STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, BB-8 and Han Solo Take Center Stage But It's All Luke Skywalker's Fault
This review contains spoilers for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. You've been warned.
"History repeats itself."
It's a saying that you have probably heard before. Or, at least, heard one of its derivatives at some point in your life. This is definitely the case in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS as the first part of what is being called the Sequel Trilogy has put Star Wars back on the box office map in record breaking ways.
Having a lot of call-backs and references to STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and the Original Trilogy, The Force Awakens is a reboot, a remix and an homage. A few critics and fans dislike this, but nostalgia is something that really strikes a chord with most people.
Writer and director J.J. Abrams joining forces with writer Lawrence Kasdan was the first sign of history repeating itself since Kasdan helped write the screenplays for STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI. And Kasdan bought that nostalgic feel along with similar story concepts to the new film. Not to mention that both men brought some of the Original Trilogy cast back as well.
Whether you want to call it pandering for the older generation of Star Wars fans or not, it was the smartest move to get the franchise back on track after the Prequel Trilogy had many of those same older fans same losing a lot of faith in a galaxy far, far away.
Regardless, The Force Awakens is a powerful movie even though it relies on similar occurrences from the Original Trilogy. The use of these parallel story lines work and Abrams and Kasdan made them work without feeling like they were leaning too much on the original films.
This is about the next generation of Star Wars heroes and villains: Rey, Finn, BB-8 (his thumbs up to Finn was genius!) and Kylo Ren all are a joy to watch. Of course Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2 are great to see once again.
It's all Luke's fault
But this is still very much a continuation of the Skywalker story from the last two trilogies. Luke may only have a minute of screen time, in the final moments of the movie, but the bloodline is still very much carrying this franchise. Kylo Ren is revealed to be Ben Solo, former fallen apprentice of Luke, who is obsessed with his grandfather Darth Vader. Ren wants to fulfill Vader's mission to rid the galaxy of the Jedi and he is looking for his former master Luke. Ren is very powerful with the Force as he revealed new Force moves never seen before like stopping a blaster shot in mid-air. A fantastic visual effect showing how skilled he is with the Force.
Out of all the new characters more was revealed about Kylo Ren's backstory than any of the other. His background is all about history repeating itself but with a twist. Instead of him being temped by the Dark Side, Ren is trying to resist the temptations of the Light Side. Ren also has a bit of Skywalker within because he is impatient and a bit immature as evident by his "freak out moments" destroying objects during tantrums. Obviously Ben going to the Dark Side is the root cause of Han and Leia splitting up and the reason Luke went into exile.
Speaking of Luke, his exile seems a result of him realizing all of this is his fault and wanting to locate the first Jedi Temple to learn a new Force power of some kind to right his failure in training Ben. He couldn't keep Ben Solo from the path of the Dark Side which led to Ben's parents having issues dealing with it and going their separate ways. A very human emotion is at the heart of this cause and effect surrounding Ben and his parents "breaking up" and this is one that many can relate with since this is a broken home and family who have now drowned themselves in their respective jobs to help forget about the problems in their personal lives.
While Han and Leia do reunite, Leia can still sense the good in Ben and urges Han to try and bring him back home. In a moment of pure love for his son, Han tries to sway Ben back to the Light Side but it was all a part of Ren's biggest Dark Side test (per his conversation with Snoke) and Ben officially become no more by impaling his father with his lightsaber. In his dying breath, Han lovingly caresses his son's face before falling to his death. A very, very, very sad and touching moment and one that will have fans talking and emotional for a very long time. This will surely haunt Ren for the remainder of the Sequel Trilogy.
To reiterate, this is a new trilogy for a new generation and while more was revealed about Kylo Ren than Rey or Finn, fans got some backstory about Finn. He was taken as a child to be trained as a Stormtrooper. Finn is a delight as he is like a newborn child who has discovered the world around himself for the first time. He is beginning to see things with his own two eyes and his being naive to the bigger world around him is a joy to see as he discovers he wants a bigger purpose to his life.
The Force Awakens subtitle refers to Rey and how the Force power within her is awakened when she is near Anakin and Luke Skywalker's former blue lightsaber. Her vision is one that will need to be watched with lots of focus because there were lots of quick shots of things that flashed by so fast another viewing is needed to catch all of the imagery and voices — it has been confirmed that Yoda, young Obi-Wan Kenobi and older Kenobi voices can all be heard in her vision.
Rey must have been (here's some speculation) dropped off on Jakku by perhaps Luke when Ben went to the Dark Side and presumably killed off all of Luke's other trainees. Luke had to have realized Rey was his strongest student and saved her by leaving her on Jakku with, again presumably, Lor San Tekka. The guy who Poe went to see to get the other part of the map that Luke left to find him in exile. And at one point, when Ren is told about a girl being with the map inside of BB-8 he says, "What girl?!" like he remembers a powerful girl being trained with him by Luke years prior.
The Force is very strong with Rey because once it is awakened within her an instinct seems to take hold and she is able to use it on a Stormtrooper to release her and she is able to "out-Force" Ren's Force power to grab the former Skywalker lightsaber leading to the final lightsaber battle injuring and scarring Ren. Now he will be even more like his idolized grandfather by becoming a bit more machine in the upcoming episodes.
In a brilliant way to create instant hype for Episode VIII, Abrams and Kasdan left Luke out of the movie until the last minute and his expression is something every moviegoer and fan will talk about for the next 17-ish months until the next movie releases.
All-in-all, The Force Awakens is a fantastic film because it has brought Star Wars back as a franchise. A must see over and over again in the theater!
Related Post:
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Blows Up Records Pulling in $238 Million Domestically, $517 Million Worldwide
Han Solo will haunt Kylo Ren
Finn is absolutely delightful
The Force Awakens within Rey
Rey must have been (here's some speculation) dropped off on Jakku by perhaps Luke when Ben went to the Dark Side and presumably killed off all of Luke's other trainees. Luke had to have realized Rey was his strongest student and saved her by leaving her on Jakku with, again presumably, Lor San Tekka. The guy who Poe went to see to get the other part of the map that Luke left to find him in exile. And at one point, when Ren is told about a girl being with the map inside of BB-8 he says, "What girl?!" like he remembers a powerful girl being trained with him by Luke years prior.
The Force is very strong with Rey because once it is awakened within her an instinct seems to take hold and she is able to use it on a Stormtrooper to release her and she is able to "out-Force" Ren's Force power to grab the former Skywalker lightsaber leading to the final lightsaber battle injuring and scarring Ren. Now he will be even more like his idolized grandfather by becoming a bit more machine in the upcoming episodes.
Hype for Episode VIII
All-in-all, The Force Awakens is a fantastic film because it has brought Star Wars back as a franchise. A must see over and over again in the theater!
Related Post:
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Blows Up Records Pulling in $238 Million Domestically, $517 Million Worldwide