Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review
When the seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise came out last year I refrained from making a review of it on my previous blog. That was for two reasons, the first was because my opinion of the film was somewhat unfavorable, and the second was because no matter what you said about the film people were being attacked for either liking it, or not. In celebration of May the 4th be with you I rewatched The Force Awakens for the first time and was surprised with how okay with it I am now, and thus I decided to put my thoughts to blog, and review this monster.
Just like the first time I watched this movie, it's the beginning that I love so much. The introduction of Poe and Finn is so wonderful that I wouldn't have minded if the whole film was them becoming bros, and going on a space adventure. Both actors had so much charisma that I had a smile plastered across my face, and it wasn't because it's Star Wars. Not only that, but we're introduced to the next Storm Troopers, and big bad Kylo Ren. Both show a new level of brutality that we haven't seen in the Star Wars universe, and Kylo Ren shows us something new with the force. This tells the audience that this isn't your pappy's Star Wars.
Unfortunately, the film starts to lose me when Rey is introduced. I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't care about her. When Poe and Finn are introduced it's their charisma and goals that make us care for them. Right off the bat we know that Finn is a Storm Trooper that decided to switch sides, Poe is the best pilot in the resistance that holds the key to their biggest mission, but Rey? She has no parents, and her goal is to say she needs no help from people, and that she needs to go back home and wait for someone to recognize her. Questions pop up throughout the film, like who are her parents, who is she, and why can she do the things she can do, to which none are explained. The character Rey, as she is now, is nothing more than a plot device in my eyes that only gets on my nerves.
Old characters show up one by one, and just like every other fanboy out there I felt right at home when they appeared. Han was definitely showcased the most in this film, and as I watched Harrison Ford do some of the best acting he's done in years I thought to myself "Damn I want him to make another Indiana Jones movie soon." That's not really a plus, or negative, to this film. I just really love Indiana Jones. The reason I bring that up is because his passion, comedy, and acting all feel like his Indiana Jones/Han Solo years back in the 80s, and that's a big compliment.
One of the characters that I didn't exactly like the first time I watched this was Kylo Ren. Like most of this movie he just felt like a cheap knockoff to me, and I wasn't getting an actual villain. Upon rewatching this I noticed the potential of this character, and how intriguing he would be to follow as he discovers his path down the dark side. I definitely like him a lot more now, and I think Adam Driver did a really good job at conveying his inner turmoil through a mask. Although, I will admit that we saw too much of his real face in this film. I thought he had more presence, and character, when he was in the mask trying to live up to Darth Vader's legacy. There is one scene that I think he needs to take that mask off, but the other scenes would have been better if it had stayed on.
Like I mentioned previously, the my first impressions of this film were that it was a knockoff of A New Hope. It infuriated me that they actually introduced new characters, but didn't allow them to have their own story. They still had to have misadventures on a desert planet, they still had to join the resistance, they still had to destroy a Death Star by shooting at it, and so on and so on. Going back through this film with that knowledge, however, actually helped. I was able to ignore those parts and actually focus on stuff that was probably overshadowed. Like the people looking up at the reddening sky as they saw their planet explode. Or any time General Hux is on screen.
Similar to Rey, and most films starting a trilogy today, The Force Awakens felt more like a setup movie than a standalone one, and I feel that's where it suffered the most. There didn't seem like there was any payoff in the story lines that actually mattered, and it seems that episode eight will feel like the second act to The Force Awakens' first, and to me that takes away a lot for this film. There are great scenes, and characters, but I just didn't feel like I got what was promised to me. Finn had conflict within himself about the First Order, but by the end of the film he didn't really choose a place to stand. He wasn't against the First Order, but he also wasn't fully with the resistance. At the end of the day he just wanted to save a pretty girl he had a crush on. Rey popped up with mysteries surrounding her, as the film went on she showed knowledge in impossible acts that she states she didn't know she could do. At the end of the day nothing is answered about her, and we leave her as mysterious, maybe more, than when we met her. The only characters that you could say had a complete arc were Kylo Ren, even though I think he's still in the transition phase, and Poe Dameron.
Overall, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a good film that begins with an interesting new story in the Star Wars universe, but ultimately ends with the feeling that it was an apology to the fans. The few new elements that were in this film weren't fleshed out enough, and were mostly overshadowed by how similar this film tried to be with A New Hope. While I do understand what an homage is, there is something called 'too much of a good thing.' Because of this I never felt like these new characters were able to stretch their legs, and really this film is just all set up for whats to come in episode eight. There are brilliant shots and decisions in this movie, like the first ten minutes, but I do think it struggles with presenting what's new while showing what's familiar.
B
