The nostalgia was strong in this one.
J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” broke the summer blockbuster “Jurassic World”’s opening weekend box-office record to become the highest grossing opening of all-time – and rightfully so.
Is BB-8 cuter than a bunch of baby chicks?
Greg Diaz: Is there anybody that didn’t leave the theater won over by this little soccer ball droid?
R2-D2 is classic; this is true. But besides being a trash-can-sized projector that moves at the speed of an octogenarian with double-hip replacement, BB-8 has the edge in almost every regard. It’s like comparing man to the six-million dollar man. BB-8 is faster, can climb stairs, hangs with a younger crowd, and oh yeah, doesn’t fall over with the slightest of breezes.
Seriously, there might not be a better movie-toy marketing in the history of film. I was dubious when I saw the toys in stores nearly two months ago, but that little droid is going to make a billion dollars on its own. I don’t even know what the second greatest movie toy would be; certainly not this guy:
Bobby Yagake: Disney has a recipe on BB-8 pancakes.
James Bond is no match for The Force
Josh Barajas: The one issue that stands out the most to me is how Rey is far too strong of a character.
Without a doubt, it’s about time we had another bad-ass female lead in a major action/adventure film, but Abrams and Co. may have overdone it. Rey is a skilled linguist, fighter with a staff, climber, pilot and mechanic in only the first act of the movie. The first time she fires a gun she immediately starts taking out Stormtroopers as if she was Luke Skywalker bullseyeing womp rats in his T-16 back home.
The first time she tries using the Force she overpowers a well-trained Kylo Ren, and the first time she uses a lightsaber in battle she bests the much more skilled Kylo Ren again. Rey was in danger for about five minutes before she Jedi mind-tricked Daniel Craig into releasing her and giving her a weapon. At the movie’s conclusion, she has both Chewbacca and R2-D2 by her side on the Millennium freakin’ Falcon on her way to giving the legendary Luke Skywalker back his lightsaber. Like, who is this girl? Part of what made Luke so endearing in the original trilogy is how much he sucked at everything. Rey could have been a bit more of an underdog, but we’ll see where her character goes in Episodes VIII and IX.
Kevin Flores: My biggest question, and after many hours of turning it over I still cannot figure out, how Rey was able to understand Chewie? Does anyone have any insight into this??
The merchandising is strong in this one
Kevin Flores: OK, I’m going to have to be the voice of dissent here. Now that the hype has worn off, “The Force Awakens” was, by conventional storytelling standards, a pretty terrible film. It was basically a shiny blockbuster mega-budget treatment of “A New Hope.” The kibbles and bits of nostalgia along with a bunch of inconsequential easter eggs distracted viewers from how formulaic and unoriginal the story line was. This film had no soul. I actually found it to be pretty exploitative of the unconditional love and loyalty of “Star Wars” fans, being one of them.
What makes me even more uneasy is the absurd amount of money this movie was projected to make and has thus far delivered at the box office plus the absolute saturation of “Star Wars” merchandise that has followed. The really cynical part of me wants to imagine a bunch of Disney execs in some boardroom drooling over the chance to tap that rabid fan base because they know anything with the name “Star Wars” attached to it equals big time cha-ching. While this may be more sinister and simplistic than the actual behind-the-scenes development of the film, what is clear is that “Star Wars” has been fully and successfully commodified and the original spirit, which made the original trilogy so great, has been forsaken.
Soon after Disney bought the rights to “Star Wars,” I recall reading the deal described as Disney purchasing rich oilfields that Lucas had been sitting on without drilling. I think this is an apt metaphor for what Disney wants to do with the franchise. They want to make a new “Star Wars” movie every year, drill and drill, and so they essentially want to suck out all the money they can from the franchise without real regard for quality, as demonstrated by this first film, until the fertile “Star Wars” universe is as dry as Tatooine. It is a quantity over quality philosophy and any true “Star Wars” fan should be outraged.
Watching old interviews of George Lucas, the cast, and the set workers from the time “A New Hope” was being made, it is clear that what was driving them all to make “Star Wars” was a sheer passion and a desire to see a shared creative vision actualized on the screen. “The Force Awakens” has been made for the wrong reasons and it is evident in the lack of innovative storytelling, reliance on old tropes and character archetypes, and nostalgia baiting. I can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing is one huge marketing ploy.
[Ed. Note: We interrupt this rant to remind you that this also happened, completely without the involvement of Disney.
There are dangers to unchecked auteurism.]
Of course Lucas is not infallible. If it were up to him, C-3PO might have ended up sounding like a New York car salesman. In the prequels, he was given carte blanche to unleash his wildest CGI fantasies and we ended up with Jar-Jar. While making the originals, Lucas had a team that would tell him when he’d gone too far. The original script went through hundreds of revisions. The universe was balanced between artistic control and the pressures of producing a box office mega smash.
