By now I imagine everyone has already seen The Force Awakens which arguably makes this review somewhat moot, but it is written for those of you who saw through the pandering nostalgia that was STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS. SPOILERS, SPOILERS and more SPOILERS to follow.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are not reflective of the views of Film & TV Now. Please direct any outrage at the author.
Where do I even begin? I’ll start with JJ Abrams, henceforth known as Jar Jar Abrams. JJ has never directed anything beyond mediocrity, his ‘style’ as a director is extremely generic and his so-called ‘writing’ is even worse. However, I did have some faith in him after watching the first full trailer for the film, I even wrote a short article covering it. Boy how wrong I was.
I went into this film as a massive Star Wars fan, and when I say massive I mean that. We are talking about someone who has over 100 Star Wars collectibles scattered across their room. What interests me most about Star Wars is more so the lore that the movies created rather than the movies themselves. Star Wars has the most expansive expanded universe (EU) of any franchise and I was really hoping to see this explored even further.
One of my main gripes with this film is that it didn’t add anything new and iconic to the Star Wars universe. The First Order and the Resistance are just a new way of saying the Empire and the Rebel Alliance; it would have been easier if they had just stuck with that. The only additions that really looked good were the new ancient Sith crossguard lightsaber, the new chrome tie-fighters and Stormtroopers.
As soon as the film started I felt a disturbance in the force, this is not Star Wars, and the feeling grew stronger throughout the film. I liked the prequels and although I am aware of their flaws, they felt like Star Wars movies. Many people complain about the prequels but I think that this film is hands down the worst Star Wars film ever made, and that includes the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS animated film.
I had no major problems with the opening of the film per se, I liked that it was edgy and Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) force abilities were awesome. Stopping a laser in mid air was one of the highlights and if the film continued to capture moments like this, it would have been a much better film. Of course that did not happen and what followed was a very loose carbon copy of the originals repackaged into what feels more like a remake than a sequel. Cue stranded droid who has important information, droid escapes a desert planet (on the Millennium Falcon no less), our heroes hide in the falcon, are boarded, a system of planets is destroyed by the Starkiller base (a vaguely ‘witty’ play on the name of the Deathstar and Luke’s former surname before it was changed to Skywalker), heroes must destroy the Deathstar…errr I mean Starkiller, he is your father, cantina scene, small wise creature imparts sage advice, Ren kills daddy dearest (who can blame him, papa was a rolling stone), blow up the Starkiller base.
The Force Awakens’ lack of originality, flare (luckily no lens flares) and its constant leaning on what came before it is a massive disappointment. It felt like the movie was created solely to appease all the issues people had with the prequels. Less CGI, better story, better acting, more like the originals. So Disney said ‘let’s just give them the originals’. Except the ‘new’ story is bland and Daisy Ridley’s performance and character are incredibly underwhelming, she feels like a knock off Keira Knightly. The fact that JJ called her acting wooden during her first shoot screams BAD MOVIE IN THE MAKING. When the most wooden director in Hollywood calls your acting wooden you are in trouble. I have heard many people say Rey is a ‘Mary Sue’ character and the more I thought about that, the more I agree. She just learns the force and how to pilot ships because she magically can, she is flawless, a Superman with no Kryptonite.
I personally don’t think this is a film for hardcore EU Star Wars fans (or fans of good mainstream cinema for that matter). It is a film for original trilogy nostalgia hunters, casual fans and most importantly, their children. It is enough for them to see the original cast run around and spout a few meaningless lines of dialogue. The film makes perfect sense from an industrial perspective, it is so watered down that everyone will be able to get it and that means more dollar dollar bills yall. Disney sunk over 3 billion into Star Wars, of course they want to see some of that back before they get all risqué. I get that the film has to appeal to a broad audience, but that does not mean it has to be SO eye wateringly generic. GURDIANS OF THE GALAXY is a mainstream Marvel blockbuster set in space and that was brilliantly written and directed. Star Wars is supposed to be the crowning jewel of mainstream science fiction films, not second rate.
