Star Wars: The Force Awakens is probably a near perfect Star Wars film that regular fans and fanatics alike have been waiting for, but it suffers by slavishly sticking to the tropes from the original and doesn’t strive to go off script. After the disaster of the prequels, it seemed like the mandate here was “Don’t fuck it up by trying to deliver something new and fresh.” This isn’t a bad thing, but while watching it I kept thinking, why isn’t this THRILLING me? It’s very much a weirdly, self contained movie that only exists to slowly set things up for future movies. Again, not a bad thing.
The first Star Wars works because it was a self contained movie, with a clear, beginning, middle and end. The problem with Force Awakens is it at times it very much feels like it’s stalling because it knows it’s part of a larger story that’s going to take multiple movies to tell, so at times it moves at a leisurely pace but it never failed to hold my interest. Sure at times I wished they stopped talking and whipped out the blasters, but just when I felt that itch, it happened. Director JJ Abrams has always had a firm grasp of when to bring the noise and let things marinate for a minute.
Speaking of Abrams, I kept waiting for his signature lens flairs to start randomly popping up but they never do. He must have learned his lesson from Star Trek: Into Darkness where the overused gimmick almost ruined the movie. The Force Awakens feels like a movie made by committee, there were very little of Abrams in this. It actually felt more Lucas like than Abrams. Don’t get me wrong, I did love this movie, but at no point did feel like I was watching some new thing. From a thematic and story telling standpoint, all the nods and winks to the original made it feel strangely like a remake. There was almost no moment in the film where I felt genuinely surprised or awed by.
Again, this is a double edged sword. As someone who was never a huge fan of the movies, but loved the animated series, books and graphic novels, I loved seeing a continuation of the original story. I’ve never been a huge fan of any prequel. Do I really need to see or know how someone became a villain (the hero and ‘villain’ are almost always former besties). So given this is 3 movies it felt silly and at the same time “natural” that they didn’t really delve into dark lord Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) backstory other than revealing a major story point that’s going to have a far ranging impact in future installments, nor tell us much of anything about Rey (Daisy Ridley).
At over 2 hours the film certainly had the time to do so. Instead of dropping annoyingly coy hints. Anyone who has read any of the Dark Jedi, The Thrawn Trilogy, etc. it’s painfully obvious who these two are and I can almost figure out what’s going to happen in the next two books. I really hope we get to see a Star Crusher and meet Mara Jade.
Because they were trying to be too cute by half, I felt a little cheated that we don’t get to see more of a moment between Rey and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), but I think both characters do a great job of conveying things with throwaway “looks” and moments that aren’t necessarily on paper and that’s really why The Force Awakens shines. It’s all about the moments and things that aren’t said than what is. It’s the little hidden gems that rewards long time and some would say long suffering fans.
All of the new characters and actors are perfectly cast. I really like that they went with mostly unknowns for the lead roles, John Boyega as Finn a former Stormtrooper who finds himself embroiled with the resistance is fantastic and his chemistry with Ridley is great. Their relationship never felt forced or perfunctory. I loved watching Finn wield a lightsaber, there’s a fun moment where he asks Han to call up the Force and Han yells “It doesn’t work that way!” Abrams does a fantastic job of balancing humor, action and drama.
Oscar Isaac brings the right amount of cockiness, without being overbearing, as the best X-Wing Pilot ever, Poe Dameron. My only minor gripe was I didn’t care for Adam Driver as head bad guy Kylo Ren. I never felt menace from him, especially once he took off his mask – for no real reason. BB-8 is overdone and in almost every scene.
My number 1 movie gripe these days is when we visit former heroes in the future and filmmakers almost always feel a need to take them back to the beginning of where we first met them. It’s as if the characters aren’t allowed to grow up, change and actually celebrate their long fought for victories. I hated seeing Han and Leia (Carrie Fisher) act the same as they did in the first movie and as an audience we don’t get to seem them start off this chapter in a “good” place. Instead get Han and Chewie as smugglers who don’t want to get involved in the fight, while Leia is once again the leader of the resistance. Just once I’d like to see a sequel where former heroes start off in a good place only to get dragged back in. The entire film centers around the search for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and that’s all I’ll say about that.
While I left the theater satisfied and content, I don’t feel like I have any desire or excitement to go on this long SIX yr journey to see the full story. Frankly I’m sick to death of watching franchises where the story never ends.
Final Grade A-