For all intents and purposes I had decided not to even venture into the cinema to watch the film. I couldn't care less about the mess that Abrams was going to make. Pretty much all reboots off late have been making an ungodly mess of old favorites, so his sequel trilogy was unlikely to be any different.
Things changed of course once the release date drew closer. I thought at first that we would miss the initial week of release because we were traveling. It didn't bother me then. But once I got back from my vacation and realised that the film was still awaiting release, my Star Wars love rose its titanium head. One entire year of avoiding spoilers, trailers and articles would soon come to a close. This was a good thing. I insisted we go and catch the film as soon as possible and was bitterly disappointed not to be able to get tickets for a show on the very first day. Anyway, we would be able to watch it on the second day so not so bad.
It is of no surprise then that I left work much earlier than usual in preparation for the event. We had to go to a whole other city to watch the pre-screening and for fear of traffic one had to leave with time in hand.
Suffice to say that we did get the tickets and we got to our destination well in time despite getting a bit lost on the way to the actual cinema. There were photobooths and Star Wars drinking glasses. People were dressed up and enthusiastic. My heart was in my stomach and I couldn't fathom why it was dying of anticipation and excitement at the thought of this film.
When we got into the cinema it was already packed. Getting two seats next to each other (I was attending with my sister) was nigh impossible but we managed it. We sat with our pop corn and Coke, eating our anticipation away.
No ads and no trailers preceded the film. Only a clip on how significant Abu Dhabi was in shooting the film and some kudos from the cast and crew to the hospitality. It didn't give away much story-wise so we weren't overly displeased.
After that we thought there'd be more adverts but we went straight into the Lucasfilm logo. That was the beginning. The beginning of the end. I teared up and then the words Star Wars hit the screen and I was blubbing into my popcorn. I didn't catch much of the opening scroll, the screen was too much of a haze for me to read beyond Luke Skywalker was missing. It's the most emotional I've ever been at the cinema. I hadn't expected my inner teenager to rise so successfully during the screening. It happens I guess. But you'd expect better from a grown woman. Apparently, once a geek always a geek.
Warning now that the rest of this article is full of spoilers. It's been a month since the film hit the cinemas, I'm forgiven.
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| BOOM! |
Everyone knows the story by now, so I'm going to write about TFA from a very personal angle. When I first came out of the film, I was conflicted and unsure of my feelings. My brain had latched on to the initial 'overwhelming experience' and was unable to process the film itself. Was it good, was it bad? Did I like it, hate it or just couldn't care? People asked me the next day about it (I'd arrogantly posted pictures of the pre-screening on social media) and I gave them a blanket, 'It's Star Wars!' answer which was the epitome of fence-sitting. But part of me was terrified that TFA was going down the route of the prequels - universally derided by all but loved by me. Except, I wasn't sure if I loved TFA at all. Part of it goes down to the fact that I was pretty busy the day after the screening, so it was hard to think and soak it all in. I was having a hard time swallowing my own pride about the cast and the experience. It felt like Star Wars and it left as much of an impression on me as the other films.
The second viewing was in the morning, which meant we actually had to drag ourselves out of bed and were on the verge of running late for the film. Somehow we made it with plenty of time to spare.
There was residual blubbing again during the opening, but even more during Han's death and the end credits when the music harked back to the old films. I kid you not when I say my mum was handing me a towel when the lights came back on - I sure needed it.
I not only liked the film a lot more after the second viewing, but hopelessly fell in love with it. I was immediately quoting the film (always at inappropriate times, because that's me) and scouring the internet for every single article, review and thinkpiece on the film. In short, I was back to being the 12-year-old me who first saw '
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' and fell in love with this galaxy far, far away.
What really got me was how TFA just
felt like a Star Wars film. From the very first opening shot of the new starships, to the familiar feel of a desert planet, TFA screams Star Wars throughout. It's the polar opposite of Abrams' Star Trek that is as far removed from feeling like Star Trek as possible. It's obvious he doesn't know the Star Trek universe, but seems well-versed in Star Wars lore.
A lot of people were distressed that the extended universe had been abandoned by the new trilogy, but honestly, that would be a hard universe to keep track of and there'd be next to no surprises for the majority of the returning fans. I'm glad the extended universe still exists in the parameters of the Star Wars universe (it's the alternative universe now, I believe).
