‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is Equal Parts Entertaining and Frustrating

Star Wars: The Force Awakens manages to hit all the familiar notes, which ends up being both a good and bad thing. 

There’s been much discussion in the last 24 hours since the long-awaited release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It took me two viewings to feel justified in giving the review I wanted to give, and it’s more important now, not because my opinion matters more than  any others (spoiler: it doesn’t), but rather the lack of objectivity that’s seeping out, eerily resembles the moments right after the release of The Phantom Menace in 1998, is hiding what is ultimately a very flawed film.

Having said that, it should be clear that The Force Awakens is by far a superior film to The Phantom Menace, and in fact is indeed a better Star Wars film than any of the prequels. But as a film on its own, it ends up being more a pantomime of what came before than something totally fresh.

To be sure, director J.J. Abrams makes a very loving tribute to what Star Wars is supposed to look and feel like, and for the most part, what he presents is very good and very entertaining. This is a film that is fun to watch.

The primary reason Abrams’ films are fun to watch in the moment is largely due to his attention to detail and his prowess at casting. The attention to detail bears itself out in the sheer number of practical effects, from a working model of rolly ball droid BB-8 to a number of creatures and actual sets, Abrams created a very tactile film that definitely feels more like a Star Wars film than the digital cartoons the Prequels became.

Of all the directors of this generation, no one has a bead on fitting the right actor to the right role as Abrams does, and The Force Awakens is no different.

This talent also extends past getting the right cast, but also getting the right performances as well. No matter how history treats The Force Awakens, we have genuine star making performances from the two leads, Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) who shine as a stormtrooper fed up with the horrors of war, and a scavenger who dreams of a much bigger life while holding on to a hope that’s become an anchor.

Joining the star duo in a role that seems destined to be even larger in the following two installments, Oscar Isaac continues to wade into Pacino-level prowess as Poe Dameron, and Adam Driver works hard to keep his role as Darth Vader wannabe Kylo Ren from veering into pure parody. Driver keeps the right type of balance as a tortured bad guy that only fails him when the script fails everyone (more on that later).

Domhnall Gleeson (Frank) and Gwendolyn Christie (Game of Thrones) round out the new cast as First Order General Hux and chrome stormtrooper Captain Phasma.

Gleeson does well with what he’s given, making an interesting turn as a commander who doesn’t live in fear of the force-powered Kylo Ren, which creates a dynamic that’s one of the few fresh aspects of the film.

Christie is virtually wasted as the shiny stormtrooper, whose presence seems more designed to sell toys than move a story forward.

As for the returning original cast, Harrison Ford hasn’t been this dialed in, this engaged in a role in years. There’s a certain irony in the fact that the role of Han Solo is one that, for many years, Ford didn’t really want much to do with. Here, none of those old hesitations manifest themselves, because Ford is every bit the roguish space cowboy fans loved for nearly 40 years now.

 

Time hasn’t been as kind to Carrie Fisher, who seems constrained in her role as (now) General Leia, in deep contrast to how Ford seems relatively free. The older Leia is relegated to the role of a military administrator, devoid of the seductive spark of a the underestimated heroine in the original trilogy.

That contrast bears itself out in the few scenes that Ford and Fisher share, sadly devoid of the passion and chemistry that drew their characters together in the original trilogy. Here, they feel like an old married couple that lost that loving’ feeling years ago, and while that might be by design, it makes their very participation feel uncomfortable, if not artificial.

Is Mark Hamill actually in The Force Awakens? He is. That Luke Skywalker is nothing more than a MacGuffin in this first film is annoying, but spending time with Han and getting to know Rey and Finn make up for Luke’s initial absence.

Regardless of any of the aforementioned issues, The Force Awakens is a film that keeps things moving fast and hits all the marks a fan would want it to hit. There are virtually no lulls in the film, and what’s remarkable about that is the fact that this film flows just as well during the expository dialogue as it does during the action sequences.

You will leave this film caring about both the original and new set of heroes, and while the villains leave a lot to be desired, there is more than enough buy-in to be just as excited and hopeful for Episode VIII when it hits theaters in 2017.

The problem with all this, however, is that the excitement of what’s on screen covers up a number of significant flaws that become more evident once the film is over.

In order to discuss the problems, we now must venture into spoiler territory.

