Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) Film Review

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) Director: J.J. Abrams

“There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?”

★★☆☆☆

In 2012, George Lucas controversially sold LucasFilm to the Walt Disney Company for several billion dollars, causing shockwaves throughout the “fandom menace.” At the time, Lucas explained that he was getting older, and that his company had no major plans for upcoming films, nor any succession plans for the future. Meanwhile, Disney saw in LucasFilm a highly valuable company with more than one lucrative intellectual property, including both Star Wars and Indiana Jones –and the appeal of Star Wars was particularly attractive being the most popular franchise of all-time. With it came the promise of new merchandising deals, movies, spin-off shows, as well as new attractions at Disneyland based on the Star Wars saga. All of this was simply too alluring to ignore. George Lucas then appointed Steven Spielberg’s former assistant and fellow producer, Kathleen Kennedy, to serve as the new President of LucasFilm. Previously, she was an associate producer who worked on several Lucas and Spielberg blockbusters. It is rumored that she made a number of internal political moves to better align herself with the vision of Disney for the Star Wars franchise, against the wishes of George Lucas.

When the ink was barely dry on the deal, several directors were considered for a new Star Wars reboot series –everyone from Steven Spielberg, to Guillermo del Toro and even Ban Affleck (can you imagine?) until they eventually settled on J.J. Abrams, the creative force behind several action-packed films, like Star Trek, as well as Armageddon, and the Lost television series. Michael Arndt (of Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine fame) was the original writer of the script, but when he requested more time, his request was rejected and he departed the project. Abrams then brought in legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to help draft the script for a new Star Wars film (Kasdan was the famous writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi from the original trilogy). Abrams also recruited much of the surviving original cast (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and others). George Lucas served as a minimal “creative consultant” role early in the creation of the film, but otherwise he played no part. He later stated that Disney discarded his original ideas for the film and he had no further part in the project. Lucas has since expressed dissatisfaction on several occasions with the Star Wars reboot series, even disparaging Disney as “white slavers.”

When drafting a script, Abrams felt the new film needed to return fans to the familiar terrain of the original series, rather than the disorienting CGI extravaganza of the prequels. For much of the filming of The Force Awakens, the script was locked away carefully inside a safe, protecting it from external leaks. The plot for The Force Awakens takes place approximately thirty years after the fall of the Galactic Empire, and yet somehow another new fascistic power, the First Order, has risen from the ashes of the old empire. How? Where did the First Order come from? Does this diminish the victory of the rebellion over the Empire in the original series? Answers are never given. At any rate, a small, rag-tag group of New Republic defenders called “The Resistance” (previously the triumphant rebels) join together under the leadership of Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). And this Resistance group is now desperately hoping to locate Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who has inexplicably disappeared somewhere in the galaxy. Poe Dameron (portrayed by Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac) is an independent fighter pilot of the Resistance and is clearly a knock-off Han Solo-esque character in the film. He travels to the remote desert planet of Jakku in search of an ancient mystic and an old friend of the defunct Jedi order named Lo San Tekka (Max von Sydow) –a new character who has inexplicably found a map leading to Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To where an ancient Jedi temple sits on a remote island. Where did he acquire this map to Luke Skywalker? How did Poe find him? Oh well, Poe simply retrieves the map (the film’s MacGuffin) leading to the supposed location of Luke Skywalker. But suddenly, the First Order appears and captures and kills Lo San Tekka. Why would Kylo Ren kill this mystic? Wouldn’t his information be potentially helpful? And why does Kylo Ren then suddenly capture Poe and decide to torture him over time? Why wouldn’t he have done the same to Lo San Tekka? At any rate, Poe manages to send the map fragment in a droid called BB-8 in the hopes of making it back to the Resistance (sound familiar?) Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver as a young carbon copy of Darth Vader) orders his stormtroopers to kill all the local villagers –where did the First Order gain all of its resources? How didd they manage to amass a new army of stormtroopers? Anyway, one stormtrooper feels conflicted about killing innocent civilians. His name is FN-2187 or simply “Finn” (played by John Boyega, a British Nigerian actor who turned down a role in a Jesse Owens biopic in order to appear in Star Wars). In my view, John Boyega’s character could have been an incredible story to explore –a recalcitrant stormtrooper with a dark past– but alas we are given no backstory for Finn in this haphazard trilogy, and his character is mostly discard as a cartoonishly silly fool. It was a true opportunity missed.

