We passably much loved Star Wars : The Force Awakens . The things this movie get right were so much more important than the things it got haywire . That enjoin , it did get some things incorrect . give up us to work out .
So now that Episode VII has become the # 1 non - inflation - aline domestic flick of all time in North America , it ’s a ripe bit to be dependable about it . In our movie reappraisal , we touched briefly on the fact that there were some flaws in the film that did seem to be a cause for care , specially in the 2nd half . But we did n’t want to go into detail about those until everybody had had a chance to see the cinema and chew it over . So here lead .
Warning : Major spoilers ahead …
So first off , just to reiterate — for the most part , we loved this photographic film , andit even improved on subsequent viewing . But yeah , there are some issues .
First off , the openhanded one is probably Leia . Even in a movie where Luke Skywalker obtain a minute of screentime , Leia feels notably underserved , to the point where I wonder if a gang of her stuff got cut at the last bit . ( The affair where she hugs Rey , whom she ’s never spoken to , and ignores Chewbacca , kind of supports that idea . )
In The Force Awakens , Leia gets a handful of snarky lines towards her X , Han Solo , but is mostly just one farsighted stoic chemical reaction shot . Whatever she thinks of her brother running off and leaving the galaxy to pop off , we never really find out .
But worst of all , she and Han Solo have a couple of tantrum that are like the executive summary of a couple talking about their relationship . It ’s something I ’ve seen a sightly bit in movies lately : the picture where two the great unwashed speak about their impression , but they ’re just summarize the bullet points . The prominent Han - Leia conversation is half as - you - sleep together - Bob exposition , and half quick - and - foul , on - the - nose human relationship synopsis . At no point do Han and Leia feel like people who once bonk each other , had a tiddler together , and have not seen each other in years .
This matters partly because Leia is a kickass quality in her own right , and grow to see her as a superior general was one of the selling points of the pic . And it also matters because the Leia - Han family relationship was the aroused core of the original trilogy , so it ’s weird to see it get such curt shrift here .
But Leia getting shortchanged also saps a bit of the oomph out of the film ’s coming . Not a lot , but some . Han Solo going to face his fallen son Kylo Ren works on its own full term , because we ’ve seen enough of Han and Kylo in the movie to get that Han has become kind of a lamentable reflection of who he used to be , and we have intercourse that Kylo is scramble with his feelings about his father . But Leia is the one who sends Han to talk to Kylo , and a giving part of her scenes is deal us on the musical theme that Kylo Ren ’s father ( and not his female parent ) is the only one who can reach him now . Leia has to know that she ’s probably transmit Han Solo to his expiry — or at least , that it ’s a potential outcome — and if the scenes where she asks him to do that carried more weight , then it would supply more office to the Han - Kylo encounter .
And Leia , by dint of her condition as leader of the Resistance , also participates in the picture ’s other biggest shortage : the whole Starkiller Base plot line . At this point in the picture , I ’m invested enough in Rey , Finn and Kylo that their arcs pay off feels like enough of a apogee to the plastic film , and it ’s okay that Starkiller Base is kind of a forgettable contrivance .
But Starkiller Base absolutely does not carry any weight in the film . When it destroys the New Republic , this is pretty much the first we ’ve heard of the New Republic in the moving picture , and I keep wondering ifJeet Heerhad just been atomize or something . General Hux ’s speech , coming with no context or setup , is the most improbable , random thing in the film , and I look forward to the “ remix ” videos where he ’s shouting about unjust parking tickets and that one Shake Shack where they messed up his onion plant - ring order because goddamnit , he ’s a General and onion rings are a perquisite of his membership .
I do n’t care about Starkiller Base . At no distributor point do I consider it ’s going to demolish the dugout where Leia and her friends are crouch down — and evidently neither do they , since they do n’t try and evacuate or anything . The mission to ruin Starkiller Base is right smart too straightforward , and its failing is glaringly comfortable . Ken Leung from Lost points out one vulnerable component that the base must have , Finn knows precisely what he means and where it is , and it ’s the size of a metropolis to boot .
When Starkiller Base gets swash up , I feel essentially nothing . ( By contrast , Nero ’s weapon in J.J. Abrams ’ first Star Trek does in reality feel menacing , because we actually see it destroy Vulcan , a lieu we have a connection to , which we ’ve spent some metre on in this film . )
And then there ’s Maz Kanata , the plagiarizer / bartender / Force - sensitive ancient alien who ’s basically Guinan from Star Trek : The Next coevals . We know that Maz originally had a big role in the movie , but they did n’t really love what to do with her after her cake is demolish . Actually , it sort of feels like they did n’t know what to do with her , in cosmopolitan .
