Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Written by Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt
Usually, I would start a review with a quick synopsis but honestly, I don’t think I need to. If you’ve seen
A New Hope, then you’ve seen this one. Abrams’s film is so slavish to the original that I’m surprised that George Lucas didn’t receive a writing credit besides a token “based on characters by…”.
Things start off promisingly with the introduction of John Boyega’s Finn, a Stormtrooper who opts to flee the Empire. He helps break out a Resistance pilot (Oscar Isaac) in a daring escape that is rather exciting. And that’s when things stop being anyways original.
The film then quickly shifts into a replay of
A New Hope’s plot. Scenes are almost copied verbatim, so much so that I expected the cast to turn to the camera and wink. While the well-filmed chase sequences, the stunning desert photography, the decent acting and the welcome return of the original cast do help bring a bit of energy to proceedings, I’m afraid it wasn’t enough.
For starters, the film is too long. The length is only made worse because they are repeating what you’ve already seen before. I was getting a bit bored by the half-way mark and I was almost falling asleep by the ninety-minute mark. What really kills the film is the lack of drama or genuine threat. Characters rattle on about how they need Luke to return but they give no reason why. In fact, the film goes out of its way to show the Resistance doing quite well without him. The whiny main villain (Adam Driver) of the film is a poor substitution for Darth Vader. He might have made for a decent new villain if given a chance, but Abrams desperately wanted his Vader surrogate. As such, the comparisons are inevitable and Driver suffers incredibly.
But it is Rey (Daisy Ridley) that annoyed me the most. I don’t know why but Hollywood seems to have a hard-on for the Mary Sue. And Rey is perhaps Hollywood’s worst attempt yet. She is incapable of making a mistake nor does she need to taught anything. No matter what it is, whether it is piloting the Millennium Falcon with impeccable skill despite never having done so before, or flawlessly harnessing the power of the Force without training, Rey is infallible. I honestly expected a scene where Finn develops a life threatening cancer, and Rey would perform his surgery. By the time the film climaxed in the unavoidable showdown, I didn’t give a shit because the film already told me that Rey would easily win.
But, maybe I’m too harsh on the film. I am not the target audience of this film. I’m not the biggest
Star Wars fan. I don’t hold any affection for the original films so I wasn’t too upset by the prequels (they’re bad but ultimately harmless). Maybe Abrams was just trying to appease the fans by reminding them
Star Wars used to be fun. And, in that regard, I guess he succeeded. But, I wish he wasn’t afraid to step out of the original trilogy’s shadow. The film is fan-service at best. Eager to give fans what they want but not what they need. But, I suppose that’s why Abrams is cutting million dollar cheques and I’m typing this on a crappy old computer.