The Force Awakens (Part 2)

Star Wars:  The Force Awakens (Part 2)

[Spoiler alert – I’ve waited a week but don’t want to ruin anything for anyone, so if you haven’t seen it and you are going to, read this after]

[I believe my opinion is different than many others who have experienced this move.  Realize that’s what opinions are all about]

[Some of my comments might appear to be nitpicking.  Don’t mean them as such, just helps to make my point]

 

 

. . . I was disappointed.

 

It started out great (I missed the 20^th Century Fox Fanfare but at least I wasn’t greeted by the Princess Palace in all metal with a Storm Trooper clad Tinkerbell sprinkling Pixie Dust).  The words appeared

“A Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far Away . . . “  My stomach knotted the way it did every time I saw that on the big screen.

 

The music blared – Star Wars appeared and got sucked back into the star field.  The recognizable in style, not words crawl began and I was brought into that galaxy I missed so much.  And the movie started.

 

First, general thoughts.  After about 40 minutes, and enjoying the film, I couldn’t get the feeling of “this isn’t Star Wars”, out of my head.  I couldn’t place my finger on it.  About 2/3 of the way through I started second guessing my zealousness of purchasing tickets for two more viewings, one set for a showing  two days away with a friend and another for a week down the road, with the kids, this time in D Box.  At the end I was, well I was disappointed.  I couldn’t put my finger on why.  Why I felt, though I enjoyed the movie and the characters, and seeing some old friends, disappointed.  I still had that sense that it wasn’t Star Wars.  Then it hit me, and this is such an internal and personal feeling that I can’t really explain it, it lacked the heart of Star Wars.

 

 

 

Let me say this again, I really enjoyed the movie.  It was fun, I liked the characters (both new and old), there was plenty of action, the story was good, it looked beautiful.  It just missed for me.  So I needed to start digging.

 

Han Solo was great to see again.  Matured as anticipated.  I did at one point think he was wearing Indiana Jones’ jacket.  But he was great.  Great action flick for Chewbacca.  There is some controversy over his weapon.  Some wonder why it had taken Han that long to fire it; some say that the Bowcaster is no t designed for humans and that Han couldn’t fire it if he wanted to.  Me, I just enjoyed the scenes.

 

 I liked Rey a lot.  It was nice to see the continued usage of a strong female character.  Rey was especially appreciated as unlike Padme and Leia before her, she has to struggle just to stay alive.  Her strength comes solely from within as she was abandoned at such a young age.  Finn was fun.  I thought he was a bit too goofy (The Big Deal stuff and the I’m with the Resistance “soliloquy’).  Beyond that, I liked what I saw. 

Leia was terribly underutilized.  ‘Nuff said.

I enjoyed C3PO’s appearance and comments but there was something about his appearance that bothered me.  I was fine with the red arm; the rest of him looked too plastic.

 

Looking forward to seeing more of Poe.  I liked Captain Phasma.  She was reminiscent of Kala form the 1980 Flash Gordon.  I really liked seeing an increase number of females on both sides of the ‘aisle’ in this one.  I very much enjoyed Maz.  Great character.  Looks great, fun to listen to and watch.  She’s a Yoda contemporary, wonder if anything happened between them.

Kylo Ren, I was okay with him (even his Darth Tantrum moments).  At first you might be thinking a young Darth Vader, but they have such different child hoods.  I am guessing he is about the same age as Anakin when he became Darth Vader.  Anakin had a lot of training as a Jedi and maturing before he made the decision to turn.  Ben Solo on the other hand had to be a very young child especially if Luke’s been gone for about 20 years.  He left because he lost Ben to the dark side (hmm, remember how Obi Wan blamed himself for Darth Vader).  So there was no maturity turning and most likely not entirely self motivated.  We will see what happens with him

 

Other than the characters, I did like the action and the settings and just about everything else.  It just still didn’t ring true for me.

I also really liked the moment between Kylo and Vader’s mask.  Hearing him referred to as grandfather gave me a bit of a chill. 

 

I was disappointed in how R2 was handled.  It makes no sense that he was deactivated in order to keep the map a secret (can’t imagine why else he was powered down).  As a friend of mine pointed out, he is the best secret keeper there is.  He held the information about the whole Skywalker family in his memory banks,  Threepio’s memory had to be erased.  My theory I she was basically shut down until needed.  Luke felt a disturbance when Han was killed and reactivated him to aid in his being located.  Or Rey (and will get to my theory on her in a bit) being present did it.  If you follow the original trilogy, you would think R2 would have been with Luke all this time.  Speaking of Luke, that last scene, though beautiful, really bothered me.  The movie should have ended with some form of celebration (or more appropriately a memorial for Han).  The finding Luke felt like a tack on because the fans would have been pissed if he wasn’t in this movie.  Of course we were all waiting for the “The Force is strong in my family” monologue, but whatever.  And while I’m on R2, there is a scene with he and Threepio where he says something and Threepio slaps him across, basically, the face.  Now we’ve seen Threepio berate him and kick him (lovingly) but that slap, sorry, it sure seemed a bit too much.  Maybe they didn’t want to repeat the kick but I found this harsh.

