I know,
it’s been a long time since I posted anything here. To my TLC-deprived blog and
my Sec 4 AEP teachers, I sincerely apologise.
From now on
I’ll post my fan art and covers (if I actually get around to doing them) here
instead of Facebook (it’s too public a platform, anyway) or even DeviantArt
(because I don’t want the other artworks there to make mine look bad HAHA).
And what
better way to start reviving my blog with a review of the film that made my day
(my year, even) – Star Wars: The Force Awakens! My brother and I went to see it
on 17th December 2015, bracing ourselves in case it was a
disappointment, but thankfully we were proven wrong.
To quote my
brother, it was ‘everything at once’. There were so many things to like
about it, and the film’s flaws did not ruin it too much.
I must warn
you, however, that there are major spoilers ahead.
Turn back
now, or face the consequences should you stubbornly choose to proceed. Don’t
say I didn’t warn you.
So, without
further ado, my official review of…The Force Awakens. (cue John Willams’
opening theme)
1.
The opening sequence
stuck to tradition.
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" followed by the famous opening crawl has been a hallmark of all six movies in the
official Star Wars saga, with the classic opening music by the acclaimed
classical maestro, conductor and composer John Williams. (He is one of my
all-time favourite composers. For those who don’t know, his other works include
the soundtracks for Indiana Jones, Jaws, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park…the list
goes on.) I truly appreciate this gesture by the filmmakers, though honestly I
doubt they could have made it better any other way.
And most
importantly, I am thankful that Disney didn’t put their opening credits and
fanfare in the place where Twentieth Century Fox used to. Let’s hope they keep
it that way for Episodes VIII and IX. Seriously, “When You Wish Upon a Star”
does NOT fit with any Star Wars movie at all in my book.
2.
The introduction.
Powerful, intense and inceptive.
The PG
rating was justly assigned to this film for beginning with the brutal massacre
of an entire village of innocents just because they were, most of them
unwittingly, hiding ‘crucial’ information from Kylo Ren and his army. (Thankfully
they turned the camera away when the order was given to open fire). A poignant
emphasis to the sheer brutality and efficiency of the First Order, which “rose
from the ashes of the Empire” and evidently became a stronger, more powerful
incarnation of evil galactic domination (see point 4 below). The intensity of
this scene strikes fear into the hearts of the audience just as much as the
rest of the galaxy, and clearly highlights that the First Order is a force to
be reckoned with. (pardon the pun)
Furthermore,
this film becomes the first in Star Wars history to explicitly show human
blood. When a random Stormtrooper is fatally shot by Poe Dameron in the
latter’s attempt to escape, another Stormtrooper, FN-2187, runs to his side;
his colleague, in his dying breath, places his hand on FN-2187’s helmet,
leaving bloodied fingerprints across his visor. We can’t see the man under the
helmet yet, but we can tell from the way he starts to hyperventilate afterward
when the other troopers start to use flamethrowers on the village, that he is
different from other troopers, and not just because of the bloodied handprint
on his ivory white armour.
Yet in the
midst of the bloodshed, we see a glimmer of hope and morality. When the
troopers are ordered to execute all the villagers, FN-2187 doesn’t open fire
like his colleagues do. In fact, he is in such a state of shock that he is
still reeling from it when they get back to base. And later when he breaks Poe
Dameron out of his holding cell and Poe asks him why? “It was the right thing
to do.” he replies, with absolute certainty. He has a conscience. That’s one powerful way to introduce a main
character.
3.
The new characters.
Let’s start
with BB-8. To be honest, seeing a spherical spinning droid in the very first
teaser trailers at this time last year (Dec 2014) didn’t sit well with me
initially, but BB-8 eventually grew on me. We haven’t really seen much of what
he can do yet, but for now I’ve come to find BB-8’s design rather innovative –
and much more likely to survive wild flights in freighter ship corridors than
other astromech models. And his dedication to his owners – so adorable and so
reminiscent of a certain other astromech that faithfully served two generations
of Skywalkers, is undoubtedly a fan favourite and strangely remains inactive
for much of this film.
I admit it.
BB-8’s owner Poe Dameron is simply dashing. He’s charismatic, brave,
good-looking, and humorous even when kneeling at the mercy of the (terrifying) Kylo
Ren. The fact that he’s General Leia Organa (that’s right, no more Princess for
her)’s best pilot means he’s talented, too. The assault on Starkiller Base and
“giving it everything [they’ve] got” – who wouldn’t respect a can-do attitude
like that? He was also willing to look past allegiances when choosing allies –
just look at the way he hit it off with FN-2187 (an enemy trooper) when they
hijacked a TIE-fighter and escaped from the First Order together. In that short
flight he even gave his new friend a new name, refusing to call him by that
dehumanizing identification number he grew up with under the First Order.
