by Ed Travis
There is far more bad Star Wars than there is good Star Wars.
What with all the spinoffs, Holiday specials, Ewok adventures, and prequels, not to mention the total and endless cultural saturation of toys and tie-ins, it’s hard to remember that Star Wars was, first and foremost, a trilogy of wonderful science fiction fantasy adventures. The prequels certainly tipped the balance of quality in the wrong direction, and in the decade or so since those films came and went, it’s been fairly easy to simply grow out of love with Star Wars. The blatant cynicism and hungry capitalism of the marketing juggernaut this brand has become does wonders to suck the magic of The Force right out of you.
It feels incredible, then, to say that J.J. Abrams has come along with The Force Awakens and reminded us that the core of Star Wars is energetic, pulpy, serialized adventure laid atop beloved characters of all shapes, sizes, races, genders, and galaxies.
The merchandise, the sour taste from the prequels, the now-sidelined Expanded Universe… all of those elements of Star Wars fade away when the opening crawl to Episode VII begins, revealing a story which is somehow the tale I’ve always wanted without ever knowing it. The Force Awakens tells a rousing adventure that hooked me in from the very first sentence of that iconic crawl.
Much like A New Hope, and all the original trilogy, really, Awakens unfurls in two major arenas. There are the adventures of a young group of heroes, often smaller in scale, grimy, in the far reaches of the galaxy; regularly having to do with a forgotten religion adhered to by virtually no one. And then there are the giant chess pieces moving about the stars. Remnants of the Empire, a New Republic, and a Resistance force attempting to stamp out the resurgent Empire (here known as the First Order). Awakens flows cleanly and confidently between both arenas, quickly endearing us to a new cast of characters which we’ll be glad to follow on countless new adventures even as we long to find out what our old friends Luke, Leia, and Han are up to. Huge dangers are afoot in the galaxy, far more engaging than the trade embargoes and Senate haggling of the prequel films. Certainly, many beats here echo those of A New Hope, perhaps occasionally to a fault. But Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (along with early script work from Michael Arndt) craft a script that firmly and instantly places us right back into the Star Wars we know and love, complete with every nostalgic character and vehicle you can imagine (not to mention that iconic John Williams score), while still having the stones to be a true sequel, taking us to new places never before seen, pushing familiar characters down new paths both dark and light.
It isn’t a flawless script by any means. Thirty plus years of life lived since the last adventure requires the occasional forced exposition, such as when Han and Leia tell one another exactly what’s happened between them over the last thirty years, in spite of the fact that they themselves lived it. Clunky exposition like this is a common problem happening in many films, here compounded by the fact that we simply weren’t able to actually SEE those lost stories ourselves. In order to witness the story taking place now, we must be caught up to what got us here. Between the over-generous helpings of callback and reused story beats to the occasionally forced dialog, you see the reality of real-world time passed and the machinations of a screenplay at work from time to time. But aside from that, there weren’t any big story directions or character arcs which were outright bad or wince inducing. These quibbles never threaten to take the viewer out of the journey they’re on, or at least not this viewer. The opening crawl hooked me and the propulsive narrative carried me right through to the closing credits (which, in true J.J. Abrams fashion, leave you with many answers and just as many questions). Flaws be damned, this movie swept me off my feet and played out before me magically. The scope and the childlike wonder of Star Wars brought tears to my eyes, and the clumsier elements faded into the background.
Much of Awakens rests on the shoulders of the young new leads, Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, and Adam Driver as the villainous Vader-worshipper Kylo Ren. They carry this mega-franchise upon their shoulders with ease. Raw talent and screen presence, along with virtually non-stop exciting set pieces and fabulous world building perhaps make up for their characters not being the most three dimensional ever written. Like the characters from Awakens’ pulp ancestors, these are serialized people, their dimensionality bolstered by their connections to those who came before, and how they fit into the new chapters of this galactic adventure we all know and love. Ridley was a complete unknown, and rises wonderfully to the occasion, giving the Star Wars universe a genuine leading lady able to handle any battle, technical malfunction, or world-altering tragedy with aplomb. Casting a resourceful and heroic young woman as the new lead of Star Wars was not only a refreshing choice, but a brilliantly calculated one. How better to expand the empire of Star Wars than to attract a wider swath of new young women into the fold? Fans of 2011’s Attack The Block already know and love John Boyega, the other new heroic lead of the franchise, but most of the world will be experiencing his charm for the first time here. Once again, having a female and a person of color anchor a new Star Wars film is welcomed and appreciated. Their gender and race are occasionally potent elements to the story, but more often than not, they’re simply heroes that we care about and come to know as they get swept up into battles bigger than themselves. The worldly side of me thinks of this as smart, corporate calculation, enticing young girls and young people of color to embrace a massive franchise that has often appealed largely to white men. But the fan in me simply thanks J.J. Abrams for largely stripping away all the noise and insisting on telling a story filled with wonder and excitement and ensuring that this new chapter reflects the diversity most of us genuinely experience in our day to day lives. If hundreds of creatures and species can be seen on screen, it’s meaningful that our main characters can be something other than white males now.
Speaking of white males, though, Adam Driver marches right into the annals of Star Wars villainy with confidence and ferocity, further burying the anti-climactic rise of Vader in our distant memories. Kylo Ren looks fantastic from a design perspective (as does the whole damn movie), and he’s frightening and powerful to boot. There’s a great deal of mystery surrounding him, and his journey as a villain is as compelling as Vader’s ever was. He’s a true believer in The Force, a kind of Crusader, and his powers are thrilling to behold. Our endearing new heroes are matched against a fascinating new villain.
I’ll say extremely little about Luke, Leia, and Han (not to mention Chewbacca, C3P0, and R2-D2). They’re all important to this new chapter. Central, even. And Harrison Ford brings an energy to Awakens that reminds us how singular that man truly is. But much of the joy of The Force Awakens will come from discovering how our new young heroes will cross paths with our old friends, and what new paths Abrams and crew will take the older generation down. There is a boldness to the storyline here which is truly remarkable. Disney and Abrams and the whole machine that set The Force Awakens into motion seemed truly invested in telling a rousing tale with soaring highs and devastating lows. This is an emotional film, engaging in some nostalgia, sure, but also breathing life into a franchise that had become muddled and stuffed to the gills with bloat and ephemera.
The Force Awakens makes you feel like you’re part of something again. Taking marvelous advantage of being a true sequel, we all collectively get to see the real, honest to God next chapters of the Star Wars story. Many of the elements that made Star Wars magic in the first place are restored to glory here: practical effects, creatures galore, a grimy, lived-in galaxy. Perhaps most importantly, the wonder and awe felt around all things related to The Force is restored. Gone are the armies of disposable Jedi and hundreds of lightsabers being bandied about on the battlefield. The Force is once again a fabled and revered thing, whispered about, but also looked down upon. The Force is a weird religion once again, inexplicable and mysterious. Adherents of The Force have a lone, samurai-like quality to them, recalling the samurai films that George Lucas long ago based Star Wars upon. Battles of honor are fought in solitude, in the snow, as galactic battles rage all around. Perhaps I’m being dramatic, but the purity of the samurai are certainly as inextricably linked to the original Star Wars stories as the pulpy adventures of Flash Gordon are. And thanks to J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, the great cast, and the legion of technicians and artists who made this film possible, the Star Wars of the sci-fi samurai are back, and the pendulum is swinging back towards the light side… perhaps one day there will be more good Star Wars than bad.
And I’m Out.