Star Wars: The Force Awakens SPOILER ANALYSIS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens SPOILER ANALYSIS

Last warning: SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS AHEAD! 

If you have NOT seen the movie, don't read this! Check out my spoiler-free review instead!

I’ve noticed the trend of spoiler-free reviews for The Force Awakens being pretty average length or even shorter than usual, but the spoiler reviews have been super long, and I totally understand why. Because so much of the movie was kept under wraps, it’s hard to talk about it without feeling like you’re giving important stuff away (not to mention, what some people consider a “spoiler” others might view as common knowledge). Anyway, time to get on with my analysis, which will be based on my latest top ten lists, things I wanted to see in The Force Awakens and things I didn’t want to see. Check them out if you haven’t, then return here to see how it held up, otherwise, let’s punch it! One last warning for SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Some type of new opening?

Usually the theater shows a little animation thing saying “FEATURE PRESENTATION” or something like that, then the movie starts. But not this time! I was actually caught off guard as the Lucasfilm logo popped on screen in silence for half a second, then it faded right in to the classic blue text “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…” and then BOOM! STAR WARS! I totally fist-pumped at this moment. Not only was the opening exactly like it should have been, the first line of the first paragraph was the perfect way to begin, and the entire title crawl was an excellent recap—precisely what the title crawl was meant for in the first place. I knew right away I was in for something great. 

At least half-a-dozen lens flares?

Honestly, I was shocked how few there were! It almost didn’t feel like a J.J. Abrams movie at times! There were still at least half-a-dozen though, so I was happy. 

An Appearance by Anakin Skywalker?

Hah! Thankfully no, he was nowhere to be seen. No force ghosts at all, actually. I only caught two references to the prequels, the one mention of the Sith, and Kylo Ren offhandedly saying something about maybe they should bring in a clone army. Two minor references that were perfectly done.

Aliens that look like dinosaurs?

I’m a little mixed about the creatures, but mostly pleased. The creatures that attack the pirates were very interesting, but they didn’t scream classic Star Wars to me. It wasn’t that the cgi was bad, but something about them just didn’t look like they fit. They looked like something out of one of Abrams’ Star Trek movies. But they were minor. The creatures briefly seen on Jakku were pretty good—I especially liked the weird mechanical rhino-type thing in the desert and the giant pig beastie drinking from the watering hole. But generally speaking, there weren’t enough dinosaur-type creatures for my liking, though I did like most of the designs. As for the character of Maz Kanata, I’m also torn. The motion capture was good, the cgi was good, the voiceover was excellent, and the character design was simple but great. And yet, it still looked very cgi. Perhaps it was because she was so inhuman, but something about her just didn’t quite mesh with the aesthetics of the rest of the scene (probably because everything else around her was a puppet/practical). There were actually more humans in the movie than I expected—I think there were more humans than aliens/robots—but I was more than okay with that, and I look forward to more aliens in Episode VIII.

A new Sith Lord?

I’ll just talk about all of the villains under this heading, because they all need to be addressed. First up: I was totally wrong on Max von Sydow’s character. Was he a bad guy? A good guy? Doesn’t really matter, because Kylo Ren cut him down in no time flat, and that brings me to...

Villain #1: Kylo Ren. What a GREAT villain! I was totally expecting him to just be a Darth Vader wannabe, and as Rey says, he’s concerned he won’t be as powerful as Darth Vader (and no, he won’t be), and that’s what was fascinating about him. He wasn’t like Vader. Kylo Ren is Ben Solo, he’s an actual human, with human emotion and everything! Darth Vader: has his religion insulted, casually force chokes the guy. Kylo Ren: finds out prisoner escapes, goes psycho and chops a computer up with his lightsabre. Totally different, and way less of a force master. We didn’t get much about the Knights of Ren, but I’m guessing we will in Episode VIII, and we didn’t really need to. Kylo Ren was very well set up, and my favourite aspect of his character was his temptation to leave the dark side and go to the light side! That is such a simple but brilliant twist on something we’ve seen before, I loved it! 

