Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, a film named Star Wars was released. It was a very big deal indeed, and spawned an enormous media franchise lasting decades. During that time, the franchise’s reputation fell to the Dark Side thanks to the infamous prequel trilogy.

After a decade away from cinema screens (the animated Clone Wars film doesn’t count), the series finally returned with much goodwill and anticipation being generated prior to the film’s release on December 17, 2015, and ecstatic reviews following the film’s release.

This writer is typically slow on the uptake with these things, yet was fortuitous enough to avoid that spoiler (you’ll know it when you see it). And so, a visit to the cinema was in order, a month after the rest of the world had seen it already…

As would be expected, the film definitely looks and sounds the part. New music by John Williams sits naturally alongside returning tracks from the previous films seamlessly, and the new outfits, ships and creatures look excellent thanks to a mix of practical sets and CG, creating a more balanced effect than the prequel trilogy’s overreliance on CG. The camera swipes between scenes remain in place, as does the opening text scroll accompanied by the booming theme song. All this combined means there’s an undeniable kick from watching the film, a real sense of “It’s freaking Star Wars!” One thing that doesn’t come back is the po-faced, clunky dialogue from past entries. On one hand, the dialogue is much more natural than before, and it’s possible to imagine people speaking this way in real life. On the other hand, the old dialogue style had a melodramatic charm to it, and the new film isn’t nearly as quotable as the old ones. Of course, it is still new, so that could change over time.

Likewise, the new characters fit into the setting naturally, almost as if they’ve always been there. One of the big advantages that Star Wars has is the huge universe that can be expanded forever and populated with numerous new characters and that shows here. The highlight of the new cast is Finn, because he offers a new perspective on the Star Wars universe as a former Stormtrooper defecting from the First Order. The film also makes the wise decision of having the older characters be mostly cameos, with the focus on the new characters. This way, the old characters manage to avoid overshadowing the new ones, allowing them to get their time in the spotlight.

On the flipside, the film does play things very safe. The plot is recycled almost entirely from A New Hope, with bits of The Empire Strikes Back filling up the rest, and another reason the new characters fit in so well is that they fill the same character archetypes as the old ones. For example, Rey is the new Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron is the new Han Solo and BB8 is the new R2D2. The same is true of the villains, even more so in fact, with Kylo Ren as the new Darth Vader and Captain Phasma as the new Boba Fett, right down to being anticlimactically beaten like a chump. To be fair, it is justified in Kylo Ren’s case, as he is obsessed with Darth Vader and models himself after the OG Sith Lord, albeit with the composure of a conflicted, temperamental mood swinger prone to acting emotionally, which is no bad thing as it makes him unpredictable in a way that previous Sith Lords were not. This combined with his backstory brings to mind Expanded Universe villains Jacen and Anakin Solo, Han and Leia’s sons who went over to the Dark Side. Finn benefits from not being an obvious stand-in for an existing character, though you could make a somewhat tenuous connection between him and Lando, as disillusioned bad guys who switch sides, but their circumstances are very different.

It is worth noting however, that in my opinion, the insistence on sticking as close to the old films as possible is no accident. The prequel trilogy, Episode I in particular, shifted the focus towards the political machinations of the galaxy and lots of discussion on taxes, trade routes, sanctions and so on, and we all know how well that went down. The Force Awakens faced the unenviable task of having to win back the crowd, and it did this by distancing itself as far away from the prequels as it could. What better way of doing that is there than mimicking the films just about everyone liked? They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t know who they are, but if The Force Awakens were a picture, its thousand words would be “We’re sorry about the prequels” repeated 200 times. There is only one part in the film that really sticks out as a risk, and even then it’s a calculated risk 30 years in the making, with steps in place to stop it from being too damaging.

Yes, it’s true. Dexter of Dex’s Diner is no longer with us. Let us take a moment to think about the pivotal role he played in the Star Wars saga, as without him Obi Wan would have never been able to find out where Jango Fett’s poison dart came from, and without that, the Clone Army may never have come about, and galactic history would have taken a radically different course. In the arms of an angel…

The Force Awakens is well put together and certainly enjoyable enough to watch. Unfortunately however, the large amount of self-plagiarism going on is too noticeable to allow you to be fully immersed in the adventure, as you’ll be too busy playing “Spot the New Hope Reference”. I suspect and hope that this was just a one-off thing to get audiences back on side, and with that done, the next films can do something more original. The Force Awakens is good enough for now, but Episode VIII better not be a rehash of The Empire Strikes Back.

Episode 7/10 (See what I did there?)

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