Maz feel like form of a non - entity . She ’s there to help our heroes out , deal homespun sapience , and cheer Rey to adopt her destiny via Anakin ’s former lightsaber . She ’s the least memorable eccentric in the cinema , although I did keep inquire why she has a jumbo statue of herself outside her bar . She clear sympathize with the Resistance — her one memorable speech is about how Han Solo should block off running and join the scrap — but she ’s not helping them herself , and she plausibly cognise her bar is full of First Order sympathizer , that she caters to .
Part of the problem with Maz is that she ’s the film ’s Yoda , but she ’s also the film ’s Lando Calrissian . She ’s both the saucy teacher who is on the side of good and the morally gray , inert rapscallion who does n’t require to cull a side . I judge . She ’s a few archetype cobbled together , but none of them really adhere .
And that brings me to another problem with The Force Awakens — even though the Force is right on there in the title , and we ’re told a few times that the Force is coming back after a period of quiescency , I do n’t really feel the Force very much in this motion-picture show .
That is , I do n’t really get a gross ton of the feeling of mysticism and awe that I consort with the Force in this cinema , as compared to Empire Strikes Back or A New Hope . The eldritch poetry of it . And some of that is down to the fact that Maz Kanata is this motion-picture show ’s Yoda or Obi - Wan , and she ’s kind of an empty vessel .
I perfectly purchase Rey becoming strong with the Force , because she ’s clearly get an innate ability and every time she encounters Kylo Ren he shows her more stuff . My problems with the Force in this picture are not suspension - of - disbelief issues , or logistic ones , at all . But I did n’t have any “ holy moo-cow ” apparitional moment involving that mysterious energy subject area that bind all living thing together . There ’s no “ that is why you fail ” consequence in this moving-picture show .
Some of the want of reverence towards the Force in the pic could be down to John Williams ’ medicine , which is groovy but never has any of the “ wonder ” moments that he layers into a circumstances of the first two moments .
In fact , after I see Episode VII for the first time , I had a moment of inquire if the Force was just such a Baby Boomer zen - and - the - artistry - of - bike - maintenance hippie conception that no film - maker hold since 1965 could really encapsulate it . But I also hope that Rian Johnson finds a way to bring in more of that awe and strangeness into Episode VIII , once Luke Skywalker actually opens his lip . If Johnson sing to his friend Shane Carruth , who nailed some of the feeling of unspeakable connectedness in Upstream Color , we might be getting somewhere .
There ’s a third female character who sort of lacks oomph in this film . But I do n’t hold that against The Force Awakens . Captain Phasma , Finn ’s command officer , was clearly mean to be a minor character who shows up in a couple of scene and then Finn turns the board on her in a funny moment before dispose her into a garbage compactor . And then they cast Gwendoline Christie in the purpose , and resolve to upgrade her to major supporting part after all — Christie did a mint of press for this movie , remember .
So if you just cogitate of Phasma as a slenderly upgraded version of “ misfortunate stormtrooper who gets swagger into turning off the force champaign , ” it ’s not a big deal . The fact that she reverse off the effect field of operations for them is just part of the larger job of Starkiller Base being kind of a piece of cake . On the other hand , if Episode VIII sees the restoration of Phasma — as it apparently will — she’ll have a bit of an acclivitous climb to regain her believability .
There are a few other issues . Supreme Leader Snoke is another character who experience more or less forgettable — another CG second - cap villain with a generic “ baddie ” look — andeven the Vaticanfelt like Snoke could have been a more compelling baddie . But he ’s clearly mean to be in the backcloth in this film , much as the Emperor was in A New Hope , and he ’s got pile of chances to shine in the next two films .
There ’s some choppy editing in the movie , which seems to be the result of last - second gash — Rey and Finn swapping Poe ’s jacket back and forth in the final act being one of the clues .
It ’s weird that the guy from The Raid are in this motion-picture show and get basically nothing to do .
And as usual with a J.J. Abrams photographic film , some crucial stuff is n’t explained in the cinema , that credibly should be . We had head after we run into the film , and in some case the answer are easy to find online . But R2D2 suddenly power on at the end , and why Luke does n’t want to be found but left a single-valued function to receive him , are musical composition of information that should be dropped into the film somehow . Poe randomly deciding not to count for BB-8 on Jakku , but instead just bugging out , is also kind of random .
And finally , there ’s the fact that The Force Awakens so closely mirrors the structure and storyline of A New Hope , down to all the master beats . ( Secret written document hidden in a droid on a desert planet , escape in the Millennium Falcon , meeting a wise man figure who later dies , elephantine ace - weapon blows up , etc . ) That did n’t really bother me , because it was always in the card that this photographic film would be sort of a “ greatest hitting ” of Star Wars , and these heartbeat were remixed enough that I was into it .
Bottom line : As I said in the beginning , the things The Force Awakens does right are much more important than the things it does wrong . In special , it make water you care about its brand unexampled character , as much as you ever deal about Han Solo or Luke Skywalker .
Additional reporting by Germain Lussier
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