Villain #2: Supreme Leader Snoke. I’m so glad Kylo Ren was the primary antagonist, but clearly not the most powerful villain out there. When Snoke first came on screen, my reaction was: “Oh SHIT, he’s HUGE!” and I thought that was awesome, but now I hear he might actually not be, and it was just his projection that was huge, which is okay I guess, especially if he’s going to fight Luke or Rey in the future, but I liked it when he seemed huge. I was also relieved that he was just a hologram because the cgi looked very artificial, but I’m also wondering if this is like the problem with Maz Kanata. Somehow the motion capture just doesn’t look like it fits. It looks like motion capture, which is completely contrary to Andy Serkis in the Planet of the Apes movies, where he actually looks like a real ape. Again, this could just be because of the alien factor and not being something we’re familiar with. Anyway, Andy Serkis gave Snoke plenty of character just in his brief screen time, both in voice and expression, and I can’t wait to see more of him (also, I sort of expected him to be more alien-looking, I was surprised he was actually closer to human, though he was a little obscured and hard to see clearly, and his scars were sweet). 

Villain #3: Captain Phazma. Honestly, I’m disappointed she didn’t get more screen time. BUT, she has a great look, and again, I can’t wait to see her do something in the future (assuming she didn’t get killed in the trash compacter/Starkiller Base explosion). 

Villain #4: General Hux. This guy is the perfect douchebag young general type, a nice contrast with the elderly General Tarkin, and unlike Tarkin, he survived the Starkiller base explosion (as far as I know), so hopefully he returns as well. All in all, the villains were excellent, and well handled, leading me to my next point…

Kylo Ren killed off?

It was close. I was super concerned. Strangely, as I was rooting for Rey to win the lightsabre battle, I was also rooting for Kylo Ren to live, because here is this fantastic villain, well set up, full of potential, who just killed Han Solo, so he’s achieved full asshole status, and to kill him would be a huge fail. Kylo Ren gets brutally slashed by Rey, scarred across his face, then that trench opens between them, and I fist-pumped once again. It was PERFECT. I should’ve had more faith in Abrams’ and company. Of course they wouldn’t pull a Marvel and kill their brand-new villain! I’m super glad they did what they did, it couldn’t have been better. Speaking of lightsabre battles…

An awesome lightsabre duel?

Absolutely. This was a raw, fierce, emotionally-fuelled skirmish that was worth the price of admission alone. It didn’t have crazy flips and high speed swinging of the sabres and a crazy cgi environment, and it didn’t need any of that. It was fantastic, but at first, I wasn’t sure I could buy that Finn and Rey would have such skills with a lightsabre when they had never used one before, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense, and that is awesome. 

A character “dies”, but is alive again by the end?

Nope, didn’t happen, thankfully. Again, they didn’t pull a Marvel. 

“I have a bad feeling about this.”?

YES! Han said it! But a huge grin didn’t break out across my face. Because I already had a grin on my face, basically the entire length of the movie. Until…

Han Solo as a Force user?

Neither Leia nor Han appeared to be full-on force users. They weren’t exactly the same Han Solo and Princess Leia we saw 30 years ago, but Han Solo was still the Han Solo we knew and loved, and that’s why what happened hurt so much…

An important character dies?

About ten minutes after it happened, I was totally into the other stuff that was going on, and then I took a moment to stop and think, and thought: “Holy shit, Han Solo just died. Oh. My. God.” The second he turned to walk onto that bridge to face his son, I thought, “Oh no, he’s done.” And the tension built and built and it seemed like maybe he would get through to Kylo Ren and maybe he wouldn’t kill him, and then BLAMO! Lightsabre through the chest, and when it cut to Chewbacca crying out, that’s when it got real. He’s dead. Gone. What a way to go. Some fans feel his death didn’t pack the emotional punch it should have, but I totally disagree. Not only was this legendary character killed, he was killed by his own son, who turned to the dark side, and it was Leia who told him to try and talk to him! It was shocking, but at the same time, it worked for the story, it wasn’t just to be shocking, plus, Harrison Ford has always wanted Han Solo to die, so now he’s happy, many fans are in outrage, and it is madness! I didn’t think Disney would have the balls to kill off an original character, but of all the characters to kill, that one made the most sense for this story, so I can’t say I’m really pissed off. What I am concerned about, is how there can be Chewbacca without Han Solo. Is he going to die next? I don’t think Rey or Finn or anyone else can replace Han Solo as Chewbacca’s new buddy. We will see what becomes of the grieving Wookiee in 1.5 years. 

