Review: Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
It's fair to say my initial reaction to the news of a new Star Wars Trilogy was not the best, having already tried and failed with the prequels I didn't see the point in another set of films that bastardised this universe and from Disney no less. Then something happened, little pieces of news and footage and castings started coming out and my feelings warmed to the prospect of returning to the Star Wars universe to the point where I found myself wrapped up in the hype, waiting to see if this would be another Empire, or another Phantom. Thankfully Abrams hit a homerun and The Force Awakens is up there as one of the best Star Wars entries in a long time.
Oh, and NO SPOILERS in this review. Certain plot elements will be touched upon about how things get started but nothing major in who anyone is or what happens.
Set 30 years after the destruction of The Second Death Star, the remnants of the Rebel Alliance are still fighting what's left of The Empire which has now gathered into a group known as The First Order. Things kick off when Luke Skywalker, the last remaining Jedi, runs away without a word and leaves no clue to his whereabouts, leaving both the Rebellion and The First Order to try and find Luke before the other.
Rebel Leader General Leia Organa sends her best pilot Poe Dameron to Jakku to collect a piece of intel that could lead to Luke's location, however The First Order and it's sinister commander Kylo Ren follow Poe and lay siege to the village he's in, Poe is captured but not before leaving the intel with his droid companion, BB-8. Poe is tortured for information but is saved in the form of Finn, a storm-trooper indoctrinated since birth but after a traumatic first battle encounter he tries to make amends and save Poe. They're escape doesn't go to plan and the two end up separated on Jakku.
By chance, Finn runs into Rey, a young scavenger who has befriended BB-8 and is looking after him until Poe arrives. With no knowledge of when that'll be and with the First Order after them, Finn and Rey escape Jakku with the plan to deliver BB-8 and his intel to the Rebellion, however in their escape they stole a very particular ship and soon find themselves in the company of its original owner, Han Solo.
The film is setting up a lot of pieces for the upcoming two sequels while also delivering its own standalone story, in the background the chase to find Luke is driving everything but in this one film we follow Finn, Rey and Han as they jump from planet to planet, trying to evade The First Order and reteam with the Rebellion. All through that we deal with themes of family, abandonment, identity crisis, trauma and guilt amongst several other heavier themes than Star Wars has touched upon before to deliver a film that drives its story with a strong sense of thematic weight and some very bold moves that'll make or break the film for some people.
My one complain on the story is that it follows the beats of A New Hope a little too closely, we start with an important piece of info being given to a droid who ends up in the possession of a seemingly unimportant person on a desert planet and ends with a bombing run on a spherical death laser. It's not a deal breaker but it's very noticeable. On the plus side though, the film does leave a lot of breadcrumbs for the next two movies to look into, there's still a lot of unanswered questions by the end of this film which should lead to some very interesting answers.
Characters were very strong, the new lot especially but the returning cast did strong work with C3PO, R2D2, Admiral Ackbar and Nien Nunb all making a small but welcome appearance.
Luke does show up here but in what capacity I won't say, that would be telling.
Carrie Fisher's return as Leia Organa feels the most removed from her days as a Princess, now going by Genera, Leia has been at the forefront of the Resistance since the Battle Of Endor and fought tirelessly to maintain a presence against The Empire in whatever skin it wears. Fisher's definitely more battle-hardened and world-weary for more reasons than one but her tenacity and her fractured but loving relationship with Han provides her with plenty to do, particularly in the film's third act.
Perhaps most surprisingly of all, Harrison Ford is given the most to do as Han Solo, becoming one of the biggest supporting characters in the film. Early on you can tell that in the years since Jedi and this things haven't gone smoothly for Han and Leia, they've thrown themselves into their own work - Leia as a Rebellion General and Han as a smuggler - and haven't spent the time to sit down and talk. After retrieving his Falcon from Finn and Rey, Han is more than happy to leave them stranded but upon realising what their mission is he agrees to help them, even knowing what going against The First Order at his age would mean. Ford dives right back into the character, delivering a man who has been getting into trouble his whole life to the point where he doesn't feel safe unless he's in danger, and yet fighting in the resistance means admitting one of his biggest mistakes with Leia and Luke. The sudden appearance of Finn and Rey and the skills both of them carry bring him back to the frontlines of a life he tried to escape but which followed him all this way, Han has a great arc in this film and it's hard to argue that ford hasn't been this great since Empire, dropping one-liners and jokes among some of the best emotional work Han has ever done.
Plus he's joined by his ever faithful Chewbacca who arguably has his best scene in the entire sage in this film, certainly one that paints the growling fuzzball in a very different light than what we're used to.
With the new faces we got Lupita Nyong'o as Maz, an elderly pirate and bar owner who had been around long enough to understand The Force even without being a Jedi, Maz is one of the most enigmatic creations of the film and certain items in her possession leave questions as to how she procured them, here's hoping for more from Maz and her wise ways.
On the villain side we got a mixed bag, Domhnall Gleeson feels underused as General Hux who comes across as nothing more than a mouth piece to work against Kylo Ren although Gleeson does have good shouting face. Gwendoline Christie suffers from Boba Fett syndrome in that her chromed-out Captain Phasma looks incredible but isn't given enough to do so that's another hopeful character return for the next film. Andy Serkis has a limited but interesting role as Supreme Leader Snoke, a massive humanoid like creature who appears to be pulling strings for The First Order, he may end up being the new Emperor and I'd like to see hwere he goes from here.
The standout for the villains was Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, without getting into too much detail, Ren is one of the more interesting villains the Star Wars saga has created, he's not all what he appears to be and there's an emotional turmoil within him that really drives home a very aggressive and rage-fuelled Sith Knight. It's also worth noting the thematic parallels between Ren's arc in this film and the message of the original trilogy, again not going into details but Ren's choices in this film are mirrored in the original trilogy and show a sense of story and continuation that I'm glad the filmmakers chose to go with.
