature of this fairy tale-esque
universe. So if you do see it as a flaw, it isn’t exactly a flaw of this one
chapter, but of the saga as a whole.
Something that is troubling about the structure of this movie is how it doesn’t
seem to stand on its own. A great deal
of the importance of the legacy characters and emotional attachment to the plot
feels like it is dependent upon the audience knowing the events of the original
trilogy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since everyone should be
familiar with the original trilogy of Star Wars films anyway, but I’m curious
how the new generation who don’t know about Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie
are going to feel about all the call-backs and references to events that they
don’t care about.
Something that everyone
will have a tough time caring about is the state of the galactic political
landscape. Out of fear of leaning too heavily on politics like prequels did,
Abrams and company have elected to leave the relationships between the main
factions vague and at times confusing. I understand wanting to avoid the comparison to the
prequels, but all there needed to be was one quick, clear explanation of why
everyone is fighting each other. Instead, we're left in the dark.
I did some digging and for the uninitiated, the former Rebel
Alliance of the original trilogy grew into the New Republic and they are in a
state of cold war against the First Order, content to let bygones to bygone as
long as no one breaks the treaty that was signed at the end of the war thirty
years prior. General Leia Organa, former princess and current full-time
military badass, was not okay with letting the remnant of the Empire getting
off easy and organized a Resistance to continue the fight. It isn’t that
complex and wouldn’t have taken any time at all to explain, instead the film
leaves viewers grasping for meaning. The Empire in A New Hope was also a little vague on overall philosophy and motivation, but you understood that they controlled the galaxy and the Rebels were fighting back against it. You don't really understand why the New Republic isn't directly involved in this war, what those planets were that got destroyed (none of them were the city planet Coruscant in case you were wondering, Coruscant is now the New York of the Star Wars galaxy and the planet that got destroyed was the New Republic's Washing ton D.C.), what their relationship is with the Resistance, and that's a huge problem.
Luckily, the new characters introduced here are more than
enough for emotional attachment to be formed. They all have fantastic chemistry with one another and add to the rich tapestry of the universe. Poe Dameron is a charming, cocky
scoundrel with a heart of gold that bleeds charisma, especially when he’s
paired up with Finn, whose personal battle with fear and loyalty makes him an
especially sympathetic figure.
Rey, as the new central character for this new trilogy, is a
likable protagonist with a lot going on for her. She does come across as being
a little too good at everything and canny with the Force at times, but she goes
through enough struggle and personal hardship so as to not make her victories
unearned. As a parallel to Luke, she knows just as little as he did, but she’s
also less whiny than he was during his desert days and her motivations are a
great deal more compelling. And with where she’s left at the end of this movie,
I’m more interested in her story than anyone else by far.
But perhaps the most immediately striking figure is Kylo
Ren. He is a tormented young man, with connections to both the dark side and
the light that makes him altogether fascinating. Kylo isn’t the stoic, brick
wall of power like Darth Vader or the Machiavellian schemer like Emperor Palpatine.
There is a battle of demons raging within him and he tries so hard to be like
his Sith heroes that it leads him further into the dark. There are times when
he does come across as being both emotionally and physically weak, but I’m glad
we’re getting to see a more vulnerable villain in Star Wars than we have in the
past.
Leia, Han, Chewie, R2-D2, C-3P0, and Luke all slip back into
the universe in proper form. Harrison Ford is especially lively and breathes familiar
life into Han Solo. His character is the most stand-out of all the returning cast
not just because he’s Han Solo and therefore would have been anyway, but
because his arc takes some surprising Shakespearean turns that further evolves the character past his drug smuggling origins into a truly mythic, tragic hero.
Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill return to their roles with a gravitas and
authority that comes with years of experience, despite their limited screen
time. Chewie and the droids manage to be more entertaining here than I can ever
remember them being. Chewbacca is especially lovable and he gets a few smaller
moments that reminds me why he’s so beloved in the first place.
In the end, this is a wonderful movie. It has its flaws,
including some fairly major ones, but none of them cripple the production. I
can’t wait to have the opportunity to watch this movie again and continue to experience the recaptured magic of a galaxy far, far away.
Score: A
