In Retrospect — Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Spoiler Alert: Please STOP reading if you have not seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as my review contains some significant plot details.
Well, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally opened.
After successfully avoiding most spoilers, online rumors, fandom speculations, and even trailers, I sat in the movie theater as excited as I was when I first saw the original trilogy as a child.
When that iconic opening scroll appeared, accompanied by John Williams’ transcendent score, I felt it in my bones — this film will be the worthy successor to the iconic original trilogy.
As the end credits rolled, my reaction was mixed. I really enjoyed the movie, and it is a terrific film — FAR superior to any of the misguided prequels.
However, it does have significant flaws that prevent it from achieving the greatness it aspired to.
But let me take a step back and cover the many aspects of the film I felt were outstanding.
Pros
Characters
First, allow me to assure you there is no Jar-Jar Binks analog in this film! Instead the film’s characters — both new and old — are vibrant and appealing, including:
John Boyega gives a winning performance as former stormtrooper Finn. He is at turns earthy, charmingly awkward, humorous, loyal, and courageous.
Oscar Isaac is perfectly cast as the hot-shot pilot Po Dameron. His character is brash and cavalier. Frankly, he shares many of the same traits as Han Solo. However, while Han has always been rough-around-the-edges, Po is far more refined and genteel.
Daisy Ridley acquits herself extremely well as the mysterious, fiercely independent, self-possessed, and valiant Rey. It is obvious by the film’s end the sequels will be about her journey — and I can’t wait to see what her arc will be.
Adam Driver imbues villain Kylo Ren with cold arrogance and menace, while effectively portraying the volatile emotional instability boiling beneath the surface.
Lupita Nyong’o creates one of the most compelling characters of the film as the cgi-created Maz Kanata. While not a Jedi Master, Maz is wise, formidable, maternal, and extremely sage-like. My hope is we see more of her in future sequels.
I didn’t know until after I had seen the movie that Andy Serkis portrays (via motion-capture?) the sinister Supreme Leader Snoke. While he only appears briefly in the movie, the motivations and origins behind this new dark force master is another key mystery of the film.
Of course I felt ecstatic seeing Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill back in the roles they help to make iconic over 30 years ago. When Ford first appears onscreen as Han and utters “Chewie, we’re home,” you felt the collective agreement of fans everywhere.
Character Interactions
While Star Wars is renown for its groundbreaking visual and special effects, it is its characters and their relationships that resonate with fans.
Thank god, J.J. Abrams made sure to honor that in this movie.
The individual characters themselves are endearing, but it is when they interact with each other that the movie fires on all cylinders.
For example, while the space battles were impressive and dazzling, the scene with Rey resisting Ren’s efforts to invade her mind - thus helping to “awaken” her own nascent force powers - was compelling on a visceral level.
I would also argue it one of the most pivotal moments of the entire movie. This certainly is a foreshadowing of how central this duo’s continued rivalry will be to the dramatic core of the new films.
Special And Visual Effects
This is a Star Wars film, so if the special and visual effects fell short, the movie would fail completely.
No worries here.
Abrams’ decision to use practical effects whenever he could most certainly paid off. Seeing the Millennium Falcon, star destroyers, x-wing and TIE-fighters again brought back a wave of thrilling nostalgia. The dog fights in space were as dynamic as they ever were. The cgi effects were used judiciously and effectively help to re-create the galaxy “far, far way.”
BB-8
Admittedly when I first saw BB-8, I rolled my eyes and wrote the droid off as a second-rate R2-D2 wannabe.
I was wrong.
This little guy manages to steal the movie with his own unique presence and personality. On a practical side, his spherical shape is far better suited to — ah hell, I’ll confess. He is just so damn cute.
Yeah, Disney will definitely make millions just from sales of BB-8 models and figures alone.
Diversity
Being a Black man as well as a sci-fi/fantasy nerd, seeing representations of people of color and other marginalized groups onscreen has always been a issue close to my heart.
I so glad to report The Force Awakens is the most diverse installment of the entire franchise.
It is refreshing to see people of color cast in both major and minor roles in this movie. I love the fact a woman is the central protagonist whose story arc is going to drive the main narrative.
This has been long overdue, and I hope more Hollywood productions follow suit.
Okay, that covers some of the many things I thought the movie accomplished extremely well. Still, there were some flaws that kept the movie (for me) from being a complete success creatively.
Cons
The Film’s Third Act
The Republic is threatened by a super weapon constructed by the evil New Order. The heroes go on a covert mission to sabotage the super weapon in order to give their small attack fleet a prayer of defeating it. Against all odds our heroes prevail, and the super weapon is destroyed.
Sound familiar?
It probably does because this is also the exact same plot for both A New Hope and Return Of The Jedi.
Seriously, after having not one but two death stars destroyed, you would think the Empire/New Order would reconsider that particular offensive strategy.
Instead, they opt for building an even bigger monstrosity?!
Maybe Abrams felt he was paying homage to the original trilogy by introducing yet another super weapon into the canon, but it just felt extremely contrived — as well as a little lazy in terms of storytelling.
In the end, the familiarity and predictability of the main plot caused the film’s third act to lose a lot of momentum for me.
No Lando Calrissian
For me and many fans, the absence of Lando Calrissian is extremely conspicuous and disappointing. While I was glad to see Han, Leia and Luke return, my joy was somewhat muted because, again, no Lando to be seen.
Some fans argue that Lando Calrissian isn’t as important a figure in Star Wars canon as Luke, Leia and Han.
I say bullshit.
Even though he wasn’t introduced until The Empire Strikes Back, Lando quickly became an important and extremely popular character in the franchise.
So why wasn’t Billy Dee Williams asked to, at the very least, provide a cameo?
Mr. Williams had publicly stated he would have loved to reprise his role, but he was never asked.
Why in the hell not?
This question continued to irk and perplex me even while watching The Force Awakens unfold. I kept hoping maybe he would make a surprise cameo in the movie, but that never materialized.
In fact, Lando isn’t even mentioned in passing by another character.
I do hope Mr. Williams is asked to participate in the planned sequels. Still, it bothers me that he was not asked to be involved in the triumphant return of Star Wars to the big screen.
No matter how you look at it, that is pretty shoddy treatment of a much beloved character and actor.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy The Force Awakens, and recommend it to everyone. My feeling is the Star Wars film franchise is in excellent care under the stewardship of J.J. Abrams.
Hi, I’m Rod T. Faulkner. I’m a HUGE sci-fi fan and write a lot about it. I also wrote 200 Best Online Sci-Fi Short Films — a compilation of terrific science fiction and genre short films available for viewing online.