Chewbacca pulls someone’s arms off?

 

Yeah, he should do this, to Kylo Ren. Then beat him with his own limbs. Then pull his spinal column out and mount his skull in a trophy case like a Predator. Too much? Yeah, too much. But I still didn’t get to see him do the arm pull thing to anyone, and I still want to see it. 

R2D2 and BB8 interact?

Another frown-worthy element of The Force Awakens was that R2D2 was powered down, ever since his master, Luke Skywalker, disappeared. Poor Artoo! But then, somehow, some way, R2D2 came BACK at the end! Unfortunately, he and BB8 didn’t have much interaction. I expected C3PO and R2D2 to barely be in the movie, so I wasn’t too surprised, and I doubt it’ll happen at all, but there’s still a chance, especially because BB8 is now an instant classic of a character (the thumbs up with the lighter was simply put, hilarious). 

Something huge make an even huger explosion?

The explosions did not disappoint. What was mildly odd was when the Starkiller base blew up like three planets at once, and no one really expressed much upset about it. Which planets were those? Who lived on them? What? It’s a small point that a lot of people are complaining about, and I get why, but I didn’t think much of it. It felt like an obligatory thing to have the base show what it was capable of, a la the Death Star blowing up Alderaan. But I loved the explosions just the same!

A Stormtrooper actually hits someone with a blaster?

Wow. Yes. Someone actually trained these guys. They actually seemed to know what they were doing. Sure, many, many, many of them failed to hit anything and were brutally killed, but at least some of them did more than hit their heads on low doorways or fall off ledges without railings (although side note: they still don’t have bridges with railings? If they did Han Solo’s dead body wouldn’t have plummeted into nothingness, but that might’ve been more upsetting, so maybe it’s good there are still a lack of railings). 

A severe cliff hanger? A super lame intro for Luke Skywalker? 

In my spoiler free review, I mentioned the ending being something I didn’t like. I didn’t straight up dislike it, and I get why they did the ending that they did. Right from the opening title crawl, it was obvious there would be a huge absence of Luke Skywalker, which was fine by me. But then the ending of the movie happens. The fight between Kylo Ren and Rey ends, Rey returns to the Resistance base, Finn goes to med bay, and the movie reaches a logical conclusion. Great! I’m sad it’s over but that was fantastic. BUT THEN, Rey finds out where Luke is (the first known Jedi temple? I think?), goes to the planet, climbs up a mountain, and there he is at the top in his robe, and he turns to her, and she holds out the lightsabre, and they don’t say anything (if this was George Lucas directing one of them would probably scream “NO!”) and then the movie ends! WHAT?! 

It’s a cliff hanger, yes, but is it severe? Kinda. It ain’t no Empire Strikes Back cliff hanger, that’s for sure. Many fans are angry they didn’t get enough Luke in The Force Awakens, but we were never promised him. What we were promised was a good reason for all the secrecy surrounding him, so I was expecting an epic reveal, and I totally thought he would show up during the Rey-Kylo Ren lightsabre duel (looking back, glad he didn’t), but instead, it almost felt like an additional ending tacked on to set up Episode VIII. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was a pretty awesome and worthwhile reveal to get to Luke, but it felt more like how Episode VIII should have opened, and the whole getting the location and getting to the planet and getting up those steps to the mountain top felt pretty rushed. Hopefully Episode VIII picks up pretty close to where Episode VII ends, because you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Rian Johnson! (side note: what if J.J. Abrams was like, “I don’t know what to do with Luke! He’s such an iconic character, I couldn’t possibly do him justice! Hmmm, how about he’s missing? Yeah! Then he doesn’t even have to be in the movie! And I’ll just direct this one movie, then let someone else take care of him!” I’m sure that’s not what happened, but that’d be funny)

A story about revenge?

No, not really! Maybe in the big picture Supreme Leader Snoke is trying to get revenge for something that happened in the past, but at the core of this story, it really was not about revenge, and that made me very pleased. 

An overabundance of references to the original trilogy?

