Entry tags:
Review: The Force Awakens
Thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, spoilers abound.
Negativa:
• It annoyed me for the exact reason I thought it might: I don’t like it when a sequel plucks apart the achievements that came before. I was hoping to see the New Republic struggling against the remnants of the old Empire; instead, the First Order was functionally indistinguishable from the Empire, right down to being masterminded by a dark overlord and his corrupted right hand and having a giant planet-destroying superweapon at their disposal. The Republic itself was wiped out again, leaving the bulk of the opposition to fall to theRebel Alliance Resistance. The new Jedi Order was betrayed from within again, leaving one last old master to live alone in regretful exile…AGAIN. Were I to throw Return of the Jedi into the DVD player right now, I would no longer be able to celebrate their victory as whole-heartedly as usual, knowing that everything they fought so hard for will fall apart within the span of thirty years, including the relationships between them all.
• I honestly can’t believe they chose to portray yet another Death Star. I know, I know, it’s not a Death Star by name, but let’s be real - that’s the image they were going for. It doesn’t make logistical sense to me, however. The whole point of the Death Star was that it was built by a tyrannical empire at the height of its power; they had the manpower and the resources to build a superweapon that horrifying destructive, and they built it to cement their power once and for all. The destruction of Alderaan was a huge deal. Millions of voices crying out in terror, etc. Jump forward to Force Awakens, and suddenly it seems just about anybody can pull a sun-eating monster machine out of their ass, and five planets were casually wiped off that map without much impact upon anybody. There are parallels and then there’s “I have already seen this movie and it was a lot tenser the first time around”.
• Essentially, I really wanted a proper sequel and a galaxy that had moved forward, and instead it felt like a thinly-veiled reboot. Weh.
• Kylo Ren was, in a word…underwhelming. Between the childish temper tantrums and getting soundly defeated by someone who had never handled a lightsaber before, he wasn’t threatening. Because his backstory made little emotional sense, he wasn’t sympathetic. He was just kind of there, being bad at everything he tried to do.
• …really though, he makes no sense to me. “He had too much of Vader in him”? Well so do the guy’s bloody children, don’t see how genetics should matter. He’s trying to invoke the spirit of Darth Vader? Pretty sure that should just summon up the spirit of Anakin Skywalker to say, “Yeahhh, uh, if you really want to make life decisions as bad as mine, why not try spelunking in a Sarlacc pit? It’ll hurt about as much and give the rest of the galaxy a lot less grief.” Did his parents just not tell him the full story? Because it should include “Vader had a lot of regrets throughout his entire life and you wouldn’t even exist if he hadn’t embraced that tiny flickering remnant of light at the very end”, none of which should leave the kid primed to fall for the first bald alien with a ridiculous name to tell him he’s destined to rule the galaxy. Even Anakin’s fall to darkness was complicated and influenced by things like childhood slavery and a galaxy-rending war; unless you want to tell me Han and Leia were extremely bad parents, I don’t think young Ben Solowalker has quite the same excuse.
• It feels rather out of character for Luke to ditch his suffering family in favour of being sad on an island. It’s somewhat less out of character for Han to also run away from his problems, but it shows a disappointing lack of growth throughout the thirty year interim and I agree with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
syntheid that it seems more likely Chewie would have only put up with this for a few months before he bonked the guy on the head and dragged him back to his wife, especially since half of Han’s reasons (”she doesn’t want to see me” / “I remind you of our son and you hate that”) weren’t even true.
Positiva:
• I love the new characters! Gosh! This particular paralleling I really enjoyed, in that there were echoes of prior traits (the pilot, the sand-dweller, two guys and one girl, sabers and blasters) but none of them were a direct analogue and everyone felt like their own new person. Poe was confident and witty, but he was also emotionally warm (none of Han’s attempts at feigning amoral indifference) and a great big goo-ball over BB-8. Rey was idealistic and clearly craved a wider world, but she also had abandonment issues and was far less naive. Finn was a BAD IMPROVISER with a shady background, but he was morally driven and earnest. And they were all so affectionate? Original trio was partly defined by their yelling matches, bless their souls, while these guys were just so immediately enthusiastic about each other and it was great.
• You better believe I could ot3 it.
• BB-8 was damn cute. The entire audience cracked up at its little lighter thumbs-up.
• I LOVE MAZ. I was genuinely concerned she might be a one-off, but she survived the attack so I’m very hopeful she’ll continue to be a significant part of the series. She has a cool design, a cool voice, and some intriguing possibly plot-relevant aspects.
• I do very much appreciate that there were a lot more random women around; in the background, in ships, speaking out of stormtrooper helmets. I believe the movie even passed the Bechdel Test, though I would have liked to see Rey and Leia interact more.
• There were some truly gorgeous cinematic shots, and many a moment worthy of the original trilogy. The stand-out for me was probably Rey going about her business against the backdrops of giant destroyers and walkers, relics of the past war now quietly decaying in the dunes. The alien designs were also very reminiscent of the original trilogy, particularly during the crowded scene at Maz’s place, and the detail given to the items and scenery was as wonderful as ever. It gave things a nice, familiar, homey feel. Ah yes. This is Star Wars.
• I'm so glad they kept the Powerpoint presentation transitions.
• The soundtrack did a fantastic job of keeping to the traditional music themes while throwing in a few new twists here and there. Rey’s theme is lovely.
• As much as I’m sad to see him go, I can appreciate that at least Han died the way he lived: failing to talk his way out of things.