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| You got that Star Wars feeling! |
In a way, however, the film does incorporate several elements of the EU, which is probably the best homage the studio can pay to the hard-working writers of the EU.
Not everything works in this film, however. In fact, there's a lot, when you think about it, that could have been done better or been left out. To make my own overexcited brain calm down, I'm just going to break down all my thoughts per topic, not necessarily as pros and cons, just as observations.
Throwbacks - I think a lot of people have stated that the film felt like a remake of ANH as opposed to a new film with a new story. I actually didn't feel like that. It's not a rip-off, but it has a number of throwbacks to the original trilogy, sometimes bordering on fanboy loyalty rather than simple homage. The problem also is that the hits keep on coming. There's not a scene that goes by which doesn't remind you of its predecessor. You do get to the point when you're just thinking, 'Enough already, do something original'. The throwbacks are too many to note down, but some of the things that Abrams should have copied or appropriated, he didn't.
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| Kind of a throwback. |
For example, we meet the Rathtars for the first time in this film. We immediately have to imagine that they're scary beasts, because Finn's reaction informs us of this. However, the moment I heard Rathtars, I thought to myself, 'Whoa, we've been pronouncing Rancors incorrectly all this time!' Of course I was wrong. These are new creatures and with no context provided, part of the scene loses the gravity of the stakes. It would have worked better had we had Rancors.
Of all the homages Abrams could have paid to the original series, the rhythm and pace is the one thing that he leaves out. Poe disappears for an inordinate amount of time during the film, something Lucas never did. There are virtually no parallel storylines or plots occurring at the same, which is exactly what captivated people's imaginations in the first place.
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| Star Wars Poetry. |
Especially egregious is the climactic battle scene. We're used to three different stories intertwining - the ups and downs synced perfectly. It's one of the most intricate dances of ROTJ and TPM. Unfortunately Abrams' inexperience with this kind of film is shown up in the film. The pacing is horribly off, and the film's greatest scene - the biggest shocker - was partially ruined by an overlong preamble.
Tokenism - I've written an article over on
FilmDebate about this and I'm aware that I've probably come across as a bit harsh. But in all honesty, I still stand by my claim that TFA does in fact suffer from tokenism, though that's a much better place to be in than the solo players of the original and prequel trilogies. It bothers me that we still just have one black dude and one latino as the POC faces of the new trilogy. Couldn't
Lupita Nyong'o be Rey? Or Hux? I am still extremely frustrated that Lupita's role was a mo-cap Maz Kanata. Why couldn't she have been herself? Or why couldn't the 1000-year-old Maz been played by a much older woman of colour, who was not in mo-cap? Couldn't we have an Asian/Indian/Arab commander flying alongside Poe? Why did it have to be a generic white dude (who is also a friend of Abrams)? Hollywood is seriously averse to women of colour. They're never the heroes, only sometimes the sidekicks. Most of the time they're ignored or shunted into ridiculous stereotypical roles. We could have done with a visible and active female hero of colour in this film.
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| The awesome Lupita is wasted in a mo-cap role. |
This film tries and does an admirable job of including other ethnicities, but it doesn't feel like it tried hard enough. Those characters need to be in commanding positions with more screen time. Add it all up, and the white folk will still have more screen time than the others.
Also, one of the biggest problems with the film was its female characters. Pretty much all the badassery was invested in Rey at the cost of every other woman on screen. The much talked about Captain Phasma is incredibly commanding thanks to
Gwendoline Christie's voice and stature, but she's insignificant to the plot. I would have paid a lot more money had Christie been cast as Hux and another woman had played Phasma. Phasma was supposed to be cool, man - but she does nothing in the three scenes she shows up in.
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| Phasma deserved better. Much better. |
Add to that General Leia's inactivity, and I'm seriously wondering if we're back in 1977 again. She's the General but she's not given any commanding lines or any obvious authority. Poe gets to do that! Say what?
I'd like to think it's not all doom and gloom. Is it possible for the studio and the new directors to change the balance? Can Leia now come out of the shadows and finally command the Resistance like she's supposed to? And will we see even greater representation of minorities in the next two films? Only time will tell.
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| Lone gunman. |
Characters - I think pretty much everyone loves the main characters in the film, if one is to go by all the 'precious cinnamon roll' memes on the internet. What really works with this film is the fact that the new characters all have well-rounded personalities with a lot of mystery surrounding their backgrounds.
