5/5 Stars
When I was about 10 years old, my family, being white and middle class, decided to take a trip to Berkeley and Jensen’s. At the end of one of the aisles was a small 10 inch cathode ray television set that had already started to play a movie: “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Heroic Luke Skywalker was fighting the Imperial forces on snowy Hoth; I was immediately hooked. I stood there on the concrete floor watching intently as the events on Dagobah and Cloud City unfolded while my parents did their shopping. Only shortly after Vader’s famous “I am your father” line to Luke did I have to leave, but the die was cast: I was in love with “Star Wars.”
But then later on, I saw the prequels. They tarnished “Star Wars” with their half-baked scripts, sterile acting, lackluster direction, plot inconsistencies, miserable attempts at political discourse, tangled subplots, flamboyant special effects, the existence of Jar-Jar Binks as sophomoric comic relief and ad nauseum. Some naïve apologists will try to write off these cinematic blunders as “not that bad.” But at the end of the day, the portmanteau “anticipointment” (hype followed by dissatisfaction) was coined in response to the prequels, not a good sign.
However, the power of “Star Wars” transcends the generational boundaries. In 1977, my mother was 14 and babysitting for a couple that went out the night that “New Hope” premiered. The original saga captivated the world’s minds with cinematic splendor and fantastic adventure. But those were our parents’ movies; our generation was handed pandering, commercial drivel that failed to be a novel incarnation. But now, Abrams and company delivered the proper reboot.
Millennials are sick and tired of poorly written roles for women and people of color (assuming any at all); we want to see living human beings, not disparaging stereotypes on the screen. “The Force Awakens” delivers on this measure. Finn, a black stormtrooper deserter, is put front and center in the narrative as he tries to flee the fascist First Order. Rey, a female scavenger, is not typecast as a damsel in distress who needs saving but as a strong character capable of cunning resistance. She also struggles with picking up the call to heroism and other realistic problems of identity, rather than just with finding a man. The icing on the cake is that none of these measures felt forced; Finn and Rey were written as they should be: as people.
Recently, filmmakers have been increasingly more heavy-handed with CGI that clogs the screen and acts as a crutch for bad plot, evidenced by filmmakers such as Michael Bay and whoever makes the “Fast and Furious” movies nowadays. George Lucas himself said back in the 70s that the purpose of effects was to enhance the story; sadly, 20 years later, he went back on his word when he made the prequels and botched the point of lightsaber duels.
These movies failed in the special effects department with absurdly over-the-top scenes such as the battle of Geonosis, the battle above Coruscant and the lightsaber duel on Mustafar. This last scene between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan-Kenobi is the best one of the prequels, only because it has a sprinkle of emotional tension, but is by no means good. The dizzying choreography, awkwardly long eight-minute runtime and laughable scenery made what could have been an exciting climax into a boring obligation.
However, the lightsaber, as a storytelling device, was used masterfully in “The Force Awakens.” One of the final scenes of the movie is a lightsaber fight, as you probably expected. The characters involved in the scene do not use dazzling maneuvers in their combat, but rather swing the lightsabers as an extension of their powerful, built-up emotions. Rather than going for a forced tone of “epic,” scenes such as this remind me of the duel at the end of “Return of the Jedi” where dynamic, motivated characters were the focus of the duel.
“The Force Awakens” achieves a vibrant, balanced aesthetic. The set design has an elegant appeal that is characteristically “Star Wars”; there is a particularly beautiful shot of Finn as he looks down at the desert settlement of Jakku.
Furthermore, the film felt as if it were a story punctuated by moments of tasteful action during times of tension rather than a showcase of CGI with obligatory dialogue in between (as was the case in the prequels). Abrams made particular effort to insure the balance of practical and special effects, a goal achieved with flying colors; for example, BB-8 was a physical prop, not animated. This mission allowed Abrams and company to bring about a style that was reminiscent of the original saga but simultaneously distinct and refreshing. Those of you familiar with Abrams’ other work will find solace in his discretionary use of the lens flare in “The Force Awakens.”
One could conceivably think of two major critiques for the movie. One, as with most of “Star Wars,” is the abundance of plot conveniences, such as how characters “bump into” each other on large planets. However, a good audience member should suspend their disbelief in these cases; “Star Wars” is not meant to be a perfectly coherent, hard-core sci-fi film. “Star Wars” is a “Space Opera” which strives for a “Shakespeare in Space” aesthetic; as such, one should be liberal with mercy as fantastic jumps in logic for the sake of plot are part of the charm of the genre.
Secondly, is that “The Force Awakens” was too derivative of the original saga, justified by the commonalities in the story elements/tropes. This critique is largely a subjective matter and is irrelevant to the analysis of the movie. “Star Wars” is guilty of blatantly using some of the most common tropes in all of storytelling. This isn’t “bad” in the sense that it is somehow a lesser form of creativity; it still takes a good deal of brainpower to rearrange and alter the familiar to create something that is entertaining, insightful and unique. Furthermore, tropes such as “the hero’s journey” or “the big fight” are common throughout all of literature. Classic versus cliché is a difficult line to distinguish. Especially in a world in which increasingly more movies are sequels/reboots, how do we critically distinguish the fan service from the tastefully nostalgic? I leave this as a challenge for the reader.
Overall, “The Force Awakens” succeeded where the prequels failed. Lucas, although possessing the original creative spark, had total dictatorial control over the production process; the lack of feedback from other members of the team hindered the final presentation. However, by working together, Bad Robot, Lucasfilm and Disney created something magical for the screen. In a redemptive shift reminiscent of Vader throwing the Emperor down a shaft, they created the “Star Wars” that our generation needed, but never got.