So what’s going on with Leia.  She was the only Force sensitive left after the Battle of Endor (as far as we know) and she never got any training.  If you read the Return of the Jedi novelization it really keys in on her being pretty into the Force.  I would think she would have been the first one trained.  Doesn’t make logical sense.

And speaking of the Force, how is it that Finn can yield that lightsaber on par with Ren.  He even gets a hit in on him.  Quite a battle for someone trained to use a blaster and maintenance on the Starkiller.  And yes, I’ve considered that maybe they train Stormtroopers to use weapons (like that cool electrical thing the guy fights Finn with) but why.  As far as they know, they will never have to come up against lightsabers.  Remember all the Jedi, sans Luke, are gone.  I do have a theory on Finn that might explain it.

And why couldn’t Ren get that lightsaber out of the snow.  Hell Luke, with very little training was able to do it on Hoth.  And he was upside down.  I’m okay with Rey’s abilities because they had already been established.  Again, a bit too good too soon but, after all, this isn’t Star Wars.

The Starkiller, what the hell???  All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, there is a scene circa 1938 Germany with Hitler addressing the troops and then they shoot this thing off.  Hey, I’m good with the scene as it was but give us a little background and maybe even some purpose other than just wanton destruction.  At least with the Death Star there was discussion as to what it did and an actual motivation for using it.  Both times.  And how close together were those 4 planets anyway.

It’s been what, 30 years since Return of the Jedi.  Suddenly Luke Skywalker is a myth?  I get Han (and Luke) could be considered legends but it’s been less than half a century.  Don’t they have books and classes and History lessons?  So, one might argue, the force was considered an ancient religion in Star Wars (oh, sorry, A New Hope) and it had only been 20 years since Revenge of the Sith.  The differences, those 20 years were und oppression and suppression of the truth.  History is communicated in such an environment as whispers and stories and ultimately become myths and fables.  Return of the Jedi brought on a freer society.  It plays well but doesn’t make sense.

 

I guess there’s a thin line between homage and remake.  I think that line was tread here.  There was quite a bit that seems to have been copied from the original.  The parsecs mention (which I thought was great considering the controversy over it) was great. The trash compactor mention, loved it.  I would have liked a reference to Han shooting first with Greedo.  Who knows, maybe Chewie mentioned it.  But there were giant pieces that seemed like they were lifted right out of the original.

Overall, too many questions.  I’ve heard this defended by many with the idea that we know there are going to be sequels that will explain things.  And I guess that’s the way movies are made these days.  You leave gaping holes because you know or hope they’ll be answered in a future movie or book or other media outlet.  And yes, I know that Episodes 2 and 5 left us needing more, but as Lucas explained, they were second acts, needing a third act to complete the full story.  The first act, in my opinion, should be stand alone.  The entertainment value is what should leave you wanting more.  I believe that’s the way many of us felt after the original.  We couldn’t wait to get invited back to that world.  Not because we needed to but because we wanted to. 

 

And yes, I have theories.  Many in line I’m sure with the mass population.  The first, most obvious, Rey is Luke’s daughter.  I believe she was born after his self imposed exile which is why there would have been no sense of family when she meets up with Han and Leia.  I’ve heard she’s Ben’s twin but I doubt Leia’s memory was erased and there would have been something upon their being reunited.  But she’s such a great pilot, must be Han’s daughter!!  Luke, like his father before him, were both great pilots.  Makes sense that it would come natural to her as well (remember, Anakin was the only human that could race a pod).

 

The day after I saw the movie for the first time I must have received a dozen messages and emails asking who the old guy in the beginning was (Max von Sydow’s character)  I had and have no clue.  He certainly was presented as someone we should know.  My first thought was General Dodona from the Yavin Battle but I think he would be older.  I kinda wanted him to be Wedge, cause I miss Wedge.  Another thought was General Madine from the Endor battle.  He does have a name and it isn’t any of those so no clue.

Someone told me they thought that Finn was the son of Lando Calrissian.  In an effort to continue to insist on relating the Black characters to each other I jokingly said he was probably the grandson of Mace Windu.  Then I gave them some thought and the lightsaber battle some thought and, well, hmmmm . . . . .

 

I’ve seen it 3 times, I will see it again.  My last viewing I enjoyed much more than the first.  I’m still not feeling the heart.  I still think something is missing.  But, after all, it is called Star Wars.

 

Maybe it’s the Earth 2 equivalent to a galaxy far, far away . . . .