The characters were palatable for the most part but were not really iconic in any way. No new character captured my imagination other than General Hux and that is probably due to the strong acting from Domhnall Gleeson, by far the best actor in the film, and yes I know Ford was in the film. Harrison played a great game praising JJ and the new film but I am sure he just wanted out once and for all. Moments with the old cast felt like they were only there just to massage nostalgia buttons and original trilogy fans. ‘Let me hold your gun Chewie, whoah this is cool also yuup that’s right Rey, it is all true about that major galaxy changing incident that happened only 30 odd years ago’. I will admit Skywalker’s appearance was fantastic because Hamill is a trooper and a terrific actor who has a grand theatrical presence about him.
Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Issacs) are decent and Boyega does a good job of playing a more refined version of Jar Jar Binks. He is a good actor but his character falls short because the rest of the film is poorly written. Maz Kanata is a boring small generic creature and Snoke (who apparently is 7ft) is stupidly projected to be the size of a tower (overcompensating for the size of his lightsaber maybe?) and looks like one of the first drafts of Voldemort or an orc from LORD OF THE RINGS. What surprises me about this film is that Everything looks so unoriginal and dull I am shocked that anyone saw this film and thought, ‘gee wow that guy looks cool these are all really iconic ground-breaking designs’. People may dislike Lucas but the man was good at design and world building, he really helped channel artists to make great costumes, vehicle designs and creature designs. The man knew what looked iconic and belonged in Star Wars. JJ gave us a crappy squid monster that could have come from any old sci-fi film, yet another reason why Abrams is a quintessential hack of a director.
This brings me to Kylo Ren, Adam Driver is a capable actor but his performance is a bit wobbly. The character of Kylo Ren had potential but was ironically a whiny emo kid; the very thing people complained Anakin was in the prequels. I think Kylo Ren’s look could have been iconic but because the character falls short, and so does the power behind his image. At least the choreography of his lightsaber fighting was the perfect blend of twirly whirly and more refined movements, not that I mind twirly whirly high octane lightsaber fighting.
What might be the worst crime committed is the usually powerful score of John Williams is an echo of the original and any new composition is as generic as the rest of the film. WHAT HAPPENED WILLIAMS? One can only hope he saw the visuals and thought ‘no way am I giving any of my good compositions to this, meh I’ll just write some filler music.’ I challenge you to hum a new iconic theme from the film…couldn’t do it could you?  If somehow you did, ask yourself this; will this really be remembered 30 years from now? I thought that at the very least it would have a terrific score but it even managed to screw that up.
I appreciate that the film was not really made with me in mind, and to an extent I get that. Disney spent so much money on Star Wars, they had to create something that is not going to offend in any way and has to appeal to everyone. A consequence of this is a super dumbed down story and what usually saves a bad story is charm, and I simply feel the film had none. It really was geared towards children to create the next wave of Star Wars fans to sell merchandise to. This film is more a tool to rekindle a franchise for a new, younger audience, which is fine I suppose, but surely there is a way of having your cake and eating it.
After the film was released I was too scared to voice my opinions broadly because there were so many people who loved the film I would just be labelled a pathetic hater and probably still will be. Slowly but surely negative comment after comment reflecting my concerns emerged. I feel there is a strong minority growing who saw exactly what is wrong with this shell of a movie. I am sure JJ is a great guy but he is a terrible director and his work is soulless and charmless. I know there is a strong divide in how people felt about the film, but when it ended in my cinema one member of the audience slowly began to clap and this quickly fizzled out, because no one else was having it.
The talented writer and director Rian Johnson (LOOPER & 3 episodes of BREAKING BAD) is set to direct the sequel. I have more faith in him as an artistic director, but what exactly will he do with the weak characters and story that have already been established is beyond me. I can only hope Rogue One satiates my newfound desire to see a polished Star Wars film.
