Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

cinema, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

First off, the title: none of the modern SW films have had a good title, with 'Revenge of The Sith' coming closest to achieving a modicum of aptness and imagination, and that was mainly because it was a mirror of the original title for 'Return of The Jedi' which was to have been 'Revenge of The Jedi' until they remembered Jedi aren't supposed to be vengeful! 'The Force Awakens' is as nebulous as 'The Phantom Menace,' and since the Force never sleeps, rather equivocal, but we can take it as being poetic rather than literal, with the Force awakening in Rey during the film. Still, as soon as I heard the title I was a bit put off and right up until the opening title crawl, since the BBFC card had it as 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,' so my first thought was to wonder why no episode monicker. Fortunately 'Episode VII' stood proudly atop the familiar yellow text and all was well.

I've reached the age where I really don't care that much any more about things like the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare playing before the film, and didn't even notice that there was no Disney logo, just the Lucasfilm one. But it's a strange place to be for me, because back in the nineties and early 2000s, I would have been absolutely thrilled if Episode VII had been announced. I even liked Episode II back in those days and it's only on my recent watch through the double trilogy that I realised how weak that one was. But in the years since, beginning with Episode III, I was beginning to go off SW on the whole. I'd seen the Original Trilogy too many times and I'd aged, not a happy combination. So even when it was announced that Lucas had sold SW to Disney for over 4 billion, and that more films were forthcoming, I was only a little excited by the news, not full of joyous expectation.

I knew the SW name was still enough to get me in the cinema, when I'd begun to go off cinema visits in recent years, but I didn't have much anticipation. Still, I avoided all spoilers and knew very little going in, which I always think is the best way to watch a film, any film (unless it's historical, when it's good to know the context and surrounding events). I'd heard, though the reviews were almost universally positive, and as expected, it had become the highest grossing film of all time (inevitable on the name alone), that it was pretty much a rehash of 'A New Hope,' and I expected that, since after the prequels were generally considered disappointing once the hype had died down, they were sure to go as back to basics as possible in opposition. That's why I had some hope that the flavour and feel of the old films could be pulled off, even though it was directed by JJ Abrams who'd already made a SW film, using my own favourite franchise, 'Star Trek,' to pull it off! I've never been that impressed with Abrams' work, and although I ultimately liked the first of his Trek films, and the third 'Mission: Impossible,' neither lived up to the previous entries in their series', and 'Star Trek Into Darkness' didn't even live up to his first attempt at Trek.

He was clearly suited to the more fantastical, fantasy world of SW, but at the same time you know what you're going to get with him. A friend of mine who I saw Episode VII with, and who is a SW expert, said it best, describing them as 'playing it safe.' That may have been the best decision financially (as their profits proved!), but aside from my overriding feeling (more on which in a moment), I felt like there was very little, if anything, I hadn't already seen in the OT. This bit was taken from that film, that moment was from this film, it was all very derivative. Not to say it was boring, because it wasn't that, but the aforementioned overriding feeling I experienced was weirdness. It was insane that we're getting to see Han Solo, Chewbacca, 'General' Leia, and Luke Skywalker (or not!), after so many years, played by the actors that first brought them to life. This is what drew me, and likely the majority of people over the age of thirty, in to see it, because I realised something: SW is more for children. Just like the modern 'Dr. Who' or the Abramsverse Trek films, the style and the storytelling is still at a level that is aimed at children, and that's not enough for me these days.

It was weird to think that the entire span of my life has taken place between the last time these actors played their characters, and now, when they're reprising them. It's bizarre and uncomfortable, and I spent as much time considering mortality while viewing this film as I did concentrating on the actual events unfolding on screen. I supposed that's a good thing if a film makes you think, but I'm not sure it was the film itself as much as its position and connection to the past. I'm not saying the story and acting were juvenile, they were fine, and I certainly did not dislike any of the characters, unlike Anakin Skywalker in Episodes II and III, whom I detested! But I can't imagine that if Harrison Ford and the others hadn't been involved, I would have had much of any investment in the new characters. They were fine: Finn the Stormtrooper with a conscience, Poe Dameron whom I was immediately convinced was Luke's son thanks to some facial resemblance, and Rey, the modern Luke, though of course, this being the 21st Century, we must have a female version! Not to mention Kylo Ren, who turns out to be the son of Han and Leia.

As fine as the actors were, I was never going to see the magic spark in them that I saw in those original actors, simply because time has moved on, I can't be impressed any more, I feel I've seen every story and situation played out too many times to be surprised. I'm not even criticising the film, just the model upon which most 'big' films these days are based. Of the bunch, I felt Kylo Ren was probably the most interesting - at first I was noticing the parallels between the film and Episode IV (starting on a desert planet; young person ends up in space; involved with a mission; a droid must carry a message to the rebels, etc), and it was hard to miss the clonk on the nose of this character who might as well have been named Darth Vader: long black cloak, breathing apparatus, mechanical voice, evil servant of the Supreme Leader (…Snoke? Sounds like something from 'The Moomins'!), and to dismiss both the character and the story as being, again, derivative, unoriginal… but not boring. At least there was a bit of mystery to begin with, since Luke wasn't in posters or trailers and I knew there was something going on with him (the intriguing opening crawl points to finding him as being a major part of the plot, though I didn't expect it to be the plot in its entirety), my first suspicion was that he was somehow the bad guy in the mask. You soon realise this couldn't be so, since this character reveres Vader (even keeping the charred remains of his helmet, though I'd seen that image from the trailer), and wants to be like him, and Luke would never do that.

