Let me begin with a confession: I don’t hate the Star Wars Prequels. They’re not great movies, even the third one I can’t call more than decent, but they’re not the plague the internet has made them to be. Even the second one, which has become the franchise punching bag amongst Star Wars hipsters, is a serviceably bad movie. So when it was announced that J.J. Abrams, director behind the recent Star Trek reboots, would be returning to “franchise roots” following, I wanted to scream. “Good Lord,” I thought, “why do we always keep pretending that older is better?”
Finally, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has hit theatres. As expected, the reviews are stellar, despite the initial whining that “Disney was killing the franchise”. But I was skeptical. Excited to see another Star Wars movie, but also skeptical. I knew what this film was doing, and I wasn’t gonna be a sucker to hype. Still, I kept an open mind; after all, if it was getting stellar reviews, then clearly it was worthwhile.
(By the way, minor spoilers)
The movie begins with the traditional opening crawl. Luke Skywalker, the hero from the original films, has gone missing, and in his place a new order has arisen from the ashes of the empire, a Sith Lord has replaced Darth Vader and the rebellion, now the new republic, is at it once more. Amidst the conflict, a lone pilot, Poe Dameron, has retrieved the map to Luke’s location and hidden it with his droid, BB-88, for safe-keeping. He’s kidnapped by the order, but not before escaping with a rogue Stormtrooper and landing on Jakku, where we meet a smuggler named Rey. From here, it’s a race to find Luke and stop the new order, all the while meeting old faces that plan to take down the new Sith, Kylo Ren, once and for all.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens establishes almost immediately that it’s not the prequels: the sets are real, the effects are mostly practical and little to no mentions of Episodes I-III are present. This movie’s a “true” Star Wars movie, one aiming to please long-time fans. Unfortunately, it also means that new ideas are almost non-existent, preferring to ape the formula of the original films from a slightly different angle. The movie hits all the checkpoints, from the plans the big baddie wants for themselves, to the nobody who embarks on the hero’s journey, to the villain and the attempt at redemption.
And it’s obnoxious. I get it, people weren’t happy with the prequels and want to forget they exist. These new movies are doing that. But when your basic plot structure repeats Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope and parts of its sequel beat-for-beat, except with a new coat of paint, I can’t help but call it “lazy”. It doesn’t matter that the story of Star Wars itself isn’t original anyway, that’s no excuse for lack of inventiveness.
This is doubly annoying because the movie is 135-minutes of shameless lip-service. Every scene, right down to the carefully crafted dialogue, is such an homage that I can’t help but groan inside; yes, it’s nice to see characters X, Y and Z again. Yes, that one song from that one scene is a nice callback to that one song from that other scene. And yes, it was cool to see this movie’s update to The Death Star. But I don’t consider that clever. Homage is best when it’s subtle and doesn’t detract from change. That's why the Daniel Craig James Bonds were so appealing to me, why Abrams’s take on Star Trek in 2009 hooked me and why the new Ghostbusters movie looks so enticing.
I’m also mad because there isn’t a single nod to the prequels. Or, rather, there’s a single nod to the prequels. And it’s a throwaway line the movie feels isn’t important. I don’t understand why this movie’s so allergic to those films, especially when they introduced an important concept about the Sith. Considering how this movie’s supposed to “tie Star Wars together”, why isn’t it doing that? There are fans of the prequels watching this movie too, give them some credit!
The last complaint, ignoring any obvious conveniences, is John William’s score. Williams is my favourite film composer, and when I heard he’d be returning I was pumped; after all, he’d composed the previous films, and his work was excellent! Sadly, he’s criminally under-utilized, such that nothing that isn’t a rehash of previous tunes is inspired. And I’d be fine if it were a lesser composer, but this is John Williams!
*Sigh*
Perhaps I’m being too critical. After all, Star Wars is a touchy franchise, and it’s clear its high points have influenced the action and science fiction genres. Add in that the original movies will be held fondly because of what they did, and it’s clear that a movie trying to get back old, disenfranchised fans will play to that. So I shouldn’t be too critical, since what works almost compensates for my frustrations. Almost.
One of the strengths is its collaborative effort. Unlike the prequels, which were almost exclusively driven by one person, Star Wars: The Force Awakens looks and feels like a team-effort. The effects are crafted with care, being a happy medium of practical and CGI, and the acting is the best the franchise has ever had. It also looks and feels like the worlds are lived in and grimy, something the cleaned-up prequels never boasted. And while it’s frustrating to see how much pandering is in this movie, most of it’s brilliantly-done.
Perhaps its biggest credit was making one of the most-predictable moments, which I won’t spoil, feel earned and shocking. Earned because it’s fitting, and shocking because of how well-executed it is. A predictable plot-point is only worthless if not done well, and this is definitely not that. So while you can call it from a mile away, you’re still not prepared for when it happens.