If you have not seen The Force Awakens, DO NOT read any further. You have been warned.

The death of Han Solo was spoiled to me roughly about six months ago.

Of the two screenings I attended, I spent most of the first one hoping that the information, which appeared on some film gossip site, was as untrue as the rumors that The Force Awakens began with a shot of Luke Skywalker’s severed hand still holding his father’s lightsaber fell into the planet that would be known as Jakku.

Alas, unlike that rumor, Solo’s death was absolutely real…and it happened virtually drama free, even as Rey, Finn and Chewbacca looked on in horror as Kylo Ren, revealed earlier in the film to be the son of Han and Leia shoved his crudely constructed lightsaber into his father.

The reason that it lacked the necessary emotional impact, is because there was literally no suspense. This is a death we saw it before, done to much better effect in A New Hope when Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed himself to Darth Vader to help his companions escape the Death Star.

Moreover, it was evident as soon as Han walked on that excessively long bridge to meet his son that he was a deadman. It was all over but the action itself, and when it happened, as Han Solo’s lifeless body fell into the abyss, it was something that just happened, not something that had any real meaning.

And even though I knew this was exactly what was going to happen, it also made me realize that pretty much everything else in The Force Awakens was, to one extent or another, a facsimile of A New Hope, with a little Empire Strikes Back on the side.

In fact, for all the noise made about Disney erasing the Star Wars Extended Universe (and rightfully so), it was ironic that Abrams and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan saved one of the worst parts of the EU for use in The Force Awakens: a child of Han and Leia turned to the Dark Side.

The difference is that he wasn’t known as Kylo Ren, but rather Darth Caedus, and just as Ren, Cadeus fetishized over Darth Vader, hoping to “continue his work”. It was weak in the books, and it’s actually pretty weak in the film, even though Adam Driver does a far better job showing a petulant yet powerful Ren in a way that Hayden Christensen was completely unable to do as Anakin Skywalker.

Where Anakin was turned to the Dark Side by Emperor Palpatine, Ren is mentored by the largely holographic First Order Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). This is another failure for Abrams, as Snoke not only sticks out like a sore thumb as a CGI creation amongst so many practical effects, he just feels like a Palpatine clone without any of the charisma or menace.

For all that’s good in The Force Awakens, it became evident that many of the things we cheered for in the theater were simply riffs on what came before, and sure, some of it was done very well. It just lacked that sense of wonder, that twinkle in the eye that came with those original films. Instead, we get the cynicism of a virtual reboot, something designed to get new audiences into Star Wars, which is also fine, but of the seven films in the series, The Force Awakens is the first of the series to feel like a retread.

Whether it’s the planet Jakku, whose only purpose is to provide a desert climate that’s not Tatooine, or Captain Phasma, who very mannerisms and blaster seem cribbed from Boba Fett, the film seems overly preoccupied with giving us a new version of past characters and events.

And again, not all of that is bad, but it shows the ultimate limitations of Abrams as a filmmaker. Far too often, Abrams is comfortable copying the things he loves, without really growing the concepts or giving them a feeling of newness. Even the score by John Williams, feels like a rehash of earlier themes, unlike his more original themes in The Phantom Menace* and Attack of the Clones.

*(yes, there is a theme in The Phantom Menace that is borrowed from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.)

Other than introducing characters that are thankfully instant favorites, the best part of The Force Awakens is the knowledge that this is Abrams’ only entry in the series, and thank Christ, because who knows what he would have mined and repurposed from earlier films in order to make another film.

As for saving Luke Skywalker for the last scene of the film and yet give him zero dialogue, it just felt cheesy and a final kick in the balls that threatened to derail all the goodwill built up by the first half of the film.

One can only hope that Rian Johnson (Looper) does a much stronger job with Episode VIII, and as the middle film of this new trilogy, the challenge will be high, but I suppose it’s enough that Abrams did just enough to make us look forward to the next film instead of dread it.

In that, it’s a small victory that Abrams, via pantomime, breathed life into a franchise that many thought George Lucas killed with the awful prequels.

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Hashim R. Hathaway (Uncle Shimbo) is the host of the Never Daunted Radio Network, and proud father to NeverDaunted.Net. You can reach him on Twitter @NeverDauntedNet