The biggest news of the entertainment world in the past week
has undoubtedly been the opening of the new “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” film. As already mentioned, I didn’t exactly join
in to the hype or fever but I did remain hopeful overall and shared in the
simple concept that this new film couldn’t possibly be worse than “Star
Wars: Episode I – The Phantom
Menace”. In my personal opinion, well, one
would really have to work very hard
and go way out of their way to make a film worse than that.
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a film aficionado, a
sometimes so-called “movie snob”, depending upon how you view film in
general. I’m therefore going to attack
this blog entry by wearing 2 different hats, both with my movie and film critic
hat as well as through a Star Wars fan’s eyes.
I’ve already covered how I was on the tail end of being a first gen Star
Wars kid (vs. THE actual Star Wars kid…look on YouTube, if you’re confused) and
so I feel qualified enough to navigate both areas and attempt to do them at
least a tad bit of justice. This will
not be a traditional movie review, however, since I feel that such turf is more
than adequately covered elsewhere.
Let me begin by saying a bit about my current hometown. When I stood in line for the dreaded “Episode
I” in Phoenix, AZ, I think the group that I was with was in line a total of
about 10-12 hours in order to see the film.
With “The Force Awakens”, though, I was able to pull a single seat primo
location ticket for opening day a mere 20 minutes before show time AND I was
still shocked to see that it wasn’t a sold out theater. For anyone who argues that the
Minneapolis/St. Paul/Twin Cities area isn’t a “small town”, I thus rest my
case. I was also kind of shocked to hear
a completely hushed, non-audibly excited audience all around me versus the
major cheers that occurred during the “Episode I” showing (of course, these
were cheers when the film started…it was more like sobbing by the time it
ended). Having said that, I really don’t
mind the fact that the theater wasn’t wall to wall people and that no one was
making noise, and I think in many ways it made me more able to take in the film
unbiased.
The previews seemed endless, like always. Seriously, folks, we need to cut down on the 20-30
minute trailer and commercial thing at movie theaters these days but that’s a
whole different blog entry. Finally, the
film started and it took so long that I almost forgot what movie I was about to
see (ok, not really). The film begins of
course in the exact same manner as all the others before it and my first
question was quickly answered: there was
absolutely no mention of Disney or a Disney logo anywhere in sight! I had been wondering for quite some time if
we’d see the iconic Disney castle first, or if they’d slip the Disney wording
somewhere into the beginning, but none of the above.
The famous slanted words came out in 3D fashion and I raced
against the clock to digest them as quickly as possible. I was less than impressed, quite
frankly. Seriously? There’s still drama going on in the galaxy
even after the destruction of the Empire, the Death Star 2nd Gen,
and Darth Vader?! Geesh, these people
just don’t know how to celebrate and live in peace, apparently! With that said, it also occurred to me that,
well, the wording is pretty lame and 3rd grade level writing in all
of the films so I quickly let it go and stayed optimistic, not to mention that
if there wasn’t some sort of useless drama, well, we probably wouldn’t have a
movie, right? I should also mention that
an initial puzzlement for me when the title of this film was announced was
something along the lines of…what do you mean ‘The Force Awakens’?! The force seemed pretty damn strong at the
end of ‘Return of the Jedi’. What did it
do…go on vacation or something??
Apparently, destroying your enemy and saving your lives isn’t ‘strong’
enough. Who knew?!
I’m not going to go scene by scene through the movie,
etc. Again, I’m sure there are countless
other blogs out there doing exactly that so I’m just going to skip around from
point to point, if that’s okay. Let’s
just cut right to the chase: with my
Star Wars fans’ hat on, the film is much to be rejoiced over. It’s fun, it’s got the cheesy interlaced
humor throughout the film, it’s got action, it’s got drama, and so on. The film completely LOOKS and FEELS like the
original trilogy and the only nod to the prequels is really in the cantina
scene with the character Maz Kanata.
Otherwise, the new film more or less can leave us first gen’er’s
forgetting that the prequel disaster ever happened which I’m 100% positive was
the intention. I think the overall
consensus with fans is that this was the movie we were hoping for about 20
years ago and it’s about darn time that it comes out. From a typical Star Wars fans’ viewpoint,
this is a hit, a 9 out of 10 scale film, and possibly a dream come true.
I completely enjoyed this film. I did go along for the ride, I just vegged
out with the story, and found it completely enjoyable. It’s inevitable, though, that my film
critic’s hat will come into play and here it certainly does. What’s my biggest complaint? It’s simple – J.J. Abrahms not only nailed
the look and feel of the original trilogy, but he and crew also basically COPIED
the original “Star Wars”, in my viewpoint.
I mean, they went sooooo out of their way to do so many nods to the
original trilogy that it kind of got annoying by the end of the film. The format of the movie also mirrors the
original “Star Wars” on so many levels.
