Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Spoiler Filled Review

Director: J.J. Abrams

Cast: Daisey Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fischer, Andy Serkis

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 135 min

Most people believed that George Lucas' Star Wars saga had officially ended when Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released to theaters in 2005. Lucas' complete saga consisted of six films that told a cohesive, although flawed, space opera that focused on the history behind the Skywalker family. However, Lucas made a momentous move when he sold his Star Wars property to Disney in 2012, thereby giving them the chance to make more movies and continue the story of Luke Skywalker and friends. After several years of speedy development and much anticipation, the next film in the saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has finally arrived in theaters.

I have witnessed an unparalleled amount of buzz and coverage for this film on social media. Few films, besides Lucas' own The Phantom Menace and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, have garnered as much anticipation as J.J. Abrams' latest. Therefore, I believe that many fans are simply drinking the Star Wars Kool Aid and setting aside their film criticism glasses for this one. The Force Awakens may be a solid and well crafted blockbuster sequel, but its sentiments ring too similar and its action scenes are mostly devoid of tension. The film is an exercise in going with the motions, as Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan hinge their Star Wars plot on the framework of A New Hope's tried and true classic story. The two emulate the original trilogy, which was two thirds penned by Kasdan, as much as possible. Much like this year's Creed, The Force Awakens heavily emulates its classic predecessor in order to pass its franchise onto a new generation. While this may be a certified way to earn fans' adoration, there is no denying that a fresher experience would have proven more gratifying and satisfactory. Still, I'd be a sour puss if I were to deny the pleasures of a Star Wars film, even if it is one that feels too familiar and predictable.

Our new heroes; male, female, and droid.

Also, I should preface this review with a warning that it will be filled with spoilers. I see no point in reviewing the film with generalizations, as every critic is already hailing how much they love the film in as general a fashion as possible already. Therefore, I am going to dive head first into spoilers from beyond this point. 

Since the events of Return of the Jedi, a new force of evil, the First Order, has arisen to oppose the Republic. Led by Emperor Snoke (Andy Serkis) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the First Order seeks a map that leads to Luke Skywalker's location amidst the galaxy. They wish to eradicate him, along with the Resistance, in order to cleanse the galaxy of all Jedis and First Order offenders. When a pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), gets caught with said map, he places it inside of a droid and sends it off into the distance. The droid, BB-8, eventually bumps into Rey (Daisey Ridley), a lower class woman who lives on her own on Jakku. An escaped stormtrooper, Finn (John Boyega), also finds himself on Jakku, and quickly befriends Rey upon locating BB-8. Pretending to be a member of the Resistance, Finn helps Rey escape Jakku. The two go in search of Luke Skywalker, all the while battling Kylo Ren every step of the way.

The most common point/criticism made in every review for The Force Awakens is that it heavily emulates A New Hope. Both film's plots are extremely similar to the point where The Force Awakens' story beats are entirely predictable and devoid of surprise. The framework of A New Hope, that being of a down on their luck lower class citizen joining up with a rebellion in order to stop an evil political party from using their giant planet destroying space station, is exactly what The Force Awakens models itself after. It's clear that Disney, as well as Abrams and Kasdan, went the safe route and made a Star Wars film that they knew fans would recognize and love instead of one that would try something new and alienate them a-la the dreaded prequels. Therefore, The Force Awakens holds few surprises, besides characters' relations to one another and Luke's whereabouts after all of these years. 

What a nerd. Kylo Ren is such a Vader fan that he went and dug up his mask.

The Force Awakens introduces a butt load of new characters and brings back several old friends for another go around in a galaxy far far away. In fact, several of the film's new characters are directly modeled after characters from the A New Hope. Rey is Luke, Poe is Han, Kylo is Vader, BB-8 is R2, and General Hux is Grand Moff Tarkin. You could also compare Snoke to the Emperor, Captain Phasma to Boba Fett, and Maz Kanata to Yoda, although their characters weren't introduced until The Empire Strikes Back. Not only does Abrams and Kasdan introduce us to a new array of characters based off of tried and true classic characters, but they also have them interact with said classic characters. The only new character who seems to not be based off of a recognizable character is Finn, a disillusioned stormtrooper who makes for the film's funnest and most original character. After all, we have never seen a stormtrooper develop character and become the focus of a Star Wars film before. That is unless you count the whole clone trooper element from Attack of the Clones in which the clones are modeled after Jango Fett, but that doesn't count.

Performances are uniformly excellent all around. Everybody, besides the clearly unseasoned Carrie Fischer, gives the film their A-game and helps make their characters as lively and memorable as possible. Newcomers Daisey Ridley and John Boyega breathe immense life into their starring characters, especially the incredible Boyega. Boyega's Finn feels as if a Star Wars fan were dropped into a Star Wars movie at times thanks to his sense of humor and nerd-like energy. Adam Driver also does great work as Kylo Ren, the saga's newest Darth Vader-esque character who proves to be more emotional and dangerous than Vader. Ren's occasional immaturity and over confidence bears a strong similarity to the characteristics found in Anakin in the prequels. Other character highlights include the surprisingly charismatic and likable BB-8. It's tough to make a robot who can't speak likable and energetic, but Abrams and crew did a fantastic job with making BB-8 both one of the funniest and likable new characters. I can't help but root for the little droid when I see him rolling around spouting beep noises.

