For my first blog I find it fitting to make it about my favorite movie franchise of all time, Star Wars. If you’ve lived under a rock the past couple of years then you need to know that a little new movie just came out called Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens directed by J.J. Abrams. As of this writing the movie is breaking financial records left and right and hasn’t even hit China yet. It just broke the Worldwide Opening Weekend Box-Office record with $529 million previously held by Jurassic World with $525 million with the added benefit of being released in China the same weekend. The movie is not only getting very positive reviews from fans but it currently sits at a 95% Certified Fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com from movie critics. Needless to say the movie is good and it’s been a long time coming. And it all started with a $4 billion acquisition made by Disney to Lucasfilm. I want to get into a review for this movie but first off ***SPOILER WARNING***!!!
There now that that’s out of the way…
I’ve seen this movie 4 times as of this writing and I must say it’s gotten better each time. Now I’m not saying that it was bad the first time I saw it. The first time I saw it, there were so many emotions going through me and I was trying to take in as much as possible but you just can’t in the first sitting you need at least 2 more times to take in everything. Let’s get into this review shall we?
THE OPENING CRAWL:
IT HAS “EPISODE VII” IN THE CRAWLER!!! OK I know to some of you that might not seem like a big deal but really it is. See the marketing was not including “Episode VII” and so it was making me and quite a few fans nervous about whether “Episode VII” would show up in the crawler or not. The guys on a podcast I listen to called Rebel Force Radio were also concerned that it might not have “Episode VII” in there as well but alas it did and it made me happy!
The very first line in the crawler almost had me to tears but I was trying to read the whole thing and take it all in. The line is “Luke Skywalker has vanished.” When you read that how does that not make you immediately excited about this movie?!
The entirety of the opening crawl isn’t the best that has come from Star Wars it does lack that George Lucas touch that you get from the other crawls. Other than that it was great seeing that opening crawl back and with “Episode VII” in there as well!
CHARACTERS:
- Rey:
Who is this girl? Unfortunately we aren’t told who she is or where she’s from. All we do know is that she is on this desert planet called Jakku and that she’s been waiting for years for her family to come back and get her. We find out later that she is very strong with the Force but how does she use or know how to use the Jedi mind trick? Was she taught before to use the Force? What is this character’s back story? We can only guess until books come out or Episode VIII comes out. We do know that the lightsaber that Luke had in Episode V and his father Anakin had before that, calls to Rey in this movie. Does that mean she’s a Skywalker? Luke’s daughter maybe? I am very much looking forward to seeing this character fleshed out and grow. Hopefully we’ll get a really good glimpse at what Jedi training is like in Episode VIII. She is played by Daisy Ridley who just absolutely stole the movie. You couldn’t tell that this was her first movie ever and she nailed it!
- Finn/FN2187:
We first see Finn as a stormtrooper with the designation number FN2187. He has no other name besides his designation number because he was taken at birth to be a part of the First Order and “programmed” or brain washed to become a stormtrooper. Him and Poe Dameron steal a TIE Fighter to escape the First Order and Poe gives him the name Finn based on the letters in his designation number. He is a character that wants to do the right thing but is terrified by the First Order because he’s seen what they’re capable of. As far as we know he is not Force-sensitive. He is a character that all he’s known was serving in the First Order and never knew his family. He is played by John Boyega who is known for his role in Attack the Block and also the re-release of the 24 TV series. The chemistry between John Boyega and Daisy Ridley was off the charts and excellent!
- Poe Dameron
To finish out what will more than likely be the main three in this new trilogy, Poe Dameron is easily one of my favorite characters and “the best pilot in the galaxy” as Oscar Isaac put it in an interview. If you read the comic series Shattered Empire, you get a glance at Poe’s past. Both of his parents fought in the Rebellion and were pilots. He seems to be light-hearted and not afraid of much of anything. There’s a scene at the beginning of the movie where Kylo Ren confronts Poe and Poe’s response is “So do you talk first or do I talk first?” Unfortunately we don’t get a lot of dialogue from him but it seems like he will bring the witty sarcastic side to this group. He is by far the best star pilot in the Resistance. There’s a scene during the raid on Maz’s castle where you see just how good he is. Poe is played by Oscar Isaac who was in Ex Machina and will be Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse. He is well on his way to becoming one of the next great actors of our time.
