Movie Review: Star Wars: The Foce Awakens

PLOT:

30 years after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire, Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku, finds a BB-8 droid that knows the whereabouts of the long lost Luke Skywalker. Rey, as well as a rogue stormtrooper and two smugglers, are thrown into the middle of a battle between the Resistance and the daunting legions of the First Order. 

REVIEW:

What did I like?

New hope. For the most part, I am going to try and review this without the knowledge (and i use that term loosely) of the 2 films that followed this one. Having said that, let’s go back to 2015. No pandemic, everything wasn’t politicized, twitter wasn’t a cesspool proving how horrible the internet is, etc. Headed into the holiday season that year, one thing was really on everyone’s mind. What would the new Star Wars film look/feel like. It had been so long since the last one. There was so much hope and excitement going into this and, as I sat here watching it again, I felt that hope again. Oh, if only….

Finn. The initial marketing for this film seemed to focus on Finn, a stormtrooper who didn’t believe in killing and wanted to do what was right. Later in the film, and explored more so in the other entries of this trilogy, it is explained that he was orphaned and conditioned, like the other stormtroopers of this generation. I wonder why they stopped with the clones, though. Guess that is something covered in a book somewhere. Anyway, Finn is special not just because he’s a defected stormtrooper, but because he’s just a regular guy. No force powers, no special lineage, he’s definitely not the chosen one. He’s just Finn, a guy who wants to do what’s right. Couldn’t we use more characters like this in all media (and real life) today?

Reunited. One of the big things that circulated this film’s release was that Luke, Leia, and Han would be returning. How big those roles were was not discussed, but it was confirmed that they would be appearing, tying this trilogy to the original (holy) trilogy. While the passage of time is more than apparent on all of them (Father Time catches up to all of us), it was still great to see them back in the roles that made them stars or, in Harrison Ford’s case, springboarded him into superstardom. Even better is the fact that they weren’t just glorified cameos, they are actually part of the story (Luke is a cameo in this one, but the next film he more than makes up for it)

What didn’t I like?

What could have been. As I stated earlier, my aim is to focus on this film and not the sequel trilogy. That being said, there are so many things that are set up here and were never paid off. For instance, Finn wielding a lightsaber. The last I read/heard about this is that you have to commune with the force or be force sensitive. This film seems to set up that Finn, especially being an orphan, could possess some sort of connection to the Force, but that is never touched back on and he spends the rest of the movies simping, to use the current vernacular, for Rey. Captain Phasma…a female stormtrooper? with silver armor and cape? Surely she’s got to be bad ass, right? Truth be told, she has a couple of moments, but in the grand scheme of things, she’s just a glorified henchman. I’ve heard that she has some moments in the books, though. So there is that, I guess. So much potential, just in these two examples and there are many others that perhaps could warrant a post on their own, but because the director of the next film was such a non-fan and….wait, let me finish this review before I get on my soapbox.

Finn and Rey. It seems that there was a plan in place for Finn and Rey to get together in the long run. Spoiler alert…that didn’t happen. Why? I cannot tell you, other than the inconsistency of these 3 films. There is speculation that the powers that be were listening to those on the internet who wanted to “ship” Finn and Poe, but never pulled the trigger. A friend of mine has the theory that it was never going to happen between Finn and Rey because of the color of their skin. I don’t buy into that, then again, Finn was a major piece of the promotional material here in the US, but almost nonexistent when it went over to China. At any rate, the sparks are starting to fly as this film goes on, but we never see that again. Another what could have been, I guess.

Deja vu. When I watched for the very first time in the theater (remember those days?), I commented to my friend afterwards that this was basically a remake of the original Star Wars. I still hold to that. Many of the same beats are there. Chosen on on a desert planet, film starts with the antagonists, hotshot pilot enters fairly early on, bad guys torture individual, bad guys blow up planet(s), lightsaber battle at film’s climax, etc., etc.,etc. Does this make it a bad film? No, but one of things this franchise in known for…or used to be known for…is innovation. That is doing something different each time out. Say what you will about the prequel trilogy, they all standout in some way. Be it the pod races, Darth Maul, taking a chance with a character like Jar Jar, etc. Rehashing one of greatest films in all of sci-fi may not have been the best choice, and yet, it isn’t the worst thing to happen during the Disney era of Star Wars

Final verdict:

What did I think of The Force Awakens? Believe it or not, I actually like it. Yes, I have my criticisms, but most of those come from watching this after the trilogy has been completed *COUGH* ruined *COUGH* With that said, it is obvious that this film was setting up events down the road, but the outline was thrown out by the director of the next film who singlehandedly ruined the franchise. If I decide to review that one, be warned, it will most likely be more of a rant than anything. Back to this film, the story, while derivative of the og film works. The easter eggs that can be found throughout the film are a treat for the real fans of the franchise who can appreciate them. The acting isn’t the greatest but, let’s be real, everyone in these things either overacts or is very wooden. In the end, I would highly recommend this film, preferably as a stand alone flick.