Of course, no one can go without mentioning the classic characters and their reappearances after a nearly 40 year time gap. Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew are back as Han Solo and Chewbacca and have plenty of screen time in this film. The two were clearly envisioned to have as much time together on screen as their classic partnership is destroyed by the film's end. I don't think I can go on without discussing Han's death, as it heavily mirrors Ben's death in A New Hope when he allows himself to be killed by Vader in front of Luke. Here, Rey and Finn watch as Han pleads to his son, only to die like a chump. I personally saw this death coming from a mile away and felt it was out of character for Han to walk out on to a scaffolding the way he did. I also feel that his death wasn't as emotional as it could have been, as the relationship between Han and his estranged son is barely touched upon within an already overcrowded film. I'm bummed to see Han go, but would have preferred a hero's death. Oh well, at least Harrison is free of the character after all of these years.

BB-8 gets the Better Clear On Out The Back seal of approval!

Leia and Luke also appear in the film, although neither character has much screen time and is clearly set up for greater things in future sequels. Carrie Fischer is particularly awful, as her face cannot emote more than C3PO at this point. However, Mark Hamill's one scene appearance instilled hope and joy inside of me, as I cannot wait for the character to return, and speak as well.

Abrams and company take a page out of the original trilogy and design an immense amount of practical creatures for the film. You know that a film's makeup and art design is good when you wish you could pause the film and take in every creature as they pass. And while the immense amount of creatures will please any monster fan like myself, the film sports two motion capture characters who stick out like a sore thumb and plague the film's otherwise mostly practical design and aesthetic. Maz Kanata and Supreme Leader Snoke should have been designed in a practical or realistic matter in order to blend with the rest of the film's characters. Abrams mostly pulls from the classic trilogy with his creatures, but gives in to modern technology and echoes the likes of James Cameron and Peter Jackson with two motion capture characters who simply should have been redesigned from the get go.

The action in The Force Awakens ranges from exciting and fun to formulaic and devoid of tension. Abrams, whose action pedigree is particularly solid considering the likes of Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, can't seem to conjure up the same level of excitement or grit that he previously instilled in his earlier efforts. Only the first set piece in which Rey and Finn fly the Millenium Falcon away from a group of Tie Fighters conveys the classic notion of Star Wars excitement. As the film moves on though, the action grows weary and becomes routine in nature. In fact, the entire sequence set aboard Han Solo's freighter involving two groups of pissed off pirates and tentacle creatures adds to the plot in no way at all. The film's entire finale is especially disappointing. After all, the raid on the Star Killer Base is so similar to A New Hope's finale in the trenches of the Death Star that one wonders if Abrams and company said to themselves, "Well it has to end like this, it's Star Wars." There may be stakes, but the viewer doesn't feel them nearly as well as they should.

The final lightsaber fight is also disappointing, as Abrams fails to shoot the action in a pleasing matter, opting for medium close ups that cover up the fight choreography. When the camera does pull back, it reveals a fight that simply doesn't contain the emotion or drama of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi's classic lightsaber fights. Rey and Kylo simply swing their sabers around, passing the screen time until one of them gets the upper hand over the other. I could go on forever about the details of this film and this fight, but it's clear that Rey had it far easier than Luke ever did. 

Until next time Kylo.

The final damning criticism that I have to lay on the film concerns its surprisingly routine musical score. John Williams returns for the seventh time to the series and composes what may be his final Star Wars film concerning his elder age. While the score may hit all of the familiar notes that one expects from a Star Wars film, Williams fails to compose any notable new music that sticks out upon first watching the film. Say what you want about the prequels, but all three of the scores for those films contained absolutely excellent pieces of individual music that stood out upon first listen. In fact, each prequel soundtrack is worth listening to on its own separate from the film. The Force Awakens on the other hand, not so much. Maybe I need more time with both the film and the soundtrack, but this is simply an initial reaction that I had to the film's music.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a solid and safe film that will most likely set up a greater sequel that will be made by a greater filmmaker. However, Disney has to push forward from here. They can have their safe reboot, but they can't make routine and familiar Star Wars films forever. I fear that Disney will fall into the syndrome of Marvel Studios and churn out similar products that don't differ from one another or push the envelope of cinema. At the end of the day, The Force Awakens is more Avengers: Age of Ultron or Jurassic World than it is Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation or Mad Max: Fury Road. It gives you what you know you like and nothing more. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or push the envelope as Christopher McQuarrie and George Miller did this year with their respective blockbusters. Therefore, here's to the future of Star Wars. Let's just hope that the Force is with Disney as far as future sequels come.

Rating: 7/10 - A routine, safe, and predictable soft reboot/sequel that gives you what you know you like with new likable characters that are destined for greater things in hopefully more envelope pushing sequels.