While I do enjoy a majority of the Star Wars saga (key word: majority -- and that mainly includes Revenge of the Sith), I don't feel as though it would be fitting for me to review the entire saga seeing as my opinions are generally the same as everyone else's. In short, here's my best to worst ranking of the two trilogies preceding the one I'm about to review:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones
Now with that mini-Star Wars saga review out of the way (saving me countless hours of re-watching before Rogue One comes out in a few days), without further adieu, here's what I, as a long-time Star Wars fan, have to say about the most recent major installment of the critically-acclaimed, pop culture phenomenon of (mostly) cinematic mastery.
With the history and success that became of Star Wars back in the late 70s-early 80s, it was such a shame to see it all go downhill with the release of the Prequel Trilogy at the turn of the century. Aside from The Clone Wars spinoff movie and TV series, the saga had been on a 10-year hiatus for the reason that the creator himself, George Lucas, had no real plans to continue the saga after closing the gap of Darth Vader's sad excuse for a backstory. Then in 2012, enter: Disney; their acquisition of Lucasfilm allowed for the saga to continue without oversight from Lucas (apart from his story treatments, mind you). Upon this announcement, fans old and new were excited to once again see the saga return to the big screen in a way that no one would have expected would be so successful. With director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness), expectations were high and the anticipation for the new planned trilogy to outdo the poorly executed prequels reached the point of through the roof. And after all the hype spawned from this movie last year, did it ultimately succeed? In just about every way possible, it did indeed!
***SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*** (YOU'VE BEEN WARNED)
The story of the Star Wars kick starts back into action with the disappearance of Luke Skywalker (now an older, wiser Jedi master played briefly by Mark Hamill) leading the First Order -- the successor of the Galactic Empire -- and the Resistance lead by General Leia Organa (played by Carrie Fisher) to seek him out for different reasons. The First Order seeking a map that leads to his location so they may destroy him, Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) is tasked with keeping the only known existing piece of the map safe with newcomer droid BB-8. In a fate-defining entanglement, lone scavenger, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), from the desolate Jakku and rogue Stormtrooper FN-2187 (dubbed "Finn" by Poe, played by John Boyega) become tasked with guiding BB-8 safely back to the Resistance whilst on the run from the First Order and other goons throughout the galaxy. Along the way, many more fateful encounters take place with the Original Trilogy's Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (played by Peter Mayhew) returning and the newest baddie to grace the franchise known as "Kylo Ren" (played by Adam Driver), Han and Leia's son, seeking to finish everything his grandfather, Darth Vader, started. In this thrill ride to save the galaxy from a foreboding evil once more, many secrets will be touched upon as the Force awakens (hence the title).
Familiar as it sounds, on the surface this movie is basically A New Hope 2.0 in the sense that the main plot device is keeping a droid safe from danger as the bad guys hunt it down initially on a desert planet. Upon release, this had to be the most common complaint from certain audiences going in who expected to see something completely new to save the franchise from its recent shaming. Instead what most people saw was essentially the same film that kicked off this saga almost 40 years ago repackaged and modernized for a new generation. This is not exactly the case; while the main plot devices and progression may mirror the original Star Wars to an extent, it is not entirely the same exact film we got just re-skinned with new characters and environments. The way I see it is that it's the franchise's way of returning to form to demonstrate to audiences that it still knows its roots whilst also setting up new and exciting plot threads for future installments. For example, we get see little snippets of Rey's backstory the moment she has those traumatic flashbacks the moment she touches Luke's lightsaber (this was not so for Luke in the original mainly because the backstory hadn't been fully planned out back then). This scene alone has been subject to various theories regarding Rey's origins as well as one of those defining character building moments the movie has to offer.
One reason the movie does so well in my book is because it knows how to setup good characters as the original films did. With Rey, our protagonist, she's initially a lonely, reluctant scavenger who desires to stay on Jakku out of the belief that her family will return to her there one day (after she was left there as a child as seen in the aforementioned flashbacks). All this and she initially doesn't even realize she's capable of the Force until her circumstances become so dire in her entanglements with Kylo Ren toward the end. Then we have Finn, whom I deem the fun character of the film. He's noble enough to break away from the norm and is willing to go out of his way to help his friends even going as far as picking up Luke's lightsaber and performing awkwardly with it as he tries to figure it out. His initial resistance to kill during his first battle in the movie as well as him going rogue is also an example of an aspect that's completely different from the original, which is one reason I say they're not the same movie.