4 out of 5 stars

Movie Review: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

PLOT:

While the First Order continues to ravage the galaxy, Rey finalizes her training as a Jedi. But danger suddenly rises from the ashes as the evil Emperor Palpatine mysteriously returns from the dead. While working with Finn and Poe Dameron to fulfill a new mission, Rey will not only face Kylo Ren once more, but she will also finally discover the truth about her parents as well as a deadly secret that could determine her future and the fate of the ultimate final showdown that is to come.

REVIEW:

What did I like?

So long, Princess.As everyone knows, Carrie Fisher, the actress who portrayed Leia passed away a year prior to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi causing worry about how her death would be handled. As it turns out, most of her scenes had already been shot. I am sure there was some slight alteration to her story arc, but rest assured, we do get a good farewell to our beloved Princess that is worthy of her character and all that she has done for the franchise.

Character arcs. Speaking of character arcs, thinking back to where many of these characters were when we first saw them, whether it was in the holy trilogy or one of these newer films. Rey has gone from a scavenger girl to a jedi. Finn has gone from a renegade Storm trooper to a strong member of the Rebel Alliance. Kylo Ren was a whiny Vader disciple at first and now he is a full fledged villain. Who would have thought?

Right the ship. There has been no shortage of articles, videos, thought pieces, etc on how Rian Johnson allegedly “ruined” the franchise. Personally, while not a fan of everything he did in the last film, I don’t think he is solely responsible for the current state of this once proud..um…empire. That said, J.J. Abrams has come in as someone with genuine affection for the property in an attempt to the right the ship. I won’t say that he has done so, mostly because I don’t believe that Herculean task could be done by anyone other than 70s era George Lucas, but he lays some foundation down for whatever is next., as well as corrected some mistakes that have been made

What didn’t I like?

Flawless victor. A review I saw on Youtube mentioned that in these 3 films, Rey has taken little to no damage. As I was gathering my thoughts for this review, I started to think about that and realized that he was right! I think the most damage she took was in the first film, when it seemed as if Finn was going to be a bigger part of things going forward than he ended up being (more on that shortly). Also, it should be mentioned that this girl, who has no formal Jedi training, save for a couple of lessons from a grumpy, disgruntled Luke Skywalker and some mentoring from Leia has seemingly more control of the Force than many of the Jedi masters we have seen in this entire franchise, including Yoda. Yes, we are supposed to see that she is extremely powerful, but there comes a point where it is just too much!

Does it matter?  There are two characters from the original trilogy that seemingly come to their end fairly early on in the film. Given that we have seen both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker sacrifice themselves in the previous films and there is no way Leia can make it through this film, for obvious reasons, this isn’t that much of a surprise. I have to take umbrage with the fact that the audience doesn’t get to mourn their demise before they return. Both of these characters could have had an emotional return had they not been rushed.

Waste of potential. There is so much potential with this film but it is squandered away. Many plot points and new characters are introduced that seem as if they could go somewhere, such as who else has the planet destroying technology that the Star Destroyer cannons were using, what about the bounty hunter Poe knew…and how does he know her, the renegade storm troopers on Endor, who are the Sith druids, etc. None of these were answered. Perhaps in comics, novels, and such they will be, but would it have hurt to get some answers on screen? It just seems as if there was no overall plan for these 3 films, unlike the holy trilogy and, regardless of what you may think of them, the prequels.

Final verdict:

When Disney bought the rights to the Star Wars franchise a few years ago, everyone thought they were going to hit it out of the park. With the release of The Force Awakens, it seemed as if big things were on the horizon…until the release of The Last Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker is not going to be as polarizing as its predecessor but, as a film that brings this sage to an end, it feels as if it limps to the finish line. As I mentioned earlier, so many plot points and characters that could have been explored further, with main characters Poe and Finn chief among them. Heck, there was so much that could have been done with Finn, a Storm trooper that defected, but never came to fruition. Still, there is plenty to be excited about with this film, the return of Lando, a certain cameo, the remains of the Death Star (you can’t say you haven’t wondered what happened to that thing after it blew up), call backs to the previous films, etc. For me, I liked it, but didn’t love what I saw. The reverence to what has come before is what gets a few extra points for this flick. Do I recommend this? Yes, but proceed with caution. This isn’t the epic event that Star Wars films used to be. Sadly, I think we will never see those days again due to oversaturation so many clones and copies.

4 out of 5 stars