Back on his ship, Kylo Ren tortures Poe, but while imprisoned, FN-2187 secretly rescues Poe. Because of the name “FN” Poe officially gives him the name “Finn.” The two escape in a TIE fighter together. They fly to Jakku in search of the missing droid with the map to Luke Skywalker (but this is against Finn’s wishes because he simply wants to escape the First Order which will surely kill him). However, during their escape, the pod is shot down by the First Order and it promptly crashes in the desert on Jakku (a crude parody of Tatooine in the original series). When Finn awakens, he discovers that Poe is nowhere to be found (what exactly happened to him in the crash? This is never fully explained.) Finn leaves the site of the crash and stumbles through the parched desert into a junk trading station in the desert where he also meets Rey, a young but capable junk trader who is now in possession of BB-8 (Rey is played by a British actress, Daisy Ridley). These introductory scenes of Rey scavenging inside old downed Star Destroyers are some of the most beautiful, sweeping images in the whole film. Finn claims to be a member of the Resistance to avoid attention and shame, and to impress Rey, but suddenly the First Order arrives and attacks the outpost. Rey and Finn join forces, despite meeting only moments prior, and they jump into an old “junk” ship that hasn’t flown in years (the Millennium Falcon of course) however, they are soon captured by another ship operated by none other than Han and Chewbacca. Somehow, Han and Chewbacca managed to locate the Millennium Falcon in deep space. Han and Chewie are in the midst of a confrontation with a band of smugglers to whom they are indebted. In the course of the confrontation, the smugglers spot the BB-8 droid that the First Order is looking for, but Rey accidentally opens several hatches on this freighter ship releasing giant deadly Rathtar creatures who then slaughter the gangsters while crew escapes together on the Falcon. In the scenes, Han unfortunately seems tired, jaded, decrepit and incompetent –like a caricature of his role in the original trilogy– while Rey is portrayed as superior, devoid of inner conflict, and infinitely capable of accomplishing anything. Tragically, she is a bland, milquetoast choice for the protagonist of this series.