Let's start with Rey, because going in, I don't think any of us were prepared for the fact that she was our main lead, the true Force-wielder and the new hero of the greatest franchise ever.
Daisy Ridley is thrown in the deep end but she's admirable throughout, subtly amusing, determined and holds herself well in a fight. Most importantly, her Rey comes across as competent, which is extremely important considering what go-getters the ladies of this series are. I was not a huge fan of how they allowed her to be captured by Kylo Ren in the film; it really annoyed me that they used that plot device to bring the team together on Starkiller Base. They could and should have figured out a different way of doing that.
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| Heroes are made of this. |
However, it's cool that Rey not only gets herself out of the mess herself, but also that she's the one who participates in the big boss fight in the film. That was more than a little thrilling, and it's taken its own time coming.
One thing some people have pointed out is that Rey comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue in the film because she can do everything. It's actually one of the first thoughts I had coming out of the film - because she's a female hero she must be able to do and achieve everything. Having said that, Luke Skywalker was exactly the same in ANH, and no one referred to him as a Gary Stu (or whatever the male version of Mary Sue is). He's even given charge of destroying the Death Star, when far more qualified pilots (Biggs and Wedge Antilles) end up as his cover. So, Rey's ability to be great at everything is simply because she's street smart, intelligent, has years of experience doing everything by herself and happens to wield the Force.
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| Check out that speeder! |
Daisy still doesn't have the charismatic presence of Carrie Fisher or
Natalie Portman but I'm sure she'll grow into that by the next film. I'm just hoping subsequent writers and directors don't do anything stupid and ruin the shining pedestal that Rey has been put on. I don't think us fans or women in general deserve that.
True confession: I didn't know
Oscar Isaac was Latino when I watched the film. I only found out later. It has no real impact on the film, but it's a brave move by the studio to cast not one, but two actors of colour as the heroes of the greatest sci-fi franchise (I need to stop writing that).
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| Pilot of our hearts - Poe Dameron (Godsdammit!) |
I was not pleased when I found out Isaac was in the film, and it didn't help that I only found out a few weeks before the film was released. I don't like Isaac, mostly because he plays one kind of character all the time - the slimy bastard. I think I've equated his terrific performances with the man himself, so I can't stand him. When I found out he was going to be in '
X-Men: Apocalypse' I was crushed, so you can imagine my fury when he decided to enter yet another franchise I love.
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| A moment's pause to meet this cutie pie - BB-8 |
But far be it for me to allow blind prejudice to colour my perceptions. Poe Dameron is the first of our leads that we meet. I have to admit that Isaac's dialogue delivery in his very first scene was a stilted mess. It's almost as if he's as nervous as we are watching this brand new entry. But, he grows on us through his affectionate dealings with BB-8 and his carefree attitude in the face of danger. His character really works to break the tension and to ease the audience into the new galactic order.
I love that Poe is funny, cocky, yet loyal and friendly. When I first saw the film and I watched the Tie-Fighter that Poe and Finn were escaping in go down, I thought Poe was dead. I thought to myself that it was a pretty small role for Isaac to take on. In a way, I was both pleased and disappointed that he was alive and well. Pleased for obvious reasons, and disappointed because his death was a red herring and the time lapse was too great for his re-emergence. I haven't read the novelisation yet, but you'd think he would have attempted to get to BB-8 (and therefore Finn) a little sooner. Having said that, the events of the film take place over a day (if I'm correct) so his absence in real time probably wasn't felt that much in the scope of things. I just know that Lucas, despite his flaws, would have interwoven Poe waking up and finding the Resistance and looking for
Finn BB-8 as part of the narrative. The guy couldn't write dialogue, but he could tell a story. Also, I think in hindsight I feel like I could have done with more Poe!
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| Gotta say it at least once - Poe Hot-Dameron! |
I'd heard about the controversy surrounding
John Boyega's casting - which makes no sense to me, considering stormtroopers were all based on
Temuera Morrison. But Boyega's Finn is the ideal fish-out-of-water character that makes him endearing as well as accessible. He isn't the perfect hero, and I think that's exactly what everyone has latched onto.