For example, both films begin with an Empire/First Order “strong” scene
with the main character at that moment being in jeopardy; the droid with the
plans gets away, then ends up on a sandy planet, etc. We have mirrored cantina scenes with similar
characters and even the whole “we need to go to the Death Star and do a rescue”
thing is here, not to mention we have yet another freakin’ Death Star! Is a Death Star the only thing that anyone
can come up with in the Star Wars universe?
Yeah, sure, the Empire is now the First Order and the new Death Star has
a different name, but seriously? I can’t
give this film a ton of originality points and instead it seems that the entire
crew were so concerned that it go over well with Star Wars fans that they
didn’t want to stray whatsoever from the original format and instead basically
remade the movie without it actually being a reboot. I think nods to the original films are fine
but this movie went a bit overboard, at least with my movie hat on, that is. I think it’s obvious that the filmmakers took
the safest route possible with “The Force Awakens” in order to ensure a
sure-fire hit and a profitable investment for the Disney Company. Clearly no risks were taken here and only
already explored, successful ground was re-explored in a new film version.
Other issues? Like I
said earlier, how did the rebels not enjoy at least some peace and quiet and
much needed R&R post “Return of the Jedi”?
I have some issues with the congruency of the story at this point. In my eyes, the story could have taken a very
different twist and turn and it wouldn’t have taken too much of a brainstorming
session. For example, instead of the force
awakening, shouldn’t it be the First Order/Empire awakening? I feel that they could have easily done
something more along that route. There’s
also the typical Star Wars “everything happens so easily and coincidentally”
thing going on where characters just so conveniently run into one another over
and over even though there’s supposedly an entire galaxy of people and
creatures out there. For example, what a
bizarre and easy coincidence for Han and Chewbecca to find the Millennium
Falcon, and yet they couldn’t find it all those years prior? Hmm.
These things are usually written off by saying that the “force” is at
work here. If you ask me, it’s a lack of
originality and a need of propelling the story forward as quickly as possible.
Here are 2 more points...
Whereas I really like the actress and character of Rey, I feel that the
predictability of turning all of the characters in opposite gender roles from
the original was incredibly predictable and a bit of a cop out. Sorry – just my opinion on that one. Furthermore, Kylo Ren seemed so incredibly
vicious and almost as menacing as Darth Vader (and suspiciously looks quite a
bit like him, too…another ‘hmm’) but upon being de-masked and seeing Adam
Driver, um…? Whoever decided to cast
Adam Driver needs their head examined.
It was almost like, without the mask, it was a completely different
character and caused me a bit of confusion momentarily. I think that was probably the intention, to
show that there was a bit of a question mark about his loyalty to the Dark
Side, but I think it went a bit overboard, personally. Adam Driver doesn’t ever really scare as much
as flat out annoy me. In my eyes, he has
about as much presence on screen as an evil character as Chevy Chase being cast
as Napoleon.
My last complaint is that the film ends with the one and
only incredibly long shot of Luke Skywalker.
Why the very long shot? We all
know that Mark Hamill can’t act and this shot only reaffirms that nothing’s
changed with his acting “force” over the years.
Also, why not just leave that for the next film? Oh, I know why…we have to pay homage to
everyone from the original film, right?
Again, no risks were taken whatsoever and every nod to the original
trilogy had to be done. Tsk, tsk. And, speaking of how rehash this new film is
to the original, even the end of the film closes with the blowing up of (you
guessed it) the new “Death Star”, which we’ve all seen at least twice
before. I was seriously having déjà vu
in the theater, personally. After
thinking about it a bit, my attitude was why even bother blowing up the new
Death Star? Why waste the time?! They’re obviously just going to build
another, seeing as this is most certainly a group of people obsessed with
building Death Stars. In all
seriousness, I was quite disappointed that “Return of the Jedi” copped out way
back in 1983 with rehashing a new Death Star rather than doing something new
and original so to see yet another one in this film was a big snooze fest.
And so, there you have it.
From a Star Wars fans perspective, the film is mega enjoyable,
celebration worthy, and a sure fire hit, provided you don’t mind the fact that
you’re basically watching the original film all over again with just minor
tweaks; in a movie critics’ viewpoint, it’s got just as many flaws as the
original 1977 “Star Wars” and is basically a rewrite without actually being a
rewrite. There’s poor acting, terrible dialogue
and script writing, etc. My true
personal opinion? I think the original
Star Wars trilogy should have been completely left alone. There should have never been the prequels, or
further sequels past “…Jedi”, and Lucas should have surely not been allowed to
tamper with the films whatsoever. Leave
well enough alone, I say, but that’s not our society, now, is it? And so, the biggest question I left the
theater with was what happens now? The
film did a semi-successful hand off to the new cast but can the new cast really
carry it forward? I guess that remains to
be seen. One thing for sure is that the
Star Wars franchise is once again alive and well, at least financially and fan
based-wise, and from the rumors out at Disney, it’s not going away any time
soon. With that thought, let’s hope that
the force is with all of us because we’re probably going to need it…
