The Force Awakens movie review (spoilers)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

You’ve been warned!

I really liked The Force Awakens.  I really did.  I saw it twice in a 12 hour period.  The first time I saw it I was going all fan-boy the whole time.  But by the end I felt unsatisfied.  I couldn’t put a finger on it.  After I saw it a second time, I still really enjoyed it.  In fact I picked up on some things that I didn’t notice the first time.  I really liked it, but I walked away wishing that I loved it.  I don’t mean to sound like I didn’t actually like it.  Like I said before, I REALLY DID!  But Empire Strikes Back is still my favorite Star Wars film.  Why?  It was a character driven story.  It also had a moral or ideal at its core.  The Force Awakens starts out as character driven, then turns into something more story driven than anything else.

I know that I’m not alone when I say I had certain expectations going into this.  I knew it was certainly going to be better than any of the prequel films.  I was careful not to set my hopes too high. I was expecting something akin to A New Hope.  Why?  Because this is the beginning of a new story.  A new trilogy with new characters and new locations to get familiar with.  And A New Hope is the prime example for how to do that.  So I will compare The Force Awakens to A New Hope.

While I was an animation student, I had to do several pitches and write loglines for film or game ideas.  I started to think: “what would the logline of this film be?”  If you could sum up what this film is about in just a few sentences, what would it be?  Well OK, loglines are really difficult to write well and were never a strength of mine.  So I can give a bit of a pass on this.  So let’s move on to another reason: whose story is this?  Who is the main character?  Is it Finn or Rey?  Whose story should it belong to?  The original trilogy was clearly Luke’s story.  The debacle that was the prequel trilogy should’ve been Obi-Wan’s story.  But with this new trilogy; who does this story belong to?  It starts out so strong and so well with establishing Finn’s character.  It offers a compelling reason as to what would make a Stormtrooper defect.  He has weaknesses and fears and offers some good character growth.  It’s a great character arc!  I wish there were more questions that were answered about him like: how did a sanitation trooper stationed on this huge “death star” get transferred to a raiding party in search of anything of import?  What exactly were his duties there?  Did he like it there?  Did he want to prove himself a capable Stormtrooper or was he forced out?  I think these would have been great questions that, had they been answered, would have meant more to the plot plus given more to his character.  It also would give greater meaning and weight to this “new death star” that felt rather shoehorned in.  But I’ll get to that later.

Then there’s Rey.  The story (I suspect) should be about her.  But she sadly doesn’t seem to have a lot of character growth.  I just don’t feel any connection to her character.  It started well what with fighting hunger but it is never brought up again.  Oh by the way, she’s also force sensitive… surprise!  They really could’ve brought that up earlier in the film.  The overarching story hints to having much more to do with her than with Finn.  So why isn’t she given more character growth?  Which leads me to my biggest problem I think I had with the film.  Why didn’t I feel the pain or heartbreak when Han Solo was killed?  

I remember weeping (you know… the way a manly man does) in the first trailer when Han says “Chewy, we’re home!”  So why didn’t Han getting killed feel as significant as it should?  I think it is because we know who Han was not who he is.  We love the Han from 30 years ago, but an awful lot can happen in 30 years and we don’t know who this guy is anymore.  His death as it seems was meant to mirror the significance of Obi-Wan’s sacrifice in New Hope.  But in New Hope we know who Obi-Wan is therefore his death had weight.  It meant something because his death was tied to the fate of Luke… whom we care about and the whole story is about.    So when Han dies, why isn’t Rey all the more motivated to go back to Jakku?

One more thing before I’m done.  This new enemy super weapon destroys 5 planets at once.  Sounds cool, but why should we care?  What was the significance of those planets?  Who of the main characters does that directly affect?  No one.  In a New Hope the death star blows up Alderaan.  It matters because it directly affects Leia (who we care about) and the story.  But in ep.7, some high ranking general gives a very impressive and intimidating speech then fires this super weapon destroying 5 Republic planets that we know nothing about nor are given any prior mention to.

Now usually I’m not one to complain about something and not offer a fix.  So here are my suggestions that I feel would’ve made it a better movie. 

1^st: The film doesn’t start early enough.  It should’ve started on that planet-sized death star with Finn doing his sanitation work.  We need to see the station and know of its existence.  We need to see how/why Finn is transferred from his duties as a sanitation officer to a combat unit that is accompanying the First Order’s 2^nd in command on a somewhat important mission.  That’s quite the escalation that needs explaining. 

2^nd: Han needs to be more of a mentor to both Finn AND Rey.  Han should have something like a heart-to-heart with Finn explaining how lying about your past won’t get you far in life.  For Rey, Han needed to offer more than just a job.  He needs to show Rey how good life could be if she were to leave Jakku for good.  That way his death would mean so much more to them and to the audience. 

3^rd: Rey needs to show hints of force sensitivity earlier.  Could you imagine if she were the best scavenger around because she’s force sensitive?  How about instead of fighting hunger she’s fighting loneliness?  That way when BB-8 shows up, she is more likely to cling to him.

I don’t mean to stir the pot.  It isn’t my goal to come across as some Star Wars troll.  Ultimately, all JJ Abrams needed to do was to make this movie better than the prequels and he succeeded.  I really liked it.  It is the greatest example of combining fan-service and nostalgia.  But it still falls short of Empire Strikes Back and also sadly (for me) New Hope.  We still have more films coming our way though.  And that alone gives me “A New Hope.”  (bad pun… sorry) I’d like to know your thoughts on this.  Am I too critical or am I not going far enough?