Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens
2015
D: J.J. Abrams
**********
Pros: Great Cast, Some Good Action, Villain with Potential
Cons: Derivative Plot and Design, Anticlimactic, Overpowered Heroine, Tone
At first it seemed like Disney’s Star Wars was a breath of fresh air. We were finally going back to what made the franchise worked. Unfortunately, we got too much of what we wanted with The Force Awakens. It was a shameless rehash of the first movie and it set the trend for Disney’s unimaginative policy of fanservice. In retrospect, the prequels are admirable for their originality and vision.
The most obvious display of this lack of originality is the basic conflict between the Rebel Alliance Resistance and the Empire First Order. Driven by nostalgia (a nice way to put it), Abrams sought to contrive a situation in which we can have the good ol’ underdog story of the Galactic Civil War. He created a band of Neo-Imperials called the First Order who presumably control some space. Despite having a formidable fleet and a super-Death Star, the New Republic doesn’t see this as enough of a threat to do anything other than noncommittally support a Resistance led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Being an ass, I can’t help but read this as some sort of liberal Freudian Slip betraying a tendency to pretend they’re the Rebellion when it’s painfully obvious they’re the Empire with an intensity rivaled only by people who don't like licorice. It’s also ironic for liberals to aestheticize the tragedy of having one’s child turning against you ideologically. More likely Abrams is just an unimaginative hack. So much for having an interesting new conflict now that the good guys are The Man. The First Order also lacks the credibility of the Empire, which provided order after a corrupt Republic and a massive war. They just come off like mustache-twirling asses who want to start a war and oppress people for the hell of it.
A further reflection of this is the movie’s design. Instead of a natural evolution based on established lore, the movie literally goes backwards in its ships. Not only are there no new TIE designs, they actually reverted back to the original straight-winged layout. They now have X-Wings that are barely distinguishable from the originals. So much of the design is the utilitarian look of the original trilogy, not realizing that that was a reflection of the Dark Times of the Empire. One exception is the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, which is a good update with some practical rationale (the Executor’s destruction made them reconsider a prominent command tower). I think there should be an acknowledged distinction between Regressive and Progressive Fanservice. Progressive Fanservice is a continuity that maintains the spirit of the lore (Bond’s upgrading to a Walther P99 in Tomorrow Never Dies), while Regressive fanservice is an in-universe step backwards (Bond’s reverting to a Walther PPK in Quantum of Solace). I can’t help but think that Chrysler is pretty bad at this, as well.
The cinematography also betrays a cluelessness in spite of J.J.’s fanboy ambitions. The Empire’s symbolic monochrome is replaced by a slick, high saturation digital coloration. I love this aesthetic in general, but it’s also out of place in a franchise known for visual grit. The clean look was more fitting for Star Trek. At the same time, the cinematography’s weaknesses are more apparent when the movie must look earthy; the desert scenery seems oddly bland. Special effects, on the other hand, are superb, with a great mix of practical and CGI. John Williams’ score is less original than his work in the prequels, but it had its moments (guess which one was nominated for an Oscar?). The lack of originality permeates the whole production.
The disappointment is confirmed by the choice of protagonist. Character arcs would have been more important than design, and this movie still simply hits the recycle button. Redeemed stormtrooper FN-2187/”Finn” (John Boyega) was clearly hyped up to become a Jedi protagonist, but ended up being reduced to a comic relief sidekick just for the sake of a twist. I’m not sure if the promised arc was already done in the EU, but it’s certainly a fresh take I would have loved to see. Word to the wise: if your misdirection is better than the actual plot, that’s terrible misdirection. What’s even more frustrating is that it demonstrates that Disney can come up with original ideas, if only to intentionally set us up for disappointment. Finn’s cowardice through the second act could have been justified if it was a reflection of his reluctance to take up arms against his former comrades, but that’s discredited by the glee with which he kills them. It would have been nice to have him act like the experienced soldier he supposedly is. At least Jar Jar’s buffoonery made some sense.
As it turns out, the real main character is Rey (Daisy Ridley), an overpowered female version of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who has little going for her other than baseline likability and Ridley’s energetic performance. She could have had good potential as protégé to Han (Harrison Ford) or maybe to Resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron (a charismatic but under-utilized Oscar Isaac). In a rare flash of artistic competence, Abrams gives her a phenomenally good character intro. An effective smash to her scene, great show-don’t-tell exposition that gives us a glimpse into her background, personality, and ambitions. Just another set-up for disappointment, it turns out.