Poe: “What?
No, that’s not going to work for me. I’m going to call you Finn. That alright
with you?”
FN-2187:
“Finn. Finn, yeah, I like it! I like it!”
So let’s
call the trooper Finn from now on.
Finn’s
another of my favourites: he’s a cool, humorous dude with a courageous heart, a
sense of morality and a creative, cunning, quick-thinking mind. He did give us
quite a number of laughs throughout the film (and it was not at all imposed or awkward
like the antics of Jar Jar Binks, though Finn had his share of unglamorous
humour), and he has proven to be a true hero time and again. Aside from defying
a lifetime of indoctrination to “do the right thing” as mentioned earlier,
after desertion he even manages to defy his fear and survival instinct to save
those he cares for. The shift is drastic – from vehemently rejecting the idea
of having anything to do with the First Order again to personally pleading with
General Leia to let him infiltrate Starkiller Base to rescue Rey.
And now for
my favourite: Rey. There’s a lot that I respect and admire about her (aside
from the fact that she’s a strong female lead, haha). She once told Han that “I
think I can handle myself” when he handed her a pistol as a defense weapon –
and she’s shown it very clearly throughout the film. Rey survived alone for
more than ten years as a scavenger in the harsh deserts and seedy marketplaces
of Jakku. She fought off two thieves who tried to steal BB-8 from her in the
marketplace by herself (Finn wanted to help her but she took care of them even before he could get to her). She’s
so prodigial with technology that she diagnosed and fixed several problems with
the Millenium Falcon within hours of piloting it for the first time. She turned
out to be a great pilot, managing to outfox several TIE-fighters in a dogfight
despite never having flown a ship in her life. She beat Kylo Ren at his own game
when he tried to extract information about BB-8’s secret map from her mind
using the Force, turning the tables on him by finding out his worst fear. And
later during the duel in the snow, she not only wrests control of Anakin’s old
lightsaber before Kylo Ren can get it, but even manages to defeat him
afterward. One point during the duel that truly commands my respect: when Kylo
Ren tries to tempt her to the dark side by saying “I can show you the true ways
of the Force”. Instead of getting distracted by his bait, Rey doesn’t even try
to rebut him like heroes would usually do. She calms herself, focuses on the
word “Force”, closes her eyes and fully immerses herself in the Force while
holding Kylo Ren in blade-lock before coming back strong enough to defeat him
altogether.
Of course,
most of these feats were only possible because Rey is Force-sensitive. But that
doesn’t make her any less likeable. She has shown herself to be brave, clever,
determined to do justice and loyal to her allies – just like Finn. Even though
she was a bit rough towards BB-8 at the beginning, audiences can clearly tell
from the way she saved him a number of times from different hostiles that
beneath it all she’s kind and caring, too.
Each
trilogy in Star Wars had their own trio; I daresay this trio of new characters
and their sidekicks may become my favourite of all the three.
4.
The First Order.
Honestly,
the Empire in the original trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI) pales in comparison
to the First Order in terms of ruthlessness. Or perhaps the most evil of the
Empire’s misdeeds was only further developed in the Expanded Universe (at this
point I shall scoff in contempt at Lucasfilm’s decision to throw thirty years’
worth of Expanded Universe content out the window), and George Lucas didn’t
have the budget or reputation to get away with direct depictions of violence
and villainy in the original trilogy. Blowing up Alderaan with the Death Star
seems horrifying, but that particular scene still put some distance and
emotional detachment between the audience and the victims which I think really
dampened its intensity. But then again, budget and rating limitations make this
crime a forgivable one.
Evidence of
the First Order’s cold-blooded professionalism doesn’t stop with the
introduction (see point 2 above). Many other facets of their military led me to
conclude just how much better they are than the Empire.
In terms of
technological monstrosity they went even further than the Empire ever did. Starkiller
Base (which was essentially a snow-covered planet mounted with a gigantic
superweapon, implying the planet was occupied) was capable of draining out
energy from entire stars with some sort of suction beam (thus destroying the
lifesource of numerous ecosystems on the planets that orbit it, and disrupting
the gravitational forces in the entire area), and use it as a long-range laser
cannon to blow up multiple planets at
once. The Death Star, the magnum opus
of the Empire, was only a small fraction of its size, was completely mechanical,
could only fire at close range and was powered from an internal core.
