This time nine years ago we were all so excited. The usual moronic contingent had their gripes, but Star Wars was back! The prequels had concluded a decade prior, and Disney were pushing on post purchase of Lucasfilm.
2015 was a big year. Yes there was a new Star Wars film, but personally I was moving Super Duper Stuff from Blogger to WordPress. A proper website! And a big release to kick it off.
The Force Awakens was released and I lapped it up, my Prequel saltiness (at the time) leaving me primed for something new. A new time frame, returning characters, a modern filmmaking feel, and the promise of more. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but I think we were all so excited that we didn’t worry. We had two more films to dig into Luke and Snoke! Loads of time, and possibilities.
But hindsight is a wonderful thing. The sequel trilogy, for any strengths it did have, was a bloody mess. An unplanned, inconsistent and incohesive set of films that left plenty of questions and a sourer taste than anything the Prequels ever did. Though there’s been plenty of good stuff since in the form of Disney+ content, you can see that they know they screwed up. Other media/content has worked hard to retroactively give us detail the films had no intention of providing.
The trilogy may have been a disappointment overall, but how does The Force Awakens fare taken on its own merits?
My daughter’s recent interest in the films led to us watching Episodes 1/2/4/5/6 together. I’m happy to report that she enjoyed all the original films, and it was cool to watch TPM through her eyes. The pod race IS great. Jar Jar is funny for his intended audience. Maul looks evil and is cool. We agreed that Attack of the Clones was too long and got boring. Apart from the “BWAAAAAAMMMM” and some of the fighting. RotS is too dark for now, but we’ll get there. I am being badgered about “how does the Clone Wars end”.
All this is to say that I’m open-minded. My daughter is free to form her own opinions, and I’m interested to see what she takes from it all. Time has passed, and I’m willing to meet each film with its intentions in mind.
With all of that known, The Force Awakens is alright. I won’t ignore the joy I felt in the cinema, and I’ll try to ignore the disappointing directions I know the story takes. But not having seen it for a few years, my feelings now are that it’s…fine.
That novel modern film feeling? There are some cool shots, especially with the Falcon. The newer designs lean on the old versions a lot, though the TIE S/F is sexy.
Rey, Poe and Finn are all great here. They’re a cool new central trio. Yes, ultimately wasted. But here they’re so full of promise, and they have good chemistry. Poe and Finn absolutely should have been a thing mind you. Though sadly I can imagine the outrage that would cause.
I’m not happy with the use of the OGs. I completely understand that they’re all a lot older and maybe can’t do everything someone who grew up on Extended Universe books may have liked. And that hero quests often end with death or a mentorship role. But with Han killed, Chewie ignored, and R2/3PO given nothing to do, it doesn’t feel great. Then Luke gawps at the camera for about ten seconds. Leia gets treated pretty well, ever the general, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Would it have been too much to give us one moment of them all together? Ugh. They can’t even treat Luke’s old saber with respect; throwing it in as some kind of “we’ll figure that out later”. I’m well aware how “angry fanboy” I sound there. Just let me feel my feelings.
I have always liked Adam Driver as Kylo. He’s impatient and impulsive, hiding his good traits under the opposite of what his parents and uncle fought and grew to be. It’s good casting. I can see him as Han and Leia’s kid, plus he’s got a good physicality to him. The rest of the bad guys aren’t so strong in my eyes. Hux is alright, with his eye-bulgingly Nazi-esque portrayal of a First Order leader.
But the First Order, and Snoke, are missteps. Did we need a recreation of the Empire? Couldn’t it have just been the remnants of the previous bad guys? Brought together under a new dangerous leader? Not a broken enigma seemingly placed in for mystery bait. I don’t feel that Starkiller Base was a good shout either. We didn’t need another superweapon! An Imperial remnant could have pooled resources, maybe gained themselves a Super Star Destroyer and built it up further around a fleet.
It’s always felt as though important scenes were cut, leaving me scratching my head. The Hosnian System? Why should we care when we’ve not been introduced to it or its inhabitants? Alderaan is an argument to the opposite I guess, but I don’t have to like it!
Turns out it’s very easy to get ranty when talking about Star Wars. Who knew?
So, Episode VII. It’s a reasonable film, and I do understand some of the decisions in bringing in a new generation of audience. One of the biggest wins is giving us all a new female lead to look up to. There’s no denying BB-8 is awesome, and there were lots of things that could have been ran with some success. But it makes things so much harder for itself in amongst the cool bits. Perhaps tellingly, though my daughter still mentions things from the prequels now, she doesn’t talk about The Force Awakens at all.
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