Out of the three hero leads only Oscar Issac's Poe comes up short and not because he's bad, his cocky nature and immense likability make him great to watch, only problem being that for events outside of his control he ends up out of the film for its entire second act leaving only a little time to see what his true character is really like.
His droid companion BB-8 is sure to become a breakout character, much like R2 in the original films, BB-8 is a cute little bastard and his spherical shape allows him more freedom to move - still hard to believe that's a real effect - but his best features is the very human way he interacts with people, judging how much he trusts them, shaking in fear, even giving the thumbs up with a lighter at one point, BB-8 is a great addition to the series and one that's sure to stand out in the saga as a whole.
John 'Moses' Boyega returns to the land of sci-fi as Finn, originally a storm-trooper until he has a sickened reaction to the face of war and his indoctrination wears off allowing him the freedom to question what The First Order is doing. Upon his subsequent - and failed - escape attempt he finds himself with Rey and immediately his Hot Girl Sense kicks in and he pretends to be a Resistance Fighter to join her on her question. Part of what makes Finn great, particularly in the first act, in his very human mannerisms, this is actually true of all storm-troopers in this film since they are no longer Fett Clones but rather living, breathing humans with this own thought-process - leading to some very funny reactionary moments - but with Finn it allows him to develop himself with both a great sense of humour and a level of fear that comes from knowing exactly how dangerous your enemy is. Finn's a great character and his grown from traitorous coward into full-on battled bad-ass is a great one to witness.
The real star of the show though is Daisy Ridley as Rey, following in Leia's footsteps, Rey breaks out in a big way, becoming one of the best characters in the film and the saga. Originally a scavenger on Jakku where she had been left as a child, Rey had been living in wait for her family to return, even though all the signs pointed to the fact that they weren't. Finn's crash-landing into her life sets her on a very important path of self-discovery and proff that just because you're bad-ass does not mean you are ready for everything. And Rey is pretty bad-ass, Ridley isn't the bulkiest of girls but I totally bought into her abilities as both a keen fighter and skilled pilot, her escape across the dunes of Jakku is one of the ages. However despite her abilities Rey has only ever known Jakku so when the other worlds of the galaxy come at her it's a terrifying prospect and one she might want to continue with, just watching Rey overcoming that fear and unleashing a brilliant fury onto the screen is worth watching the character for. Ridley is making a name for herself and I cannoy wait to see where Rey goes from here.
Taking the reins on this film, J.J. Abrams - trying to take on Joss Whedon for the King Of The Nerds title - manages to find the same beats and rhythms of the original films - opening text crawl, screen-wipes, etc - but managing to inject his own mark on the world, particularly a world such as Star Wards with a rich history and varying landscape, Abrams manages to keep everything fresh and interesting with each new world introduced. For all the Tatooine comparisons, Jakku is exactly a much drier and much emptier place filled with scattered villages and crashed ships folloing a major battle 20 years earlier. Takodana, home of Maz, is a tropical paradise on the outside but one you delve into its heart you find something a kin to Jabba's palace, creating a very nice illusion and home of gypsies, tramps and thieves. And StarKiller Base, a Death Star like weapon built into an entire planet, is cold enough to work as the frozen heart of The First Order.
Perhaps what's most important about these worlds is that they're real, people gave the Prequels shit for their horrendous green-screen effects but here they've gone back to basics and it just makes everything look better, being able to see the rustle of every leaf someone brushes past, the mark on every pile of sand someone walks across, just being able to place a character directly into that environment is brilliant. CGI is still used but for necessary moments that involve impossible feats, dog fighting X-Wings for example and while yes, Lucas did manage it in a very similar and arguably better way for A New Hope, in this film the moves made are far more complex and difficult to be done on a normal camera, the StarKiller Trench Run for example manages to follow the ships from every angle making the need for CGI necessary due to how wild the camera gets at times.
It must be said that this is one of the darkest Episode in the Star Wars Saga to the point where a lot of the stuff it touches upon get veru disturbing, at least for a Star Wars film. Actually harking back to what I said earlier there's a lot of similar beats to A New Hope except in this film you see the awful effects first hand, Poe's torture is tame but still harsh to witness, the entire genocide of a planet is seen with full screams of terror blaring on the sound system, Rey's Force-Infused dream sequence brings in a side of The Force we haven't seen before and the third act of the film included some of the darkest moments of the entire Star Wars Saga since the massacre of the Jedi's this is brutal stuff and the meaning behind it all gives a lot of weight to how much it works. Thankfully Abrams knows what he's doing and none of it feels disingenuous , partly because Abrams includes some good moments of humour to lighten the tone but mostly because there feels like an actual need for that emotional impact, particularly in a final act lightsabre battle, Abrams recognises what made the Luke/Vader fights in Empire and Jedi work so well was the emotional investment the audience had in those fight and he brings that to the table here, the final sabre battle isn't an acrobatic feat but an all-out brawl between two untrained fighters just trying to absolutely decimate the other, it's the angriest I've ever seen an lightsabre battle since Luke nearly killed Vader in Jedi and it works to make something unique but totally fitting for the series.
I could go on but it's late and I think I've gotten my point across, The Force Awakens is a welcome return to form for the Star Wars Saga, it continues the story on brilliantly while keeping it's own themes and tones as a stand-alone piece, the faces both old and new work wonders together with Finn, Kylo and especially Rey becoming fantastic new additions to the franchise while Ford delivers some of his best work as Solo and Abrams lifelong fan dedication allows him to copy the original trilogy's design but adding in his own darker style for a darker series of films. Star Wars fans rejoice, this is everything you've been waiting for and more.
9/10