I have spent the past few days ruminating upon my experience in seeing The Force Awakens…essentially my disappointment outweighs my enthusiasm. I feel the corner has finally been turned. I am not certain I will endeavor to watch any further productions of the series…at least not in theaters.
I have arrived at this decision based on 12 main factors:
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The entire movie was a remake of A New Hope. Given the incredible amount of material available with which to craft a natural continuation of the Star Wars Universe the fact that an exact remake of the 4th movie suggests one of two possibilities: 1) a timidity on the part of writers/producers to stray from a winning formula or 2) a rational and cynical decision to provide viewers with the exact same film in order to maximize profits. In either case the suggestion is that we will be fed a steady diet of same in future releases. I would prefer to watch modified episodes 1 - 3 than endure a review of a film I have already seen.
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The dynamic among the Republic, the Resistance, and the First Order is seemingly thin to the point of breakage. The Resistance is resisting what exactly? It has tacit support of the Republic, but not its formidable funding? Why is it not simply a Republic force? Why is it labelled the Resistance if it’s sole function is to oppose the First Order? A resistance force is expected to be battling against an established regime and not merely a competing faction of the collapsed Empire. I would have welcomed the introduction of two or three alternate forces, each vying for control of the remaining Republic Empire. Having a Republic force supplemented by a Resistance each facing the same First Order is decidedly uninspired.
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Witnessing the conscience of one solitary Storm Trooper is interesting. However his immediate escape and subsequent collision with Rey is frustratingly simplistic. Lost was an entire chapter of the struggles of Storm Troopers to overcome their conditioning as Finn might have attempted to recruit others from among his fellows to his side…to form a fifth column element within the First Order. This fifth column could then have been the primary source of intelligence to the Resistance as well as the means by which the destruction of the new Star Killer base might have been achieved. There would have been no need for another Thermal Flaw in the Death Star design.
Further, Finn’s seeming lack of restraint in firing on his previous comrades seems surprising…for had he not lived and trained with these soldiers since his early childhood? Far from showing him up as a hero in such a scene it seems more to paint him as a particularly disconnected individual.
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The destruction at the Yellow Yoda’s castle does not seemingly make sense. The effort to recover a solitary droid required space ships to enter the atmosphere and utterly pulverize the very location where said droid was alleged to be found? Would not a party of ground troops had far greater success and at far less risk? For what may have prevented the data from being irrevocably lost seemingly was pure happenstance. This use of a crane to crack a walnut seemed extremely odd…even odder than Yellow Yoda.
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The loss of the primary Republic planets seems pointless. One would assume that ownership of the Republic seat of power would have been considered the entire purpose behind any effort to control the entire Republic: possession of this key system should have served to cement control. Instead, by having it removed from the equation, it appears the First Order has decided it would rather rule over a series of disparate frontier worlds instead of an entire civilization. While this could be understood as an act of desperation by a losing party, or an act of terror by an extremist ideology it is not quite plain that the First Order occupies either position.
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Rey’s ability to outforce a true adept at the Dark Side is patently absurd. Even if she had received training she had only done so until the age of 4 or 5. To what purpose must an individual such as Ren sacrifice all of his familial ties and goodness if he might be outfought by an adept with zero practical training? Clearly Ren as a villain has been removed from the equation. He will remain forever sitting in the snow in my mind. Any future plot devices allowing for his alleged strength have been permanently barred from further reality. He was handily defeated by two individuals who had never previously held light sabers. All future force training efforts need no longer apply. Any former Storm Trooper will suffice for a runner up, while any 5 year old in a woman’s body might complete the task.
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Ren should not have removed his mask. Masked, he was a formidable and unknown quantity. To attempt to humanize him from the beginning robbed the audience of the ability to fear him, to respect him, and then to finally realize his true depth at a later date. At this moment he is now little more than an overly emotional youth complaining of too much homework. His darkness has been replaced by meaningless angst. The effort to portray him as having a humanity beneath his mask has been thwarted by showing his killing of his own father for reasons hinted at (that he would gain in the use of the Dark Side) that only a few frames later are revealed to be false (he is handily beaten by two greenhorns working in single file). No convincing reason has equally been provided to explain his ferocious turn to the Dark Side. If it was due to Han having abandoned him as a child to chase after alien women then perhaps a more logical take might be made of both his inner angst and his hatred of Han, but it is made clear that his father left only after Ren turned evil.
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Snokes…this villain is ridiculous. Aside from the fact that his name is reminiscent of Snopes, he appears little more than a repeat of the Emperor…save this time we are treated to his entire visage instead of having something left to the imagination.
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A paucity of space battles, in spite of being the namesake of the entire series.
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The Starkiller base appeared to be a throwaway weapon. In consuming its system star the obvious consequence should have been the eventual lack of habitability of the planet and the loss of purpose of such a stationary weapon. Indeed destroying the third Death Star had little true purpose outside of saving the Resistance the hassle of relocating their evidently easily relocatable base.
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R2 and the map.
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Phasma and the shield. Having lowered the shield is bad enough, but she did this while both of her ‘captors’ were clearly distracted with their backs to her. No effort at resistance performing a task which must have appeared to be a death sentence…and why might the shield plausibly be deactivated in such a small control room far away from the main control center…? Certainly the lowering must have been noted and a counter command able to be issued from said center? Or is it to be believed that an individual must needs run down to this room in order to perform the function at that location?
I feel that a modern laziness in plot and purpose in action films has infected the new Star Wars films as well. It does not seem to be meaningful to hope that anything might improve in the near future.
Positives from the film? I enjoyed the effects. I enjoyed seeing Han Solo. The temperature of the film was more in line with the originals. Had I not previously seen it before as A New Hope I would have enjoyed it as a stand-alone film.
Rating 6/10