In my things I didn’t want to see list, I made a few specific allusions to things I didn’t need to see referenced, and one of them was the alien hologram chess game. When I saw that, yes, I thought it was a bit much, but as my cousin pointed out, it was the counteracting move C3PO made in A New Hope, which was kind of cool. Generally speaking, this movie was being fuelled by nostalgia, and in my spoiler-free review, I mentioned another movie that came out this year that was fuelled by nostalgia: Jurassic World. Jurassic World relied on nostalgia quite a lot, but thankfully, The Force Awakens had much more than just stuff from the previous movies (contrary to all those complainers, which I’ll get to last). It actually had a good story and new characters that were likable and relatable and believable, and even without any tiny references to the original trilogy, it still would’ve been great. But, the references that were chosen were mostly good. I’d give it a 9/10 on the references aspect of the movie; some great ones, some clever ones, but a couple too many, for my liking. 

The same thing I’ve already seen?

Ok, time to get real here. The Force Awakens has a lot of similar elements to A New Hope. Not just a few subtle nods, the major thing everyone is focusing on is this: in Episode IV, the rebels were trying to destroy the Death Star. In Episode VII, the resistance is trying to destroy the Starkiller Base. Just because of that, everyone is already complaining saying “It’s the same as A New Hope! It sucks!” 

STFU. 

Nothing could ever please everyone! I completely understand why J.J. Abrams didn’t make The Force Awakens a brand-new never-before-seen story, because how could he have and still pleased as many fans as he did? It just wasn’t feasible! The introduction of the Falcon, then of Han Solo and Chewie, then of Princess Leia, then of C3PO, then of R2D2, then Ackbar, and all the things from the original trilogy, came in effective increments. It worked within the story. The only part of the story I thought could’ve been better was the Starkiller base. Having another super weapon didn’t bother me, especially with how meta it became when Han Solo was so casual about it, saying it’s just another death star and asking how to blow it up. But, what would’ve been better is if their mission was to disable the weapon part of it, instead of outright destroy it. If they had destroyed the main weapon, it would’ve been the equivalent of destroying it, without needing to do that exact same thing again, but still saving the day, but also leaving it there for sequel potential. The problem now is, what is the First Order going to do from here? Are they going to build another? That’ll basically be Death Star #4. For some, the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi was one Death Star too many. For many more, Starkiller base in The Force Awakens will be one Death Star too many. If they do another in Episode XI (following the formula of the original trilogy), that’s going to probably be the last straw for the majority of fans. It’s definitely a concern, but time to focus back in on The Force Awakens.

Take Starkiller base out of the equation, and what do you have that’s SO similar to A New Hope? Possible argument: Well, it’s about a loner character living on a desert planet, just like Luke. Sure, the desert planet part is the same, but Rey doesn’t want to go on adventures and leave her home planet, she doesn’t initially want to learn the ways of the force (which she thinks is a mythic thing), she is self-sufficient and doesn’t need anyone to help her. Luke needed Han Solo and Obi Wan. Rey didn’t need Han Solo at all. Yes, she needs Luke to train her in the ways of the force, but it’s not like Luke learning the force. He had zero skills until Obi Wan began training him. Rey figured out Jedi mind tricks and moving things and handled a lightsabre with grace and skill all BEFORE even meeting Luke! 

The intricacies of the plot are not an imitation of A New Hope. They are similar, yes, in many ways, but remember, this is a sequel to a movie that came out thirty years ago! Last time I checked, that’s a hell of a long gap between sequels. There was so much to do, so much setup needed, so much fan service needed, I’m shocked it turned out as fantastic as it did, especially with the disappointment of Avengers: Age of Ultron earlier this year, which was everyone’s number two most anticipated of 2015, with Star Wars being number one. 

I could keep going on and on about this point, but I’m going to wrap this thing up. Did I see the same thing I’ve seen before? Yes. A non-fan would say “you’ve seen one Star Wars, you’ve seen them all.” Sure. Whatever. But this fan is satisfied with seeing the same thing he’s seen before, but not the EXACT same thing. I specifically said, and I quote myself, “…hopefully they don’t sacrifice the quality of the storytelling just to make money.” They certainly did not, and that makes me very happy.