The original Star Wars trilogy was also innovative in innumerable ways. From forging a whole new sci-fi genre (space opera) to revolutionizing special effects to being the first to create a “used” environment instead of the sleek and shiny environments future-set films had envisioned up until then.
Sure, “The Force Awakens” is flashy and chock full of CGI and cool cinematography. But special effects does not a movie make. The heart of a movie is the story not the mise en scène. If it can’t deliver in that department, the rest is fluff. The reason “Star Wars” has such a wide audience is because beneath the surface of the OG trilogy is the perennial rigging of all great stories in history from Beowulf to the Odyssey to Spider-Man: The Hero’s Journey. George Lucas was greatly influenced by Joseph Campbell who wrote about the age-old motifs of storytelling which he then used to create a novel story and the characters within it.
“The Force Awakens” kept trying to chase the dragon; kept trying to evoke that same sense of wonder and awe the originals did, but kept falling short. It was like watching a rerun and expecting to feel the same magic you felt the first time.
Yasmin Cortez: Fans are speaking out after Rey, “The Force Awakens”’ MAIN character, has been excluded from some toy shelves. The Monopoly game, Hasbro “Star Wars” action figure set, Millennium Falcon model and other “Star Wars” sets happen to have one thing in common…. the missing Rey!
The hashtag #WheresRey started to trend to show support of the missing heroine.
Not only does there seem to be a missing Rey but Captain Phasma, a female captain under the typical clone armor, seemed to be forgotten about as well and had been receiving comments on the “masculine armor” as early as the first concept art was released.
The “Star Wars” official Facebook account replied to “disappointed fans” back in August who had something to say about the non-feminine armor.
“It’s armor. On a woman. It doesn’t have to look feminine.”
Emilio Aldea: Hey Kevin, I’m not sure I understand which “conventional standards” you are referring to, but I am going to sharply disagree with you. Let us go to the scorecards:
Mechanics: The mechanics of this particular film are almost perfect. The great wipe-cuts were an awesome call back to what some would consider “The Golden Age of Cinema.” The score was par for the course for a Star Wars film (which is, of course, astronomically better than the average film). They never lingered for too long on any line of dialogue, which a film like this is extremely susceptible to, and the cinematography was excellent, particularly in the last scene of the movie and the interstellar genocide planet-busting scene. 5/5
Acting: Boyega played his part perfectly. His dialogue was funny and snappy, and it never felt like his character was being overplayed in any sense. Ridley’s character also had the calm, cool, and collected presence of a true Jedi and truly took the movie. Of course, Harrison Ford delivered another great performance, NOT grumbling his way through the role and actually adding something to the role that he did not in his last turn as another great character from his past (coughleadlinedfridgecough). While I feel that Kylo Ren’s character could have been more menacing and his unmasking should have been saved for the pivotal bridge scene, he was still an effective villain who actually showed some depth and weakness. 4.5/5
Story: This is where the movie was probably the weakest, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t good. Was is too similar to the first film in the series? Maybe, but I’m also not the kind of person who thinks about the motivations of movie makers when I’m watching a film, because my perspective is limited to what’s being shown and I’m adult enough to draw my conclusions solely from the art. I’m not the type of person who would make logically fallacious attempts to discredit a film’s accolades and artistic achievements because it might make a lot of money. The twist in this story was gut-wrenching (for Han Solo and everyone in the audience), and quite frankly, ballsy. It was a return to form and added to the canonical lore of Star Wars in a meaningful way that a true fan of the series would appreciate. 4/5
Kylo Ren: The next Darth Vader?
Madison D’Ornellas: Seasoned and believable acting would make me hope that Kylo Ren could be anything close to a Sith Lord. The character is there, his biography haunted by the ghosts of his relatives, but Adam Driver’s training wheels were still on in this one. Mr. Abrams needed to find someone with more angst and anger in their acting toolbox, and playing an angsty, angry boyfriend to a crybaby on a show on HBO doesn’t fit the bill.
P.S. did Adam feel a strong sense of fear or joy while “stabbing” and “killing” Harrison with a lightsaber?
Josh Barajas: I actually think Kylo Ren is the new Luke Skywalker. If you think about it, little Benny sucks. He doesn’t have General Hux’s respect — something Darth Vader would’ve choked a guy for — he loses his temper a bunch, he talks to a melted helmet about his emotions, he loses a force and lightsaber battle to Rey – although, admittedly he was injured and the writers made Rey out to be a combination of Anakin, Luke, Obi Wan, Palpatine, Qui Gon, Yoda and Jar Jar Binks. Kylo Ren looks to be having the same trajectory as Luke in the first Star Wars, except struggles with resisting the light side. That is an amazing concept, one we haven’t really seen before. Surely we’ll see Ren “finish his training” with Snoke in the next film, much like Yoda finished training Luke.
Why does this sound familiar?