Another reason to note why they're not the same movie has to do mostly with the villain; Kylo Ren is a surprisingly well-written villain and is more than just simply Vader 2.0. Whereas Vader didn't really have much of an arc in the original film, acting as nothing but the big bad who hurts his own, interrogates the damsel, and kills the mentor, Kylo Ren's story is shown in full through this movie alone. The aforementioned awakening in the Force is a calling from the Light Side of the Force, which he is told to resist through the council of the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis). Seeking to finish what Vader started, Kylo Ren (his real name later revealed as Ben Solo) is ultimately pulled through to the Dark Side when he enacts perhaps the biggest twist of the movie that no one saw coming: ***MASSIVE SPOILER*** the death of Han Solo ***MASSIVE SPOILER END***. Despite his conversion, however, it is clear that, unlike Vader, he is rather prone to losing his temper and rather inexperienced as he struggles to outdo Rey in their climatic faceoff as everything collapses around them at Starkiller Base -- which, by the way, is basically the third incarnation of the Death Star from the originals.
With all these great characters pushing the franchise in the right direction, it is worth noting just how good the acting is this time around. Daisy Ridley as Rey takes female protagonist to a whole new level, making her anything but a Mary Sue with her moments of unexpected talent and overall endearing performance that ultimately delivers on many levels. With the many new additions to the cast, though, it's sometimes easy to overlook the fact that the original cast makes a return with a few of them (Luke and Leia for example) given barely anything major to do. Rather than go in-depth about how the film somewhat falls flat in that regard, I will instead give props to Harrison Ford in his untimely return to the role of Han Solo. His presence greatly enhanced the overall fun factor of the movie with his cocky personality an smug attitude that made the original cast that much better to the point where I'm glad they didn't kill him off as early as Return of the Jedi like they planned before. If anything, the whole idea was to bright Star Wars into a new light while also maintaining the original greatness and they did a fine job of bringing us back into the universe that way.
The film's main downside for me, though, is the lack of investment in establishing the environments. J.J. Abrams tends to configure his movies with various closeup shots and panning shots of people running to where there sometimes isn't even enough establishing shots to draw the viewer into the worlds we were given. On top of that, some of the worlds weren't explored that much or even given in-film names from what I recall. Sure, everyone remembers Jakku and Starkiller Base for their names and similarities to Tatooine and the Death Star respectively, but we never exactly get the names or much else of the "cantina world", "the Resistance planet/moon", or even "the planet where Rey finds Luke at the end". While all are still beautifully constructed environments as Star Wars planets should be, there just isn't enough getting to know them like in the original films (and, I will admit, even the prequels did this to different extents). Regardless, I'm still in love with the film and am not going to hold any of its flaws or similarities to the original against it.
Finally, since this is a Star Wars movie, it is inevitable to note just how great the action was put together. A majority of the film consists of the familiar flight sequences with, for example, the iconic Millennium Falcon outrunning TIE Fighters on Jakku as well as the X-Wing battles on the "cantina world" and Starkiller Base at the end. Both pay respectful homages to the originals with their swerving the Falcon through tight spaces and trench run sequences respectively that I can't help but feel I'm reliving the greatness of Star Wars, but in modern times where I'm around to see it firsthand. While there aren't near as many blaster battles as the previous installments, ultimately, what makes the cut for me is the lightsaber fighting; the moments in which the heroes and villains whip out their lightsabers (or lightsaber-esque weapons in the case of that one Stormtrooper) the action's more grounded than the prequels ever were. In this, there's no such thing as dancing around rooms and flipping around as lightsabers clash, rather, it's simply like people are beating each other with swords like would the kiddies with their lightsaber toys. This makes the climactic fight with Ren all the more appealing to watch and brings out my inner child throughout the experience.
For the most part, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a treat for Star Wars fans old and new alike. The storyline is familiar with fresh twists, the characters are more compelling and fun to watch, the acting and casting are superb, and, despite little investment in the locales, has some enjoyably familiar action set-pieces that draw you in. If anything, this is the kick start the franchise needed to get back up on its feet and, with the recent release of Rogue One, is now the reason we're getting more Disney-related Star Wars content to sink our teeth into with each year to come down the line. In scoring this film for what it is, I give it an A- and consider it the most noteworthy success of any cinema franchise in recent years.
Thanks y'all for reading and, as always, I will see you in the next review!
