REVIEW: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

    And here we are - my review of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and I'm having a hard time accepting the reality that I have actually seen the continuation to the Star Wars series on screen.  So, very important: this blog contains SPOILERS.  Do NOT read this blog if you haven't seen the movie.  I mean it.

It's like a rainbow...

   Still here?  OK, you've been warned...

     Directed by J.J. Abrams, and set thirty years after Return of the Jedi, Episode VII (TFA) takes us back to a galaxy far, far away, and somewhat different from the one we left.  The heroes of the Alliance formed a Republic, but the Empire remade itself as The First Order, and has built itself a superweapon far larger than the Death Star, which prompts the Republic to form a new army called the Resistance.  Luke Skywalker has gone missing, and General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) has sent her best pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) to retrieve part of a map to Luke's location.  Before being captured by the sinister First Order agent Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Poe entrusts his mission to his droid, BB-8, who in turn falls into the hands of scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley).  Rey, along with a recently liberated stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega), attempt to return BB-8 to the Resistance, with some help from some old friends - Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).  Before long, however, the First Order closes in on them, and things begin to look very dire for our heroes.  Andy Serkis plays the First Order's mysterious leader, Snoke, and the First Order's operations are overseen by the fanatical General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson) and Captain Phasma (Gwendolyn Christie).  Lupita Nyong'o plays a diminutive pirate-turned-saloonkeeper named Maz Kanata, and Max Von Sydow has a small role as an old ally of Leia's.  Anthony Daniels returns as C-3PO, and Kenny Baker 'consults' as R2-D2 - and yes, Mark Hamill does appear very briefly as Luke Skywalker.  Simon Pegg also has a small, unrecognizable part as junk dealer Unkar Plutt, and J.J. Abrams staple Greg Grunberg appears as an X-Wing pilot.

Bum, Bum Bum, Bum BA-Bum, Bum BA- Bum.....

   There is a LOT to take in here - there are several major new players introduced into the SW universe, and there's a lot of catching up to do with the characters we know and love.  Much of the intervening thirty years is left unexplored, but we get some tantalizing hints, and I'm assuming more explanation of what happened will be forthcoming in this new trilogy.  TFA concentrates primarily on the new characters, as it should, with Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren being central, and most of the older stalwarts functioning in supporting roles.  That said, Han, Chewie - and the Millennium Falcon - get some fantastic scenes.

BB-8, the true star of the movie...

   Overall, I enjoyed the movie immensely.  The cast is excellent and enthusiastic, and the script is punchy and smart.  It's enormously fun, and the visuals, score, costumes, plethora of new aliens, et cetera are all captivating....Rey poking about in the ruins of an Alliance/Empire battle amidst wreckage of iconic vehicles is incredible.   I am very happy and grateful that Abrams elected to go back to using a significant portion of practical machine effects - while there are CG characters, there are far more actors in costumes and tangible set pieces than anywhere in the prequels.  That's actually the first thing that struck me about this movie - it feels like a Star Wars film, much more so than Eps. I, II, and III.  It has the sensibilities of the classic trilogy, even with the new elements added in.  It certainly doesn't hurt that the bad guys are the Empire again, even if said Empire has a new name, and a far more ruthless, brutal approach than it did under Palpatine's reign. 

  

John Boyega as Finn and Daisy Ridley as Rey.  Welcome to the clubhouse, kids.

     I had two issues with the movie.  The first is that the framework of the movie is...well, familiar.  The MacGuffin in the hands of a hero shortly to be captured is given to a droid.  Droid escapes across a desert planet to be discovered by a plucky, seemingly dead-ended hero, who soon finds themselves aboard the Millennium Falcon with Han and Chewie trying to get the droid to the heroic army.  Meanwhile, the bad guys, led by a severe British commander and a red-bladed, black-masked Force warrior,  build a planet-destroying superweapon which they use with reckless abandon.  The heroes infiltrate the weapon, one heroic character is sacrificed to the lightsaber-wielding villain, and the heroic army flies some X-Wings in, exploits the superweapon's weakness, and blows the thing sky high.  All while the plucky hero comes to learn they are powerful in the Force and defies the villain, who escapes.

   Sound at all reminiscent of anything?

   Now, this isn't necessarily a problem - TFA absolutely works as a movie, but the derivative nature of the plot, while it may have been intended as something of an homage, just seems a little lazy.  It makes me wonder if they were hedging their bets by sticking with a time-honored set-up, but that doesn't make a ton of sense...this movie was going to be a monster hit regardless.  Simply by adhering more faithfully to the tone and spirit of the Original Trilogy than Lucas did in the prequels would have achieved that, so I have to scratch my head a bit about the retread.  Fortunately, there's a lot of new to balance the old, so the movie doesn't feel like a complete rehash.

