Foreword: When I say that this review is spoiler free, I mean that I won’t be giving away anything gasp-worthy, or what the trolls have been surreptitiously placing on random Reddit posts. However, I will be giving away background details, as much that’s revealed within the first act, which is my standard policy for reviews. But this is also being published after “The Force Awakens'” opening weekend, so let’s be real, you’ve seen it. I don’t you know why you would be reading this if you hadn’t. But if you are, thanks for the attention.
If the nearly quarter-billion in earnings from the opening weekend doesn’t prove that the release “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” isn’t the most anticipated event in 2015, then our standards of proof need to be re-measured.
I will admit that I chose not to ride the “Star Wars” hype-wing. My distrust of director J.J. Abrams following, at least what I saw, as a butchering of the “Star Trek” reboot quelled my expectations. And although I was in first grade when it came out, I hadn’t forgotten what happened the world lost their minds for the new first chapter in a “Star Wars” trilogy.
Don’t get me wrong, I was still excited. Certainly excited enough to attend a midnight screening after an exhausting day of work on the second day of its release. But my level of excitement as I sat down and endured the trailers was no different than for “Steve Jobs” or “He Name Me Malala,” the last two movies I saw in theatres.
As the last preview concluded, there was a moment of near complete silence in a room of near darkness. Then the opening notes of John Williams’ divine overture rang out like a thunderclap; and I saw a familiar title card, one up to that point I had only seen on television screens no larger than a fish tank. I felt the air in my lungs grown warm. This was it. The timeless, juggernaut of a franchise, the first focus in what would be a long line of geeky obsessions back when I was in middle school, gloriously rejuvenated.
“The Force Awakens” knows exactly what it is, a “Star Wars” movie, and embodies what we all adored about the original trilogy. The sweeping excitement, the classic out-of-nowhere hero story, a cosmic array of alien life as grotesque as they are fascinating, and those precious elements that have become pop culture staples: lightsabers, the Force, x-wing dogfights, villains dressed in black under heavy masks, “I have a bad feeling about this,” all in a galaxy far, far away.
If you were to strip all of those away, and examined solely what remained: the story of a few young, plucky heroes, unexpectedly thrust into pivotal roles a war between what boil down to inter-planetary governments that essentially represent the sheer forces of good and evil, I don’t know how good it would be.
But “Star Wars” removed from its defining characteristics is like a birthday cake without the frosting, the decorations and the personalized Happy Birthday message. It’s a realm of possibility as useless to ponder as the infinite multiverse. What would be is simply beyond our comprehension.
The new “Star Wars,” rebounds from the dismal prequel trilogy like someone re-discovering the glory of their 20s after a grueling midlife crisis, and finding they still have the gumption (and the budget) to embody it.
“The Force Awakens” stands in its own glow and rides the shockwaves of its own tremors. If you liked “A New Hope,” then you should like this as well.
After all, despite taking place 25 some-odd years after “Return of the Jedi” with new leads and new villains, “The Force Awakens” is just a well disguised retelling.
Without giving too much away: the first act involves a beeping-booping droid with a crucial piece of information in its hard drive landing on a desert planet and finding someone who never thought their life course would take them beyond said desert planet. Its ends with a X-Wing battle to destroy an enemy base that doubles as a deadly weapon. You can fill in the rest.
“The Force Awakens” is a true recycling of the formula used in “A New Hope,” and I mean that positively. When we recycle something, we take an object that is old, dated and worn out and transform it into something new, yet recognizable.
The parallels are drawn in boldface, with “The Force Awakens” finding its stride by channeling the energy and charm that made the original trilogy so memorable. It plays the notes you expect it to play, right down to that moment that everyone is spoiler-panicking about even though it’s faintly obvious, just as the “I am your father” reveal from “Empire.”
Placed at the center of “Episode VII” are three young heroes: Poe (Oscar Issac), a rebel fighter pilot seen as a figurehead by the villainous First Order, Finn (John Boyega) a Stormtrooper who deserts when faced with his first combat mission, and Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger on the wasteland planet of Jakku who gets roped into the story by circumstance yet, surprise, is pre-destined to be to the new hero of the ages.
All three manage to resonate with the audience as the original trio of Luke, Leia and Han did, without each coming across as new-Luke, new-Leia and new-Han. Finn’s role as a frightened and confused refugee completely uncertain of the part he should play right down the closing moments of the third act capture us with the same naïve, everyman spirit of Luke Skywalker; and Frodo Baggins, and Harry Potter. Any formula can work countless times if done right.
As for our villain, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), he does come off as Darth Vader 2.0, but there is actually a purpose to that. What makes Ren special is not only what’s revealed about his background, but how much dimension Driver gives him in his performance. And despite what he does in that big I-can’t-tell-you-because-some-Internet-vigilante-will-kill-me-in-my-sleep moment, he leaves a very open door for his future. And again, just like in the old days, we get a glimpse of the greater evil power calling the shots, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis).
Ren isn’t the only thing to be fleshed in Abrams’ remodeling. The Stormtroopers receive humanizations that based on prior assumptions about their nature seemed impossible, Dormhall Gleeson as General Hux is no generic henchmen, and if you thought the characters from the original trilogy would just be themselves plus whatever years makeup couldn’t take away, then you would be mistaken.
While Abrams stayed faithful to the source material, right down to the wipe transitions we all used in high school PowerPoints, the purchase of “Star Wars” as a franchise into the Disney conglomerate has had a noticeable effect on the writing.
There is no Coca-Cola product placement (thank the gods), but the Disney brand of humor, all snappy comebacks and snide remarks did make it’s into this screenplay. Less so than I feared, but it rears its ugly head in a couple of places here, like one where BB-8 (our new droid character) does the droid equivalent of flipping the bird. Thankfully, that’s the exception to the rule, and most of the film’s humor is natural and inserted within the right moments.
There are some logical holes, like how our teams of heroes lead a hostage commander through an enemy seemingly completely unseen, but given that what we are watching is a space opera, which “Star Wars” has always been; they can largely be forgiven.
If I had one complaint, I think “The Force Awakens” is a little too complacent in being chapter one. At times it feels that there is more being hinted at for the next two films than actually being developed here. Granted, “A New Hope” did the same thing, but felt more like a standalone piece. One didn’t really know there was even going to be a sequel until Darth Vader escaped the explosion of the Death Star.
Rey’s entire arc surrounds a family that left her behind on Jakku, and knowing “Star Wars,” we’ve already met them. But that entire aspect of her character is put on the back burner. The same goes for The First Order, the new legion of evil. It’s not really clear how the sprang to power or their relation to the fallen Empire, but we never really knew much about the Empire either.
Oscar Isacc, despite clearly being a lead and oozing screen charisma, spends much “The Force Awakens” on the periphery, and there better be more of him in the next two. Like I said, he’s not new-Han, but if Hollywood decides to remake “Blade Runner,” who they should cast is pretty clear.
But therein lies another one of “The Force Awakens” strengths. It got me hungry for the rest of the trilogy, and I’m as excited for “Episode VIII” as the rest of the world was for this one.
“Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” is unmistakably a “Star Wars” movie, and the spirit of the original trilogy is virtuously resurrected. It’s wildly fun, heavy when it needs to be, visually enriching (how could it not be with a $200 million budget) and taps into the nostalgic emotions of its audience to the perfect degree.
There is very little to dislike about “The Force Awakens” even if it’s a few paces shy of a masterwork, which it doesn’t need to be. I haven’t found a devoted “Star Wars” fan who was discontented by “Episode VII,” and for one to appear would cause quite the disturbance in the Force.
8.5/10
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