Kevin Flores: “The Force Awakens” is about a hero who has grown up in a barren desert planet with mysterious parentage who proves essential in blowing up a big, spherical weapon of mass destruction… If I recall correctly, this was already done some 30 years ago. There’s nothing fresh or novel about it.
Perhaps one reason for the lack of imagination in “The Force Awakens” is because they didn’t want to risk another crappola like “The Phantom Menace” and so instead opted to play it safe. But not taking artistic risks in the face of failure is just another indication of the money influence inherent in the production of this film. Reflecting on it now, it “The Force Awakens” is merely fanboy junk food. Cue the defensive neckbeards.
Josh Barajas: The entire plot feels recycled from the first “Star Wars” – I’m not calling by that other name, George Lucas. In “The Force Awakens,” we have an orphaned kid stuck on a planet, made up of mostly sand, when suddenly a droid carrying an important message meant for some sort of alliance of rebels crosses this kid’s path. Sound familiar? No? Well, how about this. Stormtroopers descend on the planet looking for said kid, but this scared newbie finds a way off the planet and, with the help of an old man, gets the droid to this rebellious association. Not yet? OK, there’s also a giant super weapon with the capability to disintegrate entire planets, planets we don’t care about by the way, and our coalition of rebels must destroy this killer star thing by concentrating fire on a single weak spot to destabilize it. Nothing?
Treading on the same themes of the first films was the right path to take, but not to such extent. And yet, even though there are striking similarities between “The Force Awakens” and A New Ho-” I mean, “Star Wars,” that may not be all bad. After all, it’s been nearly 40 years. Don’t movies usually get reboots by now? Maybe more importantly, this film actually felt like a “Star Wars” movie for the first time in a long time.
Umm… I feel like this might be some sort of trap
Greg Diaz: Why was Admiral Ackbar in this movie? That is what I don’t understand. There are tons of callbacks to the old movies and for the most part, they are welcome. This movie would not have been the same without the Millenium Falcon or R2-D2 or galactic genocide (seriously, five whole planets wiped out. I know you’re evil, but damn).
But who has seriously given thought to what Admiral Ackbar has been up to in the last 30 years. Apparently the answer was: still an admiral, still fighting galactic evil, not much else going on.
As much as I liked looking back at where the story began, there is a danger of past overshadowing the future. Which did start to concern me as Harrison Ford grew in importance as the movie went along. It’s not so much a problem now.
Josh Barajas: Abrams did a great job of sprinkling in the nostalgic elements that will make faces hurt from smiling so much. The Luke Skywalker name drop in the opening scene, the appearance of the Millennium Falcon, then Han and Chewbacca showing up to take the Falcon back, Luke’s lightsaber, a flashback that featured R2-D2 and the voices of both young and old Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, Leia Organa’s appearance alongside an unrecognizable C-3PO, who now has a red arm, a shot of Darth Vader’s half melted helmet and, finally, an appearance by a grizzled Luke Skywalker in probably the best final shot in a Star Wars film yet.
So, that one thing happened
Matt Peralta: I just wanted to say I’m incredibly sad about Han Solo and that I’ll be weeping in my room for quite some time. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to watch the next “Star Wars” movie because I don’t think I can handle that much heartache (on second thought, I probably will go see the next one just to annoy the audience with my incessant cries for Han Solo.)
One last time: HAN SOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Kevin Flores: Killing Han Solo was a “ballsy” plot move: In the sense that it seemed like a below-the-belt way of saving an otherwise lackluster story. What was the dramatic center of the film banked on the destruction of a highly original and arguably the most complex character from the original trilogy, which in itself is fine for a sequal to do if it creates something equally as original as what it destroyed. However, “The Force Awakens” did not do this and as a “Star Wars” fan I feel shortchanged.
Greg Diaz: This movie absolutely needed to kill Han Solo. More than providing an emotional gut punch to the audience, the “Star Wars” universe needed to establish itself as being able to survive without its three most central characters to date.
While it was great to have Han back for one last adventure and seeing Luke at the end made for a thrilling final shot, the biggest question going in was whether or not the new characters could carry the franchise.
After seeing “The Force Awakens,” I think it’s clear that they can, mostly because I didn’t spend the whole movie wondering when Han, Leia, and Luke were going to appear. Daisy Ridley was captivating and a complete badass; John Boyega was just the right mix of funny and conflicted; and Oscar Issac was there too.
Madison D’Ornellas: Bye, Solo. Wishing you a plentiful amount of cocktails with Mr. Gin, Mr. Kenobi and Yoda.
I miss the lens flare
Josh Barajas: Once again, J.J. proves that he’s a great starter of franchises. He did it with “Star Trek,” I’m just super excited he handed off the “Star Wars” reins to Rian Johnson. “The Force Awakens” was probably the most exciting movie of 2015, but it was not the best by a good parsec. Now it’s up to Johnson to actually make Episode VIII: Return of the Jar Jar a perfect film.