Not to mention, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is funny. Not every joke works, but most that do are effective because of their meta-references to older moments. Combine that with one of the best lightsaber fights in franchise history, and you’re left with an impressive end-result. Not fantastic, or even mind-blowing, but impressive. That alone warrants an admission ticket, personal gripes aside. I only hope the next movie actually does something different.
May the force be with you!
Had no idea you had this blog, or I'd have turned up sooner.
ReplyDeleteI'll go ahead and lay out may position on the previous six star wars movies right now, so we start on the right foot.
The original trilogy is the better executed trilogy of the two. No matter what my personal opinion of the prequels, that's simply how it is. While not perfect, they are altogether more consistently well structured, acted, and scripted than any of the three prequel films. Their storytelling goals are more modest, to be sure -outside of Luke and Vader's characters, I don't consider them to be especially deep or complicated in any way- but they are far better at being simple popcorn movies than the prequels are at being political thrillers/character dramas. And while I subscribe to the conventional order of cinematic quality for the three films - 5, 4, 6 in order of descending quality- I nonetheless maintain that Return of the Jedi is quite underrated by Star Wars fans. [In fact, its actually my favorite Star Wars film.] Its got its problems, but what it does well, it does *very* well.
As for the prequels- I will put my foot down hard if anyone tries to say that they were as well-made as the original trilogy. They weren't. They told a pretty good story with interesting themes, yes, but the execution was quite bungled, to the point where they failed to be anything more than "mediocre" as a collective whole. With that being said, I don't find anything remotely offensive about somebody enjoying them. Nor do I believe they are wholly worthless. Revenge of the Sith has several extended chunks that are pretty good, and the other two have their moments for those inclined to patiently mine them. They might not be great, but the worst movies ever, they are very definitely *not*. Trust me, I've seen some truly dire films. The Phantom Menace is just mediocre, and Revenge of Sith is inconsistent, but passable enough so far as it goes. Of the three, only "Attack of the Clones" descends into truly dire territory, and even it had some okay stuff in it. So while I'm not hugely enamored of the prequels, I'm not going to deny that I'll watch them every once in a while [yes, I own them], and that I enjoy parts of them quite a bit, regardless of what my inner critic thinks of them.
Now, The Force Awakens:
ReplyDeleteI liked it, but I can see why others might not. Complaints about the lack of a more unique plot structure or any real expansion of the lore is something I can sympathize with, even if I find that the quality of the film's execution outweighs that issue just enough for me to forgive it this once. I'm not sure that I'd consider "The Force Awakens" to be a truly great film -my issues with it are too significant for that- but its "pretty good"; while not *quite* up their in terms of cinematic quality with any of the original three, it is more consistently well-executed than any of the three prequels. Much less bold on the story front than those, to be sure, but better executed. Did it take the story where I wanted it to go? Well...no, not really. But I feel I can afford to be fairly equanimous, considering that the old EU already gave me the sequels I wanted in the form of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.
The only point in this review where I'll disagree especially strongly with you is the score. Speaking as a lifelong John Williams fan, I'm genuinely baffled by the negative reception the soundtrack for "The Force Awakens" has been getting, to the point where I'm an a loss to even know where to begin. I don't know how to change you mind, so I won't try. But I will say that I've listened to it five times -thrice in the context of the film, and twice on album- and each time, I respect it more. It might not be John Williams' best work, but I find it to be a cohesive, enjoyable soundtrack with several memorable themes and motifs. The only thing I can think of that could possibly have disappointed people is its relative lack of bombast compared to Williams' previous scores for the franchise; there's no "Imperial March" or "Duel of the Fates" here. Again, I can't convince you. But after reading this piece, I felt compelled to voice my [admitedly unpopular] opinion. Given what you've written about the prequel trilogy, I think you can understand being in the minority on something Star Wars-related.
I want to praise your review here as one of the fairest and most well-written I think you've constructed so far. Regardless of how much I agree or disagree, the fact is that you've written a very good piece of prose that lays out your positions plainly and fairly, and that you worked hard to make sure that you biases did not interfere with a fair evaluation of the movie you were reviewing. Very, very nicely done.
Firstly, I've been meaning to find a way to share this blog with you for some time, but I didn't know how. My apologies.
DeleteSecondly, my stance has changed a little in a month. Keep in mind that I was initially very angry after watching this movie, even if I enjoyed it, for reasons that I guess weren't entirely fair. I still think it could've taken more chances with its material, but I guess what we got was pretty damn good on its own merits.
Finally, regarding the soundtrack...I won't budge. Save the heroine and villain's tunes, both of which are growing on me, this is still the weakest of John William's works for the franchise. I suppose I understand why, he's been having health issues lately and is retiring after The BFG, but as a long-time fan of his work I truly think he was under-utilized. I only hope his replacement delivers...