More compelling is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the son of Leia and Han. He was corrupted by ersatz Palpatine Snoke (Andy Serkis) and idolizes Darth Vader. I like emotionally unstable villains, as well as the idea that Vader’s grandson might erroneously imitate him. There’s also a lot of tragedy in the idea that your own child could become the very evil you’ve dedicated your entire life fighting against. You could see how this destroyed Han and Leia’s relationship, considering how their love ended up leaving the Galaxy a worse place than it found it. Ren also has some of the better design elements. His costume is cool, and his lightsaber, for all the flak it gets, is a perfect example of design in service of character. The medieval quillons reflect his Manichean attitude and the unstable blade represents his emotional stability. It also makes an agonized shriek when ignited. In contrast, Maul’s double lightsaber symbolizes his getting into a fight with two other guys. Other lightsabers that get an honorable mention are Dooku’s sophisticated design and Sheev’s ornamental hilt. Unfortunately, it’s revealed that Ren’s real name is Ben Solo, a cringe example of regressive fanservice. This is a perfect example of projecting fans’ priorities onto characters. It would make more sense if Leia had named her son after her father, rather than some magic hobo her brother knew once. This self-reference isn’t what made people love Star Wars, it was the actions of the characters in-universe. This also reminds me of Chrysler’s ignoring the established naming system of the 300 series, calling the new model the 300C, while naming its performance sedan the Charger, as opposed to the Monaco or Coronet.
Instead of the awesomeness of seeing Leia as a Jedi, the movie reverts to her being a military leader yet again. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew, Joonas Suotamo) are back to being lovable, lawless scoundrels, albeit more humorously inept. Not only does Abrams want the old smuggler back, he doesn’t even take that old character seriously. The movie even cluelessly features Leia’s saying they both went back to “the only things we were ever good at,” contradicting her statement that Han was a “natural leader” and “great help” to the Alliance. Still, despite how anticlimactic this is, Han’s character makes sense here. I’ve pointed this out before, but Han is the lover while Leia is the fighter. It was he who talked her into acknowledging their love. I think it’s a good reflection of temperament and personality, Leia and Luke are Anakin’s children and therefore are natural fighters; Han was forced to harden due to a rough background, but his temperament may have always been sensitive. I fully believe that he would be so broken by his Ben’s betrayal that he would give up rather than fight him (while Leia continues to do the latter). I also believe that he would risk his life to save his son’s soul.
Luke spends the majority of the movie disappeared. I don’t know why people were so surpriseded by his depiction in TLJ when it was so heavily foreshadowed in this movie that he had given up. His location is treated as a MacGuffin, and when Rey locates him the movie ends with a wordless confrontation between them. It’s one of the movie’s more effective moments.
The movie’s ersatz Yoda is Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), who doesn’t do much other than provide inciting exposition for Rey’s arc. She’s one of those Disney Wars characters who’s suspiciously been around the whole time without doing anything. Gwendoline Christie plays the anticlimactic Captain Phasma. Domhnall Gleeson plays General Hux, who seems a bit young for an O-7. BB-8 (puppeteered by Dave Chapman and Brian Herring) is a cute droid who’s nothing more than almost exact copy of R2 (Jimmy Vee, consulted by Kenny Baker) in personality. The rest of the cast includes Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Max von Sydow, Kiran Shah, Warwick Davis, Simon Pegg, and Daniel Craig and Michael Giacchino as stormtroopers.
The movie’s action is overall pretty good. Despite the awful plot twist that occurs during it, the lightsaber fight is one of the better ones, emphasizing brutality over choreography. A nice touch is Kylo’s punching himself to distract from the pain of an earlier wound. There is also a cool shot of Poe’s trouncing a bunch of TIE’s in an X-Wing. Unfortunately, the movie has a phoned-in rehash of the trench run from ANH that’s reduced to background noise. The Force Awakens also features some gaping plotholes in the form of Poe’s unexplained disappearance and reappearance, as well as the mysterious presence of Anakin’s lightsaber. The comic relief feels far too forced for a serious moive and causes serious tonal problems, a testament to Whedon’s corruption of the genre.
The Force Awakens was also a watershed moment in the aesthetic aspect of the culture wars. While the SJW movement was already alive and well, it still cared about quality in fiction. Believe it or not, radfems were just as annoyed by Mary Sues as anybody else, decrying them as insulting. Unfortunately, these people figured out that gaslighting us on basic things like plotholes was yet another exercise in power. Perhaps what triggered this was not only TFA, but Fury Road of the same year. The latter turned out to be well-liked because it was a well-executed feminist work. They learned that in order to be self-righteous about this stuff, they’d have to start praising terrible work, because we apparently can’t be trusted to dislike feminism in fiction.
The Force Awakens was disappointing, but it did have some potential that was squandered by The Last Jedi. I even remember liking Episode VII when it came out due to the refreshing nostalgia and some well-executed aspects. Unlike Star Trek, it was entertaining and had characterization, which reflected that, for all his ineptitude, Abrams had more passion for a Galaxy Far, Far Away than Boldly Going Where No Man Has Gone Before.
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