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| Bigots be like... |
Now that the euphoria around the film has died down, a lot of people are questioning why Finn is less than perfect. Why does he need rescuing, why doesn't he get to be part of the climactic fight scene, why was he in sanitation, etc. I just think not having a completely self-assured hero, rather heroes, is the reason why so many people love these characters. That and the fact that Finn has excellent chemistry with everything that moves.
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| Chemistry! |
I absolutely love Finn. I love that he gets to be funny and that he's panicking pretty much throughout the film. I love that he wants to impress Rey but doesn't push his chances when she doesn't respond in kind. I also love that his simple confession scene made me ridiculously sad (who knows why) and that what essentially makes this character is his inherent need for friends.
Not everything works with Finn, though, and he's the one character who comes across as unevenly written. Boyega plays his crisis of conscience so perfectly (which is especially hard, given that he does a lot of it without saying a word and while he's hidden under a stormtrooper mask).
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| Crisis of conscience. |
But I am still baffled by Finn running to Rey's rescue ten seconds after he's recovered from a gruelling trek through an arid desert. Why was he running to Rey? Is it that he's Force-sensitive and his Force sense was tingling? I don't get it. I also don't get why he keeps grabbing Rey's hand when the First Order attack. It's really funny when he does it, but it's so... out of place. If he's looking for tactile stimuli, this would make sense, but there's very little implication of such.
The straight answer probably is that Finn is hardwired to think that someone who looks like Rey needs protecting, but I hope there's a better and more logical reasoning for it than that. I read somewhere that even Boyega was confused by Finn's impulse to help Rey and grab her hand. He suggests there's a connection between them, but I can't figure out what it could be. The Force is all we've got to go on.
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| Heart-eyes! |
I was certainly impressed by
Adam Driver's Kylo Ren. As a character who spends most of his time behind a mask, it can be difficult to emote. But Driver does an impeccable job, somehow coming across as imposing and also fragile. He's another character suffering from a crisis of conscience, and displays it with aplomb. Nothing quite beats how awesome his lightsaber is. It really got people excited when the images of it was released early on, but it's exceptionally used in the film as well.
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| Menacing and conflicted - Kylo Ren |
One person who really didn't get the memo was
Domhnall Gleeson. As seen above, I could and still can imagine several other people playing the pretentious General Hux. I get that Hux is supposed to be a young man stuck with the job of leading an entire fleet, but honestly, did he have to be so hammed up? Every scene with Hux was laughable and ended up completely taking you out of the film. I can't correlate this performance of Domhnall's with all the other stuff I've seen him in. I don't even know who to put the blame on - can I just blame Abrams? Might as well.
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| You smell that? That smells like a bad performance. |
Going old-school - The best part of this film and why it stands to gain a great deal of credibility is because of the number of old cast members joining this new trilogy. I kinda wish all the promos hadn't given away the old cast's reappearance, but then, Mark Hamill was already talking about them being asked back in 2013. The hype around this film has really been going on a while.
I was deeply disappointed that Luke wasn't a part of this film. Guess in a way I will always have a soft spot for Luke because he's my sister's favourite, and I know she was waiting for him to appear. Story-wise it really works, but.... argh! Who doesn't need more Luke in their lives?
The rest of the gang - flawless. It's like 30 years haven't gone by; they were Han, Leia, Chewie (
Peter Mayhew) and C3PO (
Anthony Daniels) just yesterday. All the ticks, the actions, the chemistry, it's all there. There's no greater Star Wars feeling than seeing the inside of the Millennium Falcon (yes, I teared up when I saw it), and nothing quite as magnificent as seeing Han and Chewie run into this ship, immediately one with their characters and their surroundings.
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| The old gang! |
And Carrie's Leia still holds that magnificent presence she always had. I love that the most romantic scenes in the film are still around Leia and Han. But it's crushing to think their happily ever-after didn't work out anything like we would have hoped. The EU definitely makes them suffer, but once it's canon - the heart hurts.
I can't be the only one who missed seeing Lando Calrissian in this film. I'm aware that
Billy Dee Williams just wouldn't be able to do it, but as one of the main cast in the original series, it's sad not to see his character even acknowledged. I hope the next film pays some kind of homage to him.
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| Missing the cool scoundrel - Lando Calrissian. |
Missing pieces - Well there are several, only some of which will probably get addressed in subsequent Star Wars films. For one, how did Han and Chewie find the stolen Falcon so soon after Rey and Finn take off with it? It's been missing for years on Jakku, yet, within seconds of their escape, Han and Chewie are on top of them. Weird!