The First
Order’s troopers are far more efficient, too. Taken from their families at
birth and trained under a harsh regime that drills them to excellence and hammers
them into conformity, rather than quickly and haphazardly cloned and grown in
one year as the Empire did with their troopers, they are bound to be of higher
caliber. The Empire’s troopers missed blaster rifle shots even at close range
(or perhaps that was merely a loophole from spicing up the action scenes
without the main characters getting hurt). Finn, while under the First Order,
fired 36 shots in a training session and hit 35 targets. All First Order
troopers, even the infantrymen, are trained in melee combat – a first for most
of the trooper armies the galaxy has seen in the last century, and something
Empire troopers are most likely helpless at.
Bottom
line: The First Order could totally crush the Empire in a war. They are a
well-developed and well-equipped villain government.
5.
Kylo Ren.
In the
introduction he may have seemed scary, but as the plot develops viewers get to
see just how bratty and inexperienced he is. When Rey called him a “creature
under a mask”, prompting him to take it off, the intensity of the scene would
prompt one to expect a scarred, mangled face like that of his dear old
grandfather, or like that of Amon in The Legend of Korra. Instead, one is
presented with the unblemished, fair complexion of Adam Driver. There wasn’t a
single scar anywhere – at least Anakin had one across his eye in Revenge of the
Sith, courtesy of Asajj Ventress. It goes to show that Ren is still somewhat human
(his eyes weren’t even the trademark yellow of a dark side practitioner yet),
but also that he painfully lacks experience. I’m sure Kylo Ren will grow to
become a more formidable villain in the coming episodes, but for now I’ll just
list the things I dislike about him.
Firstly,
Kylo Ren is absolutely despicable. He betrayed his uncle Luke Skywalker by
leading most, if not all the members of the fledgling New Jedi Order to the
dark side, thus crushing Luke’s dreams and forcing him into exile. He has a clear
disrespect for his parents, believing them to be weak and cowardly; and need I
mention the way he duped Han Solo in that last confrontation on the bridge in
Starkiller Base?
Granted,
while villains are supposed to have the lion’s share of evil deeds, they only
earn the respect of audiences or readers if they can be classy and formidable while
being evil. Kylo Ren is somewhat unconvincing in the former, and sorely lacking
in the latter. He may be strong in the Force, but he uses it in a brash,
uncivilized manner: for example, the way he extracts information forcibly
(pardon the pun) from his “guests” in the interrogation room through a sort of
telepathic bond – an efficient method, but one that clearly indicates a lack of
finesse, patience (or skill) to truly intimidate one’s victim into giving him
what he wants. Poe Dameron came out of the interrogation room virtually
unscarred. And the fact that Rey (who was barely trained) and even Finn (who
isn’t Force-sensitive...I think) can hold their own against him in a duel – Count Dooku
would be turning in his grave.
His
obsession with Darth Vader is unhealthy and unnerving. Talking to a charred
helmet as if it would give him an answer, (hero) worship that verges on
fetishism, modeling his army and even his dress after Vader’s – I know the
intention of both the character and the filmmakers was to inspire fear, but in
my case the most it inspires is an eyeroll. There were Sith Lords who sported
the mask and hooded cloak better than him – for example, aside from Ren’s dear
grandfather, there was Revan (another of my all-time favourite Star Wars
characters that Disney conveniently threw out the window), a legend of the Old
Republic with an extraordinary journey that deserves more exploration.
His anger management
issues are needlessly aggressive to his subordinates, and rather irritating to
viewers. Turning technological equipment into molten metal with one’s
lightsaber may be intimidating in real life, but behind the safety of the
cinema screen it seemed to me more like a tantrum – an extremely immature one,
given his age.
Also,
General Hux has managed to trump him time and again in front of Supreme Leader
Snoke by proving himself to be more rational and capable. In the few times we
saw them together, Hux seemed to be able to present practical solutions that
yielded concrete results while Ren was bent on chasing half-baked leads, driven
solely by instinct or even obsession.
In short:
in my opinion, Kylo Ren has some very high standards to meet if he wants to
compare to other Star Wars villains.
6.
The old main
characters.