• Though this one felt like a re-hash, I’m curious about where things will go next and hopeful it will include some fun new places! I also do like that it’s successfully reeling new fans in, since I will concede the original trilogy can be hard to digest simply because it’s very old and has been parodied so often.
Negativa:
• It annoyed me for the exact reason I thought it might: I don’t like it when a sequel plucks apart the achievements that came before. I was hoping to see the New Republic struggling against the remnants of the old Empire; instead, the First Order was functionally indistinguishable from the Empire, right down to being masterminded by a dark overlord and his corrupted right hand and having a giant planet-destroying superweapon at their disposal. The Republic itself was wiped out again, leaving the bulk of the opposition to fall to the
• I honestly can’t believe they chose to portray yet another Death Star. I know, I know, it’s not a Death Star by name, but let’s be real - that’s the image they were going for. It doesn’t make logistical sense to me, however. The whole point of the Death Star was that it was built by a tyrannical empire at the height of its power; they had the manpower and the resources to build a superweapon that horrifying destructive, and they built it to cement their power once and for all. The destruction of Alderaan was a huge deal. Millions of voices crying out in terror, etc. Jump forward to Force Awakens, and suddenly it seems just about anybody can pull a sun-eating monster machine out of their ass, and five planets were casually wiped off that map without much impact upon anybody. There are parallels and then there’s “I have already seen this movie and it was a lot tenser the first time around”.
• Essentially, I really wanted a proper sequel and a galaxy that had moved forward, and instead it felt like a thinly-veiled reboot. Weh.
• Kylo Ren was, in a word…underwhelming. Between the childish temper tantrums and getting soundly defeated by someone who had never handled a lightsaber before, he wasn’t threatening. Because his backstory made little emotional sense, he wasn’t sympathetic. He was just kind of there, being bad at everything he tried to do.
• …really though, he makes no sense to me. “He had too much of Vader in him”? Well so do the guy’s bloody children, don’t see how genetics should matter. He’s trying to invoke the spirit of Darth Vader? Pretty sure that should just summon up the spirit of Anakin Skywalker to say, “Yeahhh, uh, if you really want to make life decisions as bad as mine, why not try spelunking in a Sarlacc pit? It’ll hurt about as much and give the rest of the galaxy a lot less grief.” Did his parents just not tell him the full story? Because it should include “Vader had a lot of regrets throughout his entire life and you wouldn’t even exist if he hadn’t embraced that tiny flickering remnant of light at the very end”, none of which should leave the kid primed to fall for the first bald alien with a ridiculous name to tell him he’s destined to rule the galaxy. Even Anakin’s fall to darkness was complicated and influenced by things like childhood slavery and a galaxy-rending war; unless you want to tell me Han and Leia were extremely bad parents, I don’t think young Ben Solowalker has quite the same excuse.
• It feels rather out of character for Luke to ditch his suffering family in favour of being sad on an island. It’s somewhat less out of character for Han to also run away from his problems, but it shows a disappointing lack of growth throughout the thirty year interim and I agree with
syntheid that it seems more likely Chewie would have only put up with this for a few months before he bonked the guy on the head and dragged him back to his wife, especially since half of Han’s reasons (”she doesn’t want to see me” / “I remind you of our son and you hate that”) weren’t even true.Positiva:
• I love the new characters! Gosh! This particular paralleling I really enjoyed, in that there were echoes of prior traits (the pilot, the sand-dweller, two guys and one girl, sabers and blasters) but none of them were a direct analogue and everyone felt like their own new person. Poe was confident and witty, but he was also emotionally warm (none of Han’s attempts at feigning amoral indifference) and a great big goo-ball over BB-8. Rey was idealistic and clearly craved a wider world, but she also had abandonment issues and was far less naive. Finn was a BAD IMPROVISER with a shady background, but he was morally driven and earnest. And they were all so affectionate? Original trio was partly defined by their yelling matches, bless their souls, while these guys were just so immediately enthusiastic about each other and it was great.
• You better believe I could ot3 it.
• BB-8 was damn cute. The entire audience cracked up at its little lighter thumbs-up.
• I LOVE MAZ. I was genuinely concerned she might be a one-off, but she survived the attack so I’m very hopeful she’ll continue to be a significant part of the series. She has a cool design, a cool voice, and some intriguing possibly plot-relevant aspects.
• I do very much appreciate that there were a lot more random women around; in the background, in ships, speaking out of stormtrooper helmets. I believe the movie even passed the Bechdel Test, though I would have liked to see Rey and Leia interact more.
• There were some truly gorgeous cinematic shots, and many a moment worthy of the original trilogy. The stand-out for me was probably Rey going about her business against the backdrops of giant destroyers and walkers, relics of the past war now quietly decaying in the dunes. The alien designs were also very reminiscent of the original trilogy, particularly during the crowded scene at Maz’s place, and the detail given to the items and scenery was as wonderful as ever. It gave things a nice, familiar, homey feel. Ah yes. This is Star Wars.
• I'm so glad they kept the Powerpoint presentation transitions.
• The soundtrack did a fantastic job of keeping to the traditional music themes while throwing in a few new twists here and there. Rey’s theme is lovely.
• As much as I’m sad to see him go, I can appreciate that at least Han died the way he lived: failing to talk his way out of things.
• Though this one felt like a re-hash, I’m curious about where things will go next and hopeful it will include some fun new places! I also do like that it’s successfully reeling new fans in, since I will concede the original trilogy can be hard to digest simply because it’s very old and has been parodied so often.