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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review


I consider myself a Star Wars fan. I've got the movies: DVD, Blu-ray, even Harmy's Despecialized Editions. I've got the figures, in both the standard and my preferred scales. LEGO Star Wars, resin kits, diecast vehicles...check, check, check. So when I hear other fans complaining about The Force Awakens not being "true" to the series, I get confused. Apparently they saw a different movie, because the Episode VII I saw was not only a solid movie in its own right, it was the first one in a long time that felt like a worthy successor to the franchise. It's difficult to discuss the movie without getting into spoilers, so consider this fair warning. SPOILERS AHEAD!

We start out on a good note with the opening crawl: good guys established, bad guys established, the mission to find Luke Skywalker established. Boom, done. No trade negotiations, political maneuvering, etc., etc. Star Wars works best when it keeps the overall plot simple and allows the details of the characters and setting to add interest.

The good just keeps coming. Stormtroopers are shown to be legitimate threats here; Poe Dameron is shown to be a good guy who genuinely cares about his mission as well as protecting his informant; Finn is shown to be conflicted about his mission and his role; Rey is shown to be resourceful and independent.

All of these are actually part of a larger improvement over previous installments: show, don't tell.

Dialogue has never been Star Wars' strong point. Harrison Ford once said to George Lucas, "You can type this shit, but you sure has hell can't say it," and several of the series' most famous lines were only saved by their delivery. Could anyone but Alec Guinness deliver "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him" and make it sound so wise? Would Han's borderline-incoherent babbling at the comm as he and Luke rescued Leia work with anyone but Ford delivering the lines? Conversely, Hayden Christensen does no favor for clunkers like "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere," and "Someday I will be the most powerful Jedi ever."

The Force Awakens skips most of that, keeping dialogue to a minimum and letting the actors actually tell the story. True, a few lines still fall flat, but for the most part things have been trimmed admirably. One example of this sleeker dialogue is characters' interactions with BB-8. Much like R2-D2, BB-8 "speaks" in a series of tones and whistles. In A New Hope, these noises would often be translated by a character repeating back what R2 said in the form of a question ("Use the comlink?") or argument ("Don't you call me a mindless philosopher"). In The Force Awakens, the interactions are much smoother and you can pick up what BB-8 says in a more natural context.

The best scene for this, however, is Kylo Ren's interrogation of Rey. There is over a minute of silence between the two as Kylo goes from aggressor to patsy as he faces a much stronger (though still unaware) Force user. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley totally own this scene, their faces going from confident to frightened and vice-versa. It's simply outstanding work from both of them.

In addition to the superior acting and writing, we also see a lot of top-notch action sequences in this movie...and like the dialogue, it all feels like its part of the story (compared to the cool but superfluous podracing in The Phantom Menace). Not only are they well done, these scenes also gave the audience a chance to really see what "the best pilot in the resistance" looks like in action. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan speaks of the exceptional marksmanship of Stormtroopers, and then we watch them miss every shot for the next two and a half movies. In The Force Awakens, Poe is called the best pilot and then proceeds to back it up by sniping the soldiers holding Han & Chewbacca hostage while piloting his X-Wing in a dogfight with TIE fighters. Once again we are shown, not told, and the movie is all the better for it.

Good action sequences are practically a staple of Star Wars movies. What was more surprising was how well the comedy worked. Gone is the slapstick of Jar Jar Binks and incessant use of one-liners we saw in the prequels, replaced primarily by the outstanding timing and delivery of John Boyega. He plays off of Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew and even BB-8 with admirable skill, keeping the movie from getting too stuffy or self-important.

There was really only one "down" moment of the film, the death of Han Solo. As far as death scenes go, however, it was handled brilliantly. The thought of someone outgunning or outmaneuvering Han is obscene. He didn't live this long to have a moon dropped on his head or some other nonsense. Instead, he was facing his son; trying to get Ben to turn away from the Kylo Ren persona he adopted when he turned to the dark side. Family being the only thing able to break through Han's defenses is the most believable and tragic possibility. The way it was filmed was also fantastic, with the last rays of the sun disappearing just as Ben/Kylo makes his final choice. The reactions from Chewie and Leia were perfectly done as well.

The final confrontation between Kylo and Rey was surprisingly well balanced. While Rey is the more powerful Force user, Kylo has had the proper training to wield his lightsaber - under normal circumstances, it would be no contest. Even considering his orders from Stoke to bring Rey in rather than kill her, he should have easily overpowered her. But Chewbacca hitting him with a blaster bolt slowed his reflexes enough to allow Finn (a trained combatant) to wound him in his dominant arm, leveling the playing field once it was time for Kylo and Rey to face off. It was a good way to cover this base while extending the overall final battle at the same time.

There are many more examples of solid filmmaking here, but suffice it to say that J.J. Abrams & co. have managed to pull off a thoroughly enjoyable and faithful addition to the Star Wars movies. While The Force Awakens is not perfect, it does a wonderful job of building on the existing universe and playing to the series' strengths while downplaying or outright omitting many of the weaknesses. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen so you can appreciate the scale of the battles and spacecraft. I prefer the 2D version of the movie, though I have to admit that a few shots—particularly an establishing shot of a Star Destroyer and a POV sequence from inside the cockpit of an X-Wing—looked pretty amazing in 3D.

Collector/Modeler Interest:
This is Star Wars by Disney. It's essentially impossible to not find something available in your preferred scale.


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