You so much as mention the "metal bikini" and she'll knock you on your ass.

   The other issue I had was that some of the dialogue and characters was a bit too modern.  There were exchanges where it felt like it was clear I was watching actors in the year 2015, rather than in a more timeless frame.  This was particularly a problem with Finn, whose dialogue seemed to smack of a need to try and make the character funny and hip, but really overplayed it.  It's strange - even at one point in the film Han tells Finn to 'dial it down', so the direction with Finn must have been deliberate, but it's an odd choice and one which I hope gets fixed going forwards.

   And just as an aside, I knew going in it wouldn't be there, but I did kind of miss the 20th Century Fox opening fanfare a little.

  Now, there's one other issue I had with the film, but it's not a criticism of the movie, it's more a lament on the rather poignant feeling of depression I ended up with.  If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about (and if you haven't seen it, why are you reading this???)  Let's address the bantha in the room...

Still crazy after all these years...

   I just had to watch the death of Han Solo.  It's very well written and staged, and it's foreshadowed...it became fairly clear about halfway through the movie where it was going, to the point where even Han himself was aware of the fact that he was taking on Obi-Wan's role from the first movie.   The character got wonderful development throughout the movie, connecting with old and new characters, and a certain Corellian YT-1300 freighter, and was very much Han as we know him - just older.  His death was not cheap, and was full of emotional impact that is absolutely going to resonate in the future films.  From a narrative standpoint, it made complete sense, and will have consequences to the story and characters.  From a practical standpoint, it seems more clear how Abrams and co. were able to get Harrison Ford so on board with this movie, as he wouldn't have to commit to the whole trilogy.   And of course, the concept of families, fathers and sons and their intertwined fate runs right through the heart of the whole series.  Still, all that said...damn, that was hard to watch.  And poor Chewie...

BB-8 and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, also known as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Wedge

   On the brighter side of things, I love the new additions.  Kylo Ren is a nuanced, deeply disturbed character who is going to make for a fascinating villain in the next films.  BB-8 is pure gold; he's adorable, friendly, and fun, and oddly, reminded me of my cat.  Finn, despite his vernacular, is a solid character and I look forward to learning more about him; same goes for Poe Dameron.  Maz Kanata is an enigmatic character, and there's more story to be told for her, and I'm deeply curious about the First Order characters - who they are and how they came to be.

  Above all, though - I love Rey.  She's an engaging, fierce, intelligent young woman, and the movie turns the tropes on its head when we realize that there's been a fakeout going on in the marketing.  Abrams had indicated that much of the promotional material was focused on the first third of the movie, though we are led to believe that Finn will be the traditional hero of the piece.  He's not - Rey is no damsel in distress, and as we come to understand by the end of the movie, she's the hero, and main protagonist.  It's Rey who the heroes come to save, only to find she's saved herself, and it's Rey who throws down against Kylo Ren - and wins.  I love her, as a character, and I can't wait to see where her arc takes her next; the movie seems to imply that she is in fact Luke Skywalker's daughter, so there is absolutely a story - and a heritage - there.

This fight does NOT go the way you'd expect.

   The Original Trilogy had a peculiar talent for introducing elements and only giving you traces of information, preferring to tease the audience over the movies, but eventually revealing the whole story.  Just like Ep. IV and V, TFA raises a lot of questions, but doesn't provide a ton of answers.  My assumption is that they will form much of the plot of Episode VIII, but in the meantime, it will give the rest of us a good deal to talk about over the next year or two.    There's a lot I want to know, and seeing a steely Leia as a general, or a grizzled Luke looking quite like Obi-Wan Kenobi is enough to whet my appetite to learn what stories they can tell.  And for that matter, what became of Lando?  Is Boba Fett in fact, alive, as has been intimated in the new books?  Who was Rey's mother, if she is Luke's daughter?  Who is Constable Zuvio?  How did Kylo Ren fall?  And who is Snoke?  (I'll come back to that...)

   So all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed TFA.  It's a welcome return to the SW universe, devoid of Gungans, midichlorians, and petulance.  I'm not giving hope we might get a bad-ass Ewok Resistance fighter at some point, though.   This movie was well worth the weight, and it was a rewarding experience that makes me want to see it again - and makes me extremely eager to see the story move forward.  Hopefully the creative team will not make Episode VIII a retread of The Empire Strikes Back, but then again, if you're going to crib, do it off of the best.

   The Force will be with us.  Always.

FINAL RATING: 8 PAWS (OUT OF 10):

If you care to talk rankings, by the way, I'd put TFA as the third-best SW film, behind ESB and ANH, respectively.

And as P.S. regarding TFA, there will shortly be an addendum post about my theory about what's behind the First Order...