It’s
heartwarming to see how gracefully they’ve aged (except for the droids, and
maybe for Chewbacca; he doesn’t look much different, and according to the
Expanded Universe Wookiees can live up to 300 standard years, so 30 standard
years to him really isn’t much.) and how they still retain most of their old
traits.
Plus, the
chemistry between them and the new generation of protagonists – hilarious.
7.
The plot elements.
The tropes
in The Force Awakens are practically a rehash of those in the original trilogy.
A desert planet rife with crime, two zeroes-turned-heroes who go on a thrilling
adventure, an oppressive army of troopers in white armour, a resistance with a
secret base and pilots in orange jumpsuits, a villain in a black mask and cape
with a rasped robotic voice who is related to some of the protagonists, an even
bigger villain mastermind with a fearsome holographic presence, a spherical
space station mounted with a planet-killing superweapon that actually does show
off its full power.
But as a
certain news website described it, The Force Awakens “aims to please rather
than surprise”.
Most of the
details in the plot were certainly pleasing enough to compensate for the
general direction of the story, and even take it to greater heights. For
example…
8.
Gender equality!
On both
sides of the conflict, too. Female Resistance pilots, female First Order
commanders, and last but not least, Captain Phasma. She’s cool, detached and
professional; a figure who inspires fear in enemies and subordinates alike. And
Rey as a female lead was just so moving and respectable (I’ve said a lot about
her above). She has gone a step further than Leia and Padme (who were already
strong and charismatic) by becoming the first female main character in the Star
Wars movies to wield a lightsaber in all-out combat – something usually done by
male leads in the prequel and original trilogies.
9.
Racial equality!
This isn’t
just about Finn being played by a black actor; this Star Wars cast also
features other black, Asian and even alien characters making cameos in First
Order and Resistance armies.
10.
The tragedy!
Han Solo! 你死得好惨啊~~~~ D:
(translation: Your death was horribly tragic and uncalled for!!)
11.
The duel scene!
The
footwork and bladework were fast-paced and thrilling (to a lay person like myself who knows nuts about swordfighting); the setting was epic,
dark and well-shot. And I just loved how Finn and Rey took turns taking shots
at Kylo Ren. And that scene when Kylo Ren tries to grab Anakin’s old lightsaber
using the Force but Rey overpowers him – awesome.
12.
The final scene.
Aside from
the fact that the 360-degree final shot was slightly shaky (goodness me, I nitpick about the smallest things), the final scene was
a fitting ending to all the chaos surrounding the main goal of half the film’s
characters: to find Luke Skywalker. Set in an ocean with several islands, and
with the Force theme playing to conclude the film; there’s something about the
way Rey passes Luke his old lightsaber that gives me the feeling of a sense of
fulfilment between the two – how Luke found a new student and Rey completed her
first big adventure.
I also
suspect some foreshadowing in this last scene, especially since it involves
only Rey and Luke, and Rey is facing Luke with not only respect and awe, but I
think also a sense of familiarity – if not for that last part she would be
excited beyond coherent function. This, and other possible hints dropped
throughout the movie, have led me to some speculation.
Thus
concludes my thoughts and opinions on The Force Awakens. Overall, it was
satisfying and thrilling, with enough nostalgia and intensity, exciting action
scenes and cinematography (it is worth noting that JJ Abrams tried to use
practical effects as much as possible in producing this film), and likeable
characters to satisfy the fans and awe the novices.
And my hopes for the future of Star Wars?
The Force
Awakens certainly did not let myself or my brother down; let’s hope it remains
that way.
My guess is
that episodes VIII and IX will deal with flashbacks of the rise of the First
Order and Kylo Ren, aside from Rey’s Jedi training, Kylo Ren’s dark side
training and Finn’s spinal upgrade. There may be possible romance between some
characters; I desperately hope the new actors can help redeem the wooden
monstrosity of Attack of the Clones.
I’m feeling
generally optimistic about the future of Star Wars. What’s the worst that could
happen? We’ve seen Star Wars getting bought over by Disney, The Clone Wars (the
awesome 2008 TV series that sparked my interest in the fandom in the first
place) getting canceled, Hayden Christensen in
Attack of the Clones (he may be handsome, but C-3PO and R2-D2 were better
actors than he was) and Jar Jar Binks (I personally don’t hate him as much as
other fans seem to, but watching him give emergency powers to Chancellor
Palpatine in Attack of the Clones made me dislike him somewhat). I doubt
there’s anything that could top all that.
Well,
that’s about it for my first post in years. Thanks for bearing with me and may
the Force be with you!