Meanwhile, the First Order have been constructing another giant planetary-killing base (a crude parody of the original Death Star, only this time much bigger and now called “Starkiller Base”) and the Supreme Leader Snoke (who is apparently some sort of Sith, though his story is never explained) orders the weapon to be used. Snoke also interrogates Kylo, his apprentice, about why the prisoner, Poe Dameron, escaped and he questions Kylo’s feelings toward his father, Han Solo. Meanwhile on the Falcon, Han examines the map to Luke Skywalker and notices that it is incomplete. He explains the backstory of Luke –apparently, Luke grew disillusioned with the Jedi and went into exile after attempting to train Kylo before his turn to the dark side. Lamentably, we are given no character development of Rey or Finn at this opportune moment. Who exactly are these superficial cartoonish characters? Then, in an odd interlude, the Falcon travels to a forest planet called Takodana to meet Maz Kanata (voiced by Lupita N’yongo), a cantina owner, whom Han believes can help deliver the droid with the map to the Resistance. Meanwhile, Finn has an internal conflict over the situation and he longs to escape to the outer rim in order to flee the First Order (up until this point, he has been posing as a Resistance fighter). Rey hears voices in her head and the force mysteriously guides her into a basement where she happens to find the lightsaber of Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker (how did this lightsaber end up here?) Maz simply brushes aside this deeply important question, claiming it is a story “for another time.” Is this a joke? Why would Luke’s lightsaber simply be sitting in Maz’s basement? There are simply far too many goofy, convenient coincidences in this film. Anyway, Rey flees the scene after experiencing a confusing vision that ends with the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Then, suddenly the First Order attacks Takodana but the crew are rescued by Poe and other Resistance fighters. How did Poe survive the crash on Jakku? Where di he go in the middle of the desert? Why didn’t he try to find Finn sooner? None of this makes much sense and is a bit of an eye-roll. Then Kylo shows up and captures Rey, but she quickly escapes realizing she has the power of the Force –she uses a Jedi mind trick on the jail guard despite the fact that she has no training or experience, and has never met a Jedi. How does this make any sense? Luke was not able to perform Jedi mind tricks until after significant training from Yoda, yet this random junk trader can now miraculously use the force with the command of a Jedi Master? This is painfully ridiculous. Meanwhile, the Resistance launches an offensive against the Starkiller Base by planting explosives inside its oscillator outpost. Han confronts his son “Ben” Kylo Ren who promptly kills his own father, Han Solo, with a lightsaber –a horridly mediocre death for a fan favorite character– and Rey is reunited with the Resistance. Chewbacca shoots and wounds Kylo and detonates the explosives, before Kylo chases Finn and Rey out into the snowy woods and he quickly defeats and badly wounds Finn in a lightsaber battle (though an untrained, non-force sensitive Finn still manages to do some damage to Kylo in another ridiculous plot-point), but it is actually Rey who proves to be a formidable opponent as she nearly destroys Kylo (despite having never used a lightsaber before) and the only thing that saves Kylo is a massive earthquake from the splintering and fissuring planet which divides the ground between them in two. The Falcon shows up and rescues Finn and Rey. Snoke orders an evacuation and a rescue of Kylo, as well. The Resistance mourns Han’s death, but suddenly R2-D2 awakens and reveals his possession of the rest of the map leading to Luke to the Resistance, thus allowing Rey and Chewbacca to fly the Falcon to the remote island planet of Ahch-To where they find Luke alone at the end of the film. The Force Awakens ends as Rey hands the prized lightsaber to Luke.

As expected, there was a somewhat substantial fandom push-back against this film, with internet memes circulating calling J.J. Abrams “Jar-Jar” Abrams, but in all, this film was better than I expected for a franchise commandeered by Disney in order to make top dollar for its shareholders. Its sole purpose seems to be the selling of toys and other merchandise. Nevertheless The Force Awakens is an occasionally fun albeit extremely safe and mediocre film, with many confusing, unexplained, and convenient plot-holes. And even though the story is more or less a direct re-telling of A New Hope, The Force Awakens is still a watchable film all things considered. One major point of criticism, however, concerns the unfortunately caricature-esque batch of new characters: Rey can apparently accomplish anything without training or experience; and Finn, who is he? Where does he come from? Why does he, alone, have the moral fortitude to leave the First Order? What is his backstory? His character arc could have been one of the more compelling ideas to emerge in the Disney era, but I suppose his future remains to be seen. Hopefully, future films will redeem his character. And also how does Poe survive the crash-landing on Jakku only to mysteriously appear at a convenient moment later in the film? Who exactly is the First Order, where did they come from and how did they rise to power? Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? For me, questions abound with this film and the plot is mostly questionable. Following the typical formula of Hollywood remakes, substance is sacrificed for flashy explosions in The Force Awakens –it is ultimately a guarded film that ignores much of the fandom literature, and it attempts to shove every possible corporate-creative idea into the plot, barely slowing down to catch its breath and it introduces a bevy of bland new characters. Admittedly, the directors of yesteryear were able to accomplish far more with a lot less with the practical effects. Pacing is a key element missing in many modern Hollywood movies like The Force Awakens, a derivative film which is sadly hell-bent on merely “re-imagining” a classic from decades gone by.