Then, it seems weird that Han and Chewie are good mates with Maz Kanata, but she never really mentioned that Luke left his saber with her? Or did she, and that's why Han took Rey there? How would he have known to do that? That's too many coincidences to be believable.
I've mentioned earlier that Poe's disappearance for over half the film never computes. Maybe the novelisation - which I intend to read - will explain that for me.
Let's not start with how Kylo got Vader's helmet. How could he possibly have found it? Was a traitorous Ewok hanging about the funeral pier and grabbed the mask the moment Luke turned his back in ROTJ? Waiting for an explanation, Disney.
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Alas, poor Yorick Vader |
The biggest missing piece in the film is just how come everyone is so damn good at wielding the Force, despite being poor at fighting with a saber. My sister is convinced Finn is Force-sensitive because he ably wielded the saber on his own. He full on fights with it, he's not clumsy at all. There's got to be something to that.
At the same time, Rey, who knew practically nothing about the Force at the beginning of the film, not only connects with it immediately on touching Luke's saber, but turns tables on Kylo Ren as he probes her mind and then Force-suckers James Bond into letting her go. Say what? How did she even know to do that? Did she get an inkling from probing Kylo's mind? But she so capably works it, it seems impossible.
There's also the whole map plot line. The entire series of events is begun by Poe finding a piece of a map that leads to Luke. The First Order are after this piece. People die and are tortured over this piece. And then, once the piece is found and handed over, they realise another piece is missing. At this point, a comatose R2-D2 suddenly awakens to present the missing piece. I don't get it. What was Luke's plan exactly? Was it supposed to be a bread-crumb trail? He who is worthy will find me? Though, you know, he kinda missed the whole bread-CRUMB part of the puzzle. It's a contrivance that really doesn't stand up to inspection. And I don't think the subsequent entries can fix that.
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| Luke - didn't think that one through, did ya? |
Some cool stuff - Kylo's ability to stop a blaster shot mid-air has got to be the coolest thing I've ever seen (aside from his actual saber, which is undoubtedly my favourite weapon ever). But when he stopped Poe's blaster shot, it takes a minute to figure out what's going on, which makes me grateful Abrams actually bothers to linger on it for a while.
I also quite like how Daisy plays her struggle against being Force-stopped by Kylo. It's one of the weirder yet more convincing physical displays of the Force, and a good upgrade from the previous trilogies.
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| The coolest saber in the galaxy. |
The film also tries its hand at being subversive. In the beginning of the film Poe is captured and Kylo then tortures him for information. Interestingly, Poe actually falls prey to Kylo's ministrations and gives up the details. Poe then looks resigned to his fate (death) before being unexpectedly rescued by Finn.
Later when Kylo kidnaps Rey and tries the same trick on her, he not only doesn't succeed, but he gives up information unintentionally to her. She also orchestrates her own rescue. I really liked the dichotomy of these scenes. More often than not, female characters, no matter how great and badass, are seen being rescued.
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| Poe's rescue. |
This film has got me like I never imagined. I keep thinking about it, everything that worked, everything that didn't. I can't wait for the next installment; can't wait to meet Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 and see how Leia is coping and leading, how Luke is doing, if Kylo can be redeemed - does he deserve to be redeemed; to see Hux get violently killed (oh wait, that's harsh!). I'm just hoping the next installment will do better with its diversity - we need not only more significant people of colour in the cast, but also action-oriented and active women characters. You don't have to tote a gun to make your presence felt or to be the centre of an action scene. Authoritative women characters will make the next film raise the bar of mainstream cinema.
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| Leia agrees. And you always have to listen to Leia. |
And yes, a Stormpilot sub-plot will definitely change the face of sci-fi cinema. I know it's not going to be possible, but one can still wonder why straight dude (last I checked) Isaac would intentionally play romance with Finn - the only character he has a majority of screen time with - if there wasn't some sub-text he needed to include. But still, this is a Disney movie, it's not going to happen. But we can still hope.
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| ...a thousand ships. |
For someone who dreaded the release of this film, I couldn't be happier that The Force Awakens happened. I've re-discovered my insane love for this franchise and a whole bunch of new characters to fall in love with. Bring on Episode VIII!
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| We're home with 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' |
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