At the same time, the Luke I knew wouldn't abandon his responsibility to the galaxy and hole up somewhere, and I'm sensing some tragic backstory of how it was his fault that Kylo Ren ended up on the Dark Side, which will no doubt be revealed piecemeal through the coming films. That's another weird feeling: to be left in the dark. I'm so used to having the full saga spread before me, and as much as I don't like certain choices (much of Episodes II and III), I like having the answers, as disappointing as that was at the time. I'm not familiar with the lack of information and had to keep reminding myself that if I'd watched Episode IV the first time, I'd have been just as lost. The difference is that that film remains a seminal piece of work that I enjoyed just as much when I recently watched it, as when I had in the past, if not more, filling me with joy at the end. It's a self-contained story. I knew going in that this film would end on a cliffhanger, but I had not an inkling of how frustrating that would be! If I was disappointed about something in the film, it was that we never got to have the old gang back together in their entirety. Yes, we get Han and Chewie, and for a lot of people I'm sure that was the main draw, but I loved having C-3PO and R2-D2 (which even the prequels utilised better than this), as well as Han, Leia, Chewie and Luke (no sign of Lando, so I wonder if they'll bring him back in one of the films to come?).

It isn't that I expect to see all my favourite scenes recreated, but I had slight hopes that we'd have some form of Yoda (the old woman in goggles, Maz, who knows about the Force, despite not being a Jedi, was the closest thing: squat, old, wise, and possessing vital information as well as the lightsaber of the Skywalker family), and because his voice had been used in one of the trailers I even hoped for some kind of CG version of old Alec Guinness to bring his ghostly form back to 'life.' My expectations were generally low (Abrams, Disney, the title…), but I still harboured these ridiculous minor hopes. But of course they can't rely on old characters, this is a new SW for a new generation, and that's my point about it never developing into something new: like so much in life it gets to a certain point and resets, and younger viewers come along and find what I found in older films or TV, and so the cycle continues. About the only exception I've found to that rule were the first three (and a bit), Trek TV series'. It began in the sixties with a fun adventure show that had much promise, then 'TNG' came along in the eighties and enhanced and tightened the focus, then in the nineties 'DS9' (and to a lesser extent, 'Voyager'), built upon and ran with what had gone before, and I got to see this development (not all in order, but still), and marvelled at how it grew with me as I went from child, to teenager to adult.

That's the only example I can think of, and so you learn to accept what comes and try and enjoy those lesser years again through the eyes of the young who are coming to such things for the first time, and which will probably be as wild about these new films as I felt about the OT. But I realised that films aren't really made for me any more, and the things I grew up with haven't changed (except in ways I can find unpalatable, such as losing mystery, joy or logic). And yet I still have an opinion and I still want to write about these things, although I must say it's hard to have a complete opinion after watching this film once. I can't even truly say there's no mystery because the film does a good job of providing plenty of hooks for me to wonder about: what manner of creature is Snoke, who takes Palpatine's place as Lord of All Evil, Kylo Ren's master. Presumably he's Sith, and I hear rumours he could be Palpatine's own master, Darth Plagueis, though I'm sure the Emperor said even he couldn't defy death in the end. It does leave me wondering, even though I miss Ian McDiarmid's steady hand (except when he went crazy at the end of Episode III!), on the tiller of the Dark Side and being the glue that keeps things together. Why was Snoke shown so massive, does that reflect his actual size, or is it simply to glorify himself in front of his servants?

Having been primed and ready for a continuation of the saga after reading the Thrawn trilogy, which for many years was the definitive post-OT history, I knew that it was going to be all about the next generation, the children of the characters we know. So every young person that had a major role I expected, and assumed, were sons or daughters of the Skywalkers or Solos. It didn't even occur to me until quite late that Rey could be unconnected, but we didn't get any confirmation of her parenthood beyond the fact she didn't want to leave the desert planet of Jakku in case whoever left her there returned. Personally, seeing how the film was so heavily representative of the story and style of the OT (which is what people wanted), and as both previous trilogies were about following a main hero who was from the Skywalker family, and that Rey is the main character in this new trilogy, I'm betting she's Luke's daughter. There was no time for any confirmation or denial since we end with her returning Luke's lightsaber to him on that island. Two points to raise here: unfortunately, I'd recently seen the shooting location they used for this place, a tall green island with huts of slate, which had been used by monks or something, in a documentary about the history of monasteries, I think, so it really took me out of the film. And I was confused about the weapon - at first I thought they'd made a major booboo by saying this lightsaber was both Vader's and Luke's, but the green one was made by Luke. Ah, it's the blue one… But he lost that falling through Cloud City, so did Vader retrieve it? Just one more question to be answered.