Return to my survey of the Star Wars series

Credits:

• Director: J. J. Abrams
• Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, Michael Arndt
• Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
• Starring:
  • Harrison Ford…..Han Solo
  • Mark Hamill…..Luke Skywalker
  • Carrie Fisher…..General Leia Organa
  • Adam Driver…..Ben “Kylo Ren” Solo, son of Han Solo and General Leia Organa
  • Daisy Ridley…..Rey
  • John Boyega…..Finn, a former stormtrooper
  • Oscar Isaac…..Poe Dameron, the best X-Wing fighter pilot in the Resistance
  • Lupita Nyong’o…..Maz Kanata
  • Andy Serkis…..Supreme Leader Snoke
  • Domhnall Gleeson…..General Hux
  • Anthony Daniels…..C-3PO
  • Peter Mayhew…..Chewbacca
  • Max von Sydow…..Lor San Tekka, an old man searching for Luke Skywalker
• Cinematography: Dan Mindel
• Edited by: Mary Jo Markey, Maryann Brandon
• Music by: John Williams
• Production companies: Lucasfilm Ltd., Bad Robot Productions
• Other Notes:
  • A whole crop of famous actors appear in uncredited or minor roles in this film, including Daniel Craig and Nigel Godrich (as stormtroopers). Daniel Craig plays the stormtrooper that Rey performs her Jedi mind trick on. Fans dubbed him JB-007. Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s producer) makes a cameo as stormtrooper FN-9330, and composer Michael Giacchino, who has composed music for many of J.J. Abrams projects, plays stormtrooper FN-3181 who pushes Poe Dameron down in front of Kylo Ren.
  • Simon Pegg plays the alien creature, Unkar Plutt, to whom Rey sells her scavenged parts.
  • In the bar on Takodana, a song is being sung by Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame). There’s also a second voice, that of director J.J. Abrams.
  • Almost every project Abrams has ever produced, directed, or been otherwise involved with, has contained a substantial role, a cameo or at least a reference to his childhood friend Greg Grunberg, who plays “Snap Wexley” in this film. Also in the film, Rey mentions “Kelvin Ridge” to BB-8. J.J. Abrams tend to incorporate the name of his maternal grandfather, Henry Kelvin, into all of his projects.
  • Harrison Ford was reportedly the most difficult star to obtain, as he had long ago wanted his character of Han Solo to die. Ford was paid $25M for the film plus royalties (0.5% share of revenue). In contrast, he was previously paid $10K for the first Star Wars film in 1977. Ridley and Boyega were each paid $476K plus a share of revenue if it grossed over $1B. Fisher was paid $1.5M and Abrams was paid $5.1M plus a 2% share of revenue.
  • During filming, Harrison Ford suffered a severely rolled ankle (it apparently rolled 90 degrees) when a piece of the hydraulic door on set of the Millennium Falcon fell on him. They needed to finish filming him from the waist up while Ford continued to hobble around for his scenes. And also, Abrams suffered a fractured vertebrae when he tried to help lift the door off of Ford. Abrams kept this injury a secret.
  • When Finn and Rey ask Han if he is THE Han Solo, he replies, “I used to be,” which is a reply Ford himself regularly uses when fans ask if he is Harrison Ford.
  • During Rey’s vision in Maz Kanata’s basement, the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi can be heard as a mixture of Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor, along with other sounds like Darth Vader’s breathing.
  • The brief clip of Starkiller Base destroying a planet is of “Hosnian Prime.”
  • Billie Lourd, daughter of Carrie Fisher, appears as Connix, a lieutenant in the Resistance in this and subsequent films.
  • Gwendoline Christie portrays Captain Phasma, and Dave Chapman and Brian Herring served as puppeteers for BB-8, with Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz credited as the “Vocal Consultants.”
  • The first words in this film are “This will begin to make things right…” uttered by Lor San Tekka (Max von Sydow) –perhaps a subtle declaration by J.J. Abrams intended to correct the course of Star Wars after the abysmal reception of the prequels decades earlier.
  • Portions of this film were shot in Abu Dhabi and Ireland (Skellig Michael island), as well as England and California.
  • FN-2187 was likely a nod to Leia’s jail cell in A New Hope (cell number 2187).
  • The famous Wilhelm Scream can be heard when Poe and Finn escape in a TIE Fighter.