Star Wars: The Force Awakens
(Part 3 of 3)
Star Wars was always a big thing to me growing up. I still have fond memories watching Episode IV way back in the day on VHS. And, I remember seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater. So, seeing this movie being released was a big deal. Plus, this would be the first movie to not have the influence from George Lucas. Lucas made the prequels for himself, whereas this feels like a Star Wars movie for the fans, and not just neck-bearded ones either. But, you're going to get more out of it than a causal fan.
Given the 30 plus years have
passed, things in this universe have changed.
First off, the First Order is
clearly a stand in for Nazis, but there are hints of ISIS with the
way they recruit their personnel. They kidnap kids and brainwash
them. There is one scene that is clearly a callback to the Nazi
speeches with the army standing around listening to a speaker. This
actor in the scene invokes Hitler in his mannerism. It is a chilling
scene because it shows that the First Order is a militant off-shoot
of the Empire.
I like how the movie shows us how
dangerous this new threat is. Plus, the ruling body seems to be the
Supreme Leader Snoke, a person we now nothing about We know that he
is in tune with the dark side of the force, but nothing else. We
will see more about this guy in later movies.
Remember, we knew almost nothing
about the Emperor until the prequels.
Despite being more militant than
the earlier bad guys, the new enemy does have similarities to the
Empire. They still use storm-troopers with a slightly different
design. And, I love the updated streamlined appearance of the iconic
design. (Plus, there are female storm-troopers.) Like the Empire,
they use TIE fighters and star destroyers. I like they didn't change
these things within the 30+ year jump ahead. However, I like how
clean the First Order's bases and ships looked compared to the
Resistance.
The Resistance isn't as fully
explained as the First Order. I actually had to do some research
online in order clear up some confusion. The Resistance is very
similar to the Rebel Alliance, but there is another government called
the New Republic. The New Republic is a separate body from the
Resistance. They're allies in this movie, but not the same thing.
That was one of the weaker parts
about the story. It seemed the writers wanted to shy away from the
prequels so much that they removed a lot of the political back
history. This had to do with a lot people complaining about there
being too much history in the prequels.
There is another problem with the
movie.
The super weapon is sort of an
after-thought I felt. The super weapon isn't the central thrust of
of two acts of the movie, but it is plopped in the third act. While
I liked the actual use of the Starkiller, it is never fully explained
how it operates. And, I felt it needed to be fleshed out. And,
that's kind of a shame, because the Starkiller is a total badass
weapon. And, I won't give away what the Starkiller does, but it is
pretty cool. I just wanted more. From what I heard, there was about
50 minutes cut from the movie. So, some of the issues could have
been solved in the those said minutes. I going to do some research
into this. However, it does feel like the super weapon was a new
addition to the script late in the game. It doesn't feel as organic
as the other plot points.
With a new creative force, we get
to see some new designs that still fit into the Star Wars universe.
The creature and aliens are pretty much new and it gives us something
we haven't seen before. Plus, we also get to see relics from the old
battles during the civil war (not the clone wars). These relics are
buried in the sand with a bunch of scavengers picking apart anything
worth finding.
ILM did an outstanding job with
the special effects and they work on so many levels. Every space
battle and chase scene looks amazing, but not crowded like the
prequels' scenes. The ships look sleeker and bigger and the actions
scenes are bigger, but not overdone. ILM and JJ show restraint in
the same manner as the Star Trek movies, It also seems there aren't
as many green screen shots and the ones that are used aren't
noticeable. While Lucas relied heavily on the green screen, JJ does
lean on real locations and sets enhanced by ILM's special effects.
Like the prequels, he does use
CGI characters, but they appear more realistic than Jar-Jar and some
of the other CGI characters. I like the character of
Maz
Kanata
and she is a CGI character. Maz is restrained, but she has an
interesting look that you don't see in real life. There are a few
creatures here and there that are CGI creations as well and they're
really cool looking. This is how you use CGI.
John Williams' score fits the
movie, plus there is a sense of energy and newness. Surprisingly,
the score has a lot of new themes and doesn't rely on the old themes.
The Empire theme only makes one appearance in the movie, which
surprised me. I thought Williams would have made the First Order a
re-used version of the Empire theme. However, even the First Order
theme is brand new. Rey's theme is a nice entry to the SW catalog of
SW themes. They do use some of the older themes but sparingly.
Despite some plot problems, The
Force Awakens is a fun and entertaining movie with lots of great
moments. There are new characters that are very interesting and the
acting is top-notch. The editing is good as always with
a J.J.
Abrams
. Abrams shows he
has a love of the material by using the best people to make his
vision of the franchise. This is a fitting tribute to the original
trilogy and I love this movie. It feels like a new Star Wars movie.
Grade: A-