The big event of the film was of course, the murder in cold blood of Han by his own son. I knew that Harrison Ford wasn't a fan of the character, and I knew he'd been offered a huge chunk of cash to reprise the role, so I also had a strong (and bad!), feeling that he was going to die in the film, even before I went in. As soon as I saw the bridge and that he was going to confront his estranged son on it, I knew he was going to fall and I never trusted Ren for a moment. So for me it wasn't a heartwarming moment of reconciliation between Father and son (like the end of Episode VI), and it wasn't a surprise when he got a lightsaber through the middle. But what a way to end such an iconic character! For Ren to really be a bad guy he had to do more than prance around pretending to be Vader, he had to show us how bad he was, so I knew that was coming, and I also knew he'd survive for future films, simply because he had to be damaged and mutilated so that he truly got his wish to be like Vader: to have all the pain and anguish like the real Vader had. And I liked that aspect of the character, that he was really nothing more than a foolish boy who idolised his Grandfather, a man he never knew, but had become this symbol to him, although Anakin himself would have been disgusted. It was the Vader before redemption that he cared about, but even that Vader would likely have only seen him as a threat and killed him, so it's like worshipping the devil: loving something that wants nothing better than to see you permanently and irrevocably ruined.

Which is exactly what happened, you get a lightsaber battle in the woods in the falling snow, and it was nice to see something real, without the CG acrobatics we'd come to expect from the (later) prequels. That's one key element that gave me hope from the earliest days that Episode VII was going to be done right: they were concentrating on reality, just like the OT, rather than the totally CG environments and characters which lacked weight and heft and physicality. I assume the space-based stuff was all CG, as they don't really do models any more, but the important stuff, with actors and sets, was to be done for real and that makes a difference. I was surprised that despite this, and that it was a 12A, only the second SW film to be rated such, that it was very child friendly. The characters weren't sexed up, the action and fighting wasn't gory, there wasn't the swearing you'd get in other 12A films, and in fact I was surprised it given a 12A. I think that was one of the positives of the film, it didn't try to needlessly shock - I suppose Han being 'sabered was an example of why it was given the rating, not so much for the actual penetration violence, which occurs below camera, but that a friendly old man is so suddenly murdered. Episode III's burning of Anakin's entire body certainly deserved a strong warning, but I'm not sure this film needed to be more than a PG.

Like a few other bits and bobs I'd picked up, I already knew about the overpowered lightsaber Kylo Ren has, with side shoots, and so I didn't spend any time tutting in my head, but it was a stupid idea, and just continues the trend that lightsabers aren't enough of a marvel, we have to have some kind of variation in each new encounter: the double-bladed version Maul had in Episode I was a logical development and created the best fight of the prequels, but then Christopher Lee simply had a bent handle in Episode II, and Grievous used four (to poor effect), in III. I also felt the whole idea of this First Order was unexplained and came from nowhere. What is the balance of power in the galaxy? Is this Order battling with the Resistance for supremacy, or is it a smaller entity slowly gaining momentum? Or is the Resistance the lesser force? None of this came through for me, and as for another Death Star being built… that was almost an aside, and even though they called it out and made sure to say on screen that this is NOT the Death Star, it's a 'Star Killer,' it really was, and was not handled effectively. The difference this time is that it can destroy multiple planets at once. Right. Starkiller was another thing that took me out of the reality of the film, too, as it was the name they were originally going to use as Luke's surname before they decided on Skywalker. It's a sly nod to those in the know, but it's too meta and too in your face to be acknowledging real world history.

I also found it hard to believe that Finn was able to survive a lightsaber blade slicing down his back! He's left on life support at the end of the film, but even so, he should have been dead! And he didn't look young enough to be on his first ever battle, I assumed early on (knowing there would be a Stormtrooper who leaves his army), that it would be the combined effect of all he's been through that finally causes him to question his motivation. That would have made for a deeper character and is another example for me of the film being fairly surface and not having the depth of an Episode V, despite Lawrence Kasdan, writer of that film, being one of the writers here (I reckon his was the good idea to make Kylo Ren a Vader follower and emulator). I liked Finn, just as I liked Rey, but I wasn't attached to them and I wouldn't have given a Gamorrean Guard if either had been killed. I am interested to hear Rey's backstory, and I do want to know why Luke became a hermit and I hope to see the old characters continue to be a big part of other episodes, but I think I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be, even though I kept my expectations low.

I did almost get a tear in the eye when Han and Chewie first board the Millennium Falcon, but as I said before, it was as much about me being confronted with my own lifespan, those around me, and the passing of time that made me feel almost irrelevant as an audience member - too old to be able to appreciate such things fully. I'm not saying I'm 'too intelligent' or 'advanced' for SW, because I still enjoyed the OT and some of the prequels when viewed recently, and perhaps when I've had a chance to view the film again on DVD, and especially when I've seen the whole trilogy and know the story, I may be able to reevaluate it, but at the moment, my impression is a little too much lukewarm attack of the clone, than Luke Skywalker, Return of the Jedi.

**