Jessica Mau

Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens is a continuation of the original Star Wars trilogy. However, instead of George Lucas filming it, J.J. Abrams took over as director once Lucas signed over the series to Disney. The Force Awakens takes place thirty years after The Return of the Jedi. There is a new cast of characters, including Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), Finn (played by John Boyega), Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac), and Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver). Familiar faces from the original films also make an appearance—Han Solo, Leia, and Luke Skywalker reprised by Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill respectively.

The original Star Wars trilogy was a massive success and went on to define the science fiction film genre. George Lucas decided to make another trilogy which was a prequel to the first films, and it was eagerly anticipated. However, once the first movie, The Phantom Menace, came out, the general reception of the fan base was quite negative. While the two following films received a better reception than the first, these three movies managed to generate a lot of criticism and hate towards them. Common complaints about them were the overuse of CGI, flat characters, lack of meaningful character interaction, poor plot, and probably the most hated of all, the inclusion of Jar Jar Binks, whose childish antics and slapstick jokes aggravated the entire fan base (“15 Reasons Why STAR WARS Prequels Sucked”). When it was announced there would be a new Star Wars movie continuing the plot after the original trilogy, everyone’s hopes rose and the hype for the new movie began. This new trilogy was planned to breathe new life into the series which had gotten a battering from fans.

The move centers around Rey and Finn, the main protagonists. Rey is a scavenger on the desert planet Jakku, left behind by her family for unknown reasons. She is haunted by this and stays on Jakku in case they return for her, refusing any thought of leaving the planet. She has a drab existence, living off of small portions of food given in exchange for the scrap she finds in the blazing desert. Rey comes across BB-8, a droid who holds important information for the Resistance, which leads her to meeting Finn, Han Solo, and Chewbacca and having her help save the Resistance.

Rey is shown as an independent woman who can take care of herself, living alone on a desert planet and scavenging large, desolate ships by herself. She is skilled in using her metal quarterstaff, and several times she’s shown beating off others with it. This is most likely due to the shift in showing strong, tough, action-oriented female leads because of the increase in cultural feminism. However, even though Rey is strong, she’s not shown as the stereotypical “tough girl”. She has her softer side, and she has an adorable hero-worship of Luke Skywalker. Rey also has her flaws—when she has visions and finds out she can use the Force, she is terrified and runs away into the forest, getting captured. She does manage to free herself using her newfound powers, and at the end of the movie she seems to have accepted her new role as a Jedi-to-be.

Finn was a stormtrooper for the First Order, kidnapped at a young age and brainwashed into its army. When Poe was captured and stormtroopers were ordered to raze the village, he stood there watching as all of his squad mates killed the villagers and burned everything to the ground. He watched as one of his fellow stormtroopers died right in front of him, traumatizing Finn and making him decide to leave the First Order. He helped Poe escape and actually received his name from the pilot. Finn joined Rey and BB-8 after the tie fighter they were on crashed, joining on the adventure to stop the First Order.

Finn is shown as a coward at first, not because he fled from the First Order in the first place, but rather he wanted to run as far away from them as possible rather than fight them with Rey. He doesn’t do much himself at first—rather, he tags along giving suggestions and uses his knowledge from being a stormtrooper. It’s not until Rey is captured that he shows his true colors—fighting stormtroopers and invading the First Order base with only himself, Han Solo, and Chewbacca to save her.

Kylo Ren is the main antagonist. He was previously an apprentice to Luke Skywalker, but he was influenced by the leader of the First Order, Snoke, and turned to the dark side. Early on, we learn that he is Han and Leia’s son. He wants to be like his grandfather, Darth Vader, and Kylo Ren actually has the warped remains of his mask. In an interesting twist, Kylo Ren struggles with being pulled back to the light side of the force. This is the first time that an actual “light” side of the force is mentioned, and it gives a different perspective of the Force and how it “pulls” people. Although it seems as if his position in the dark side is solidified at the end of the movie, the internal conflict between choosing his family or the First Order will likely play a big part in his character development.

I have never read any of the extended universe material, so everything in the movie was new to me (although they took a different path from the material anyways). I was surprised to learn that Rey was the new Jedi rather than Finn, as I had assumed from the movie poster and the trailer. Although as I thought back, you could pick up some subtle hints from the pilot helmet identical to Luke’s that Rey had, as well as her hero-worship of Luke Skywalker, an interest in the Jedi. The convoluted relationships between all of the characters is interesting as well, making me wonder how everyone is connected.

The style of the movie was well done. It felt like Star Wars, and although there was CGI, it wasn’t oversaturated like it was in the prequels. The settings felt real, and you could tell they used real sets and costumes for the places and the aliens. They updated many of the costumes as well, allowing them to have a more modern take on Star Wars. A lot of things were smooth-lined and sleeked, trying to keep up with today’s idea of futuristic while not compromising the original Star Wars universe.

The dialogue has been updated and tends to be quicker with more fast, witty lines. The action tends to be in the middle compared to that of the other prequels. It’s not flashy like the prequels, but it is definitely faster than the original trilogy to keep up with the quick action of today. The humor has been updated as well, leading to some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments. There were also throwbacks to the original trilogy, such as putting the commander in a garbage disposal.

With the exception of Han Solo and Chewbacca, the old cast took a back seat to the new cast, which is good. It allows us to get to know these new characters and get attached to them, instead of clinging onto the old ones. Han Solo also played more of a mentor role to Rey, which despite his personality, seemed to fit.

The pacing in this movie seems to be a bit…off. At first, it’s slow as it lets us get to know its characters, but once they go to the pub to get help, everything happens extremely rapidly. Rey gets captured, the Resistance is threatened, they have to destroy the base, Rey escapes, Han Solo dies, Poe destroys the oscillator, the planet is exploding, there’s a showdown between Rey and Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker is found…and all of this happens within the last thirty to forty-five minutes of the film.

Some of the backstory isn’t explained, either. Why did the Rebels become the Resistance instead of disbanding? What is the Republic? Is it based off of the Republic from the prequels? Why isn’t Leia part of this Republic after the events of The Jedi Returns?

The relationship between the Resistance and the First Order to the Republic is never established, and we hear nothing of the Republic except in passing when the planets housing the Republic are destroyed by the First Order. Unlike the original Star Wars, when Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star, we didn’t feel anything when these planets were destroyed. Why should we care about the Republic when we know nothing about it?

Almost the exact same plot was also taken from A New Hope and rehashed into this movie. You have the droid with classified information, the desert planet, the young protagonist who has fate thrust upon them, a masked villain, an escape in the Millennium Falcon, a resistance, a base that can destroy planets, an escape from said base, a mentor figure who dies during the escape. It’s not hard to see the similarities.

It’s most likely that the writers and director did this so the fans knew they could do a Star Wars movie in the same spirit as the original trilogy. However, the latter part of the plot seemed to be more rushed and had you less investment in The Force Awakens than in A New Hope.

Despite its flaws, the movie is quite good. It wasn’t the amazing masterpiece many people thought it would be, but it was a well-done standalone movie. If a complete newcomer, who somehow had no contact with Star Wars, watched it, they might be confused at some of the references to the older movies as well as some of the characters mentioned. For the most part, the viewer should be able to stay invested as the movie focuses more on the new characters. Even with Han Solo being a big part of it, his personality and character is shown easily enough that they can relate to him.

Overall, The Force Awakens is a good Star Wars movie in league with the originals…just with some modern updates so it can compete with the films of today.

Bedford, Stuart W. “15 Reasons Why STAR WARS Prequels Sucked.” WhatCulture.com 15 Reasons Why STAR WARS Prequels Sucked Comments. 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.