- Kylo Ren:
Now Kylo Ren is a very interesting character. There is alot to this character. He has a very dynamic personality. He’s rough around the edges, has a short fuse, lots of anger and rage, and yet he’s very conflicted. He is the first character and I should say darkside character that we’ve ever seen in Star Wars that has felt a pull to the lightside. We find out in the movie that he was being trained by Luke Skywalker when Luke was training new Jedi. Somewhere along the lines Kylo Ren, who’s real name we find out is Ben Solo, went to the darkside and destroyed everything that Luke was trying to accomplish. We know that he was seduced by Supreme Leader Snoke to go to the darkside. But we don’t know how Snoke did that or why Kylo chose to go to the darkside. It does seem like he knows who Rey is though. There’s a scene in the film where an officer comes to tell Kylo the news that they lost the droid, he then goes into a tantrum and destroys a bunch of computers and asks if there’s anything else, the officer tells him about a girl and Kylo looks at him, Force grabs him, and asks “What girl?”. So it seems that he knows who she is. Snoke tells Kylo that he will be tested. And Kylo’s father Han confronts him inside Starkiller Base and Kylo kills him because he is being pulled by the lightside and he thinks he can defeat that pull by killing his father. We are led to assume this was Kylo’s final test to decided whether or not Snoke would finish his training. I am very much looking forward to seeing this character get stronger and to get more background on him as well. Kylo Ren is played by Adam Driver who is famous for being in the Girls TV series on HBO. He is also from Mishawaka, Indiana. Being from Indiana myself I think that’s pretty cool. I thought Adam Driver played this character very well and he has a really cool deep dark voice. In my first viewing there were a few laughs when Kylo Ren took the mask off. I think people were expecting him to look more damaged but he wasn’t very scary looking without the mask. That seems like that will change in Episode VIII now that he has an Anakin scar on his face. It also seems like his lightsaber was destroyed so we should get a more true-to-form darkside lightsaber once his training is complete.
Most of the other characters are either from the OT or they don’t have much story/back story to them. Snoke and General Hux being a couple of characters we don’t know much about. Except that Snoke seems to have been around for a long time and knows alot about what’s happened in the past. He definitely is someone that J.J. has said is a vulnerable character but also a very powerful character. He’s got 2-3 scenes in TFA but it’s a gigantic hologram of the character so who knows if what we’re seeing is really who he is. General Hux is a young general in the First Order. He seems to have risen in rank rather quickly and is ruthless. He has an abnormal amount of faith in his troopers. Claiming them to be programmed from birth to fight. Kylo Ren on the other hand suggests the use of a clone army (nice nod to the prequels).
Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher as Han Solo and General Leia Organa respectively, came in and owned their roles 32 years ago. Neither one missed a beat! I was surprised by how well Carrie Fisher did! I really didn’t know how her portrayal of Leia would be after so long but she nailed it. Harrison Ford back as Han Solo seemed like he never even left that role. His banter with Chewie sometimes was great! He was Han Solo again in a very Han Solo-centric movie! It was great seeing that character come full circle as well, in that he accepts that the Force and the Jedi and the darkside was all real. Harrison did finally get his wish to see Han Solo die hoping to save his son. Unfortunately Luke was not in it enough to comment on Mark Hamill’s performance but what I saw at the end made me super excited for the next one!
BB-8 was such a fun droid in this movie! My favorite BB-8 moment though was when he used his little flame as a thumbs up to Finn. They added so much emotion to this little droid that it made you want to have one for yourself. His banter back and forth with Finn and his loyalty to his master (Poe Dameron) were just so neat to see. I hope to see him, C-3PO, and R2-D2 together in the next movie.
MUSIC:
John Williams is back with a brand new Star Wars soundtrack and I loved every minute of it! My two favorite pieces are Rey’s Theme and Jedi Steps. Rey’s theme has that sound of wonder and light heartedness but with the sense of adventure. The Jedi Steps piece has that sense of mysticism with a Force vibe to it. I could definitely see it becoming a sort of Jedi temple or Jedi training or Jedi in general theme. Snoke’s theme was genuinely creepy with the deep low chant going on the whole time. I will definitely be listening to the next Rebel Force Radio Star Wars Oxygen podcast episode where they will discuss the music for TFA.
STORY:
As far as the story goes for this film it’s almost beat for beat with Episode IV. It parallels with ANH so much that you could almost play them side by side and see a similar scene on both. That is not a bad thing though. It was a good launch pad for a new trilogy and a new set of stories. It moved quick but it gave you a moment to breathe here and there.
Starkiller Base definitely seems like a rehashing of the Death Star but it was much bigger and much more dangerous. In fact it was a planet and the First Order turned it into a weapon which I thought was really neat. It would grab the energy of the nearest star killing the star and then shoot out multiple beams that could destroy entire star systems. But when Poe destroyed it, since it had harnessed a star’s energy, itself became a star.
All in all the story worked, it was fast paced, and fun. It felt like Star Wars but updated. Like I said in the beginning I’ve seen it 4 times and I want to see it again! The ending was perfect and it made me ready for Episode VIII!
I hope you enjoyed this little review! Feel free to leave a comment or get in contact with me via email, Facebook, or Twitter.
May the Force be with you!