I was thinking about writing this down the second I arrived home after seeing it for the first time on December 18th but then I thought that I should see it again…and I did. The movie itself isn’t perfect (I think that the hype before the movie release was so high that everyone thought of a „Second Coming” sort of event).
Let’s start with the bad parts first. As I said earlier this isn’t a perfect storyline because it resembles too much of Episode IV in it:
- a droid that carries important information (R2-D2 and BB-8);
- two heroes emergency land on a desert planet (Finn and Poe);
- the bad guys a.k.a. The First Order fail to retrieve the droid or to kill this two heroes (first there were Finn and Poe and after that just Finn and Rey);
- the heroes escape peril with the Millenium Falcon (same as Luke and Obi-Wan did);
- a cantina scene with many types of alien-like creatures;
- Starkiller Base is a much larger Death Star (actually it’s a planet that can destroy other planet systems) and gets destroyed in the end by X-Wings and an internal weakness spot;
- General Hux position is similar to Grand Moff Tarkin.
Obviously I could miss some of the other weak parts of the movie but all in all that list above may give you a picture on what Episode VII looks like.
In my opinion, the similarities between Episode VII and IV are like a „side-quest” to the main story because as you read the intro crawl of the movie the main storyline is about finding Luke Skywalker who goes into hiding after an unsuccesful attempt to create a Jedi Academy. Things go bad and so Kylo Ren (Ben Solo…yes, he’s the son of Han and Leia) is „born” becoming a Dark Jedi; I’m saying „Dark Jedi” because he’s neither Jedi or Sith (not yet).
We arrive at the good parts of the movie: the characters.
I will begin with Kylo Ren because many of us thought he was a Darth Vader look-alike. Well, he is but in the same time he’s much more. He views Darth Vader like a mentor who began wiping all the Jedi in the galaxy. He views him as an idea that was never accomplished. When I saw Kylo without the mask my first reaction was: „He’s just a guy who went bad. I’ve seen this before a million times.”. But then the interaction between him and Han Solo arrives and it’s beautiful (from the beginning when Han yells „Ben!”). That dialogue (although short and somehow predictable) brings depth to his character. He is torn apart between the Light and the Dark Side just like Anakin Skywalker was. That was such an „Anakin-like-moment” (in the good way…do you hear me, Hayden Christensen? Acting!).
Rey! Daisy Ridley was awesome. I never thought for a second that she will be the main revelation of the movie (well maybe I did but not in a big percentage). She was like a breath of fresh air from the beginning until the end. Although her story-arc is very Luke Skywalker-like , she doesn’t need rescuing like Luke does (well maybe not yet..there are still two films yet to be seen); that was a big thumbs up from my part because in all action movies there’s a „damsel in distress” situation and I’m sick of that (even the first time when she meets Finn and they are running from the TIE Fighters she repeatedly yells „What are you doing? Let go of my hand!”). I can tell that she is a mixture between Han and Luke (I’m talking about skills here because she can pilot everything..sort of…and has a strong connection to the Force). To those that complain a lot of her skills with the Force my only answer will be this: Anakin Skywalker. She is a prodigy in the same way that Anakin was and that I think it will be explored in the next episode (her origins).And…oh boy!…that moment in the third act of the movie when she force-pulls the blue-lightsaber almost brought tears to my eyes (that was the best moment of the movie for me); also her interactions with all the characters were great.
Her story is a powerful message for all the Hollywood movies out there that make weak female characters (Yes, I’m talking to you, „Twilight” and „50 Shades of Grey”!); Hollywood and all over the world needs to learn that we need strong female characters.
Finn. I liked his character because he represented the audience, „the movie-goer” or „the Star Wars fan” in the movie. His story-arc was build through the costume in the first moment when he disobeyed the order to kill those civilians in the first act of the movie. When I thought about this I somehow grew simpathy for the Stormtroopers (more or less) because we see them in those white outfits, we laugh at them when their shooting accuracy is so poorly that they only hit the ground (especially on the original three episodes), we laugh more when they stumble or are being thrown away from the scene (actually they are killed and we still laugh) and we still don’t realise that they are human beings beneath those uniform, who have feelings, posttraumatic stress disorder and all of that stuff. His development as a character should be described as a path to redemption (fleeing the First Order and becoming a hero). My only complain about this development is shown in the first 10-20 minutes of his appearence when his actions are a little bit overreacted; well maybe they aren’t but this is my opinion.
On a side note, the return of Han Solo was great. As I always thought before seeing this that: „Well maybe we will again see Harrison Ford playing Harrison Ford in this movie”…and I was so wrong. Han is back and he’s a badass! I love that he is wiser than we last saw him in Episode VI (as it should be). He now believes in the Force as he says in the movie: „It’s true. All of it. The Dark Side, the Jedi. They’re real.” (I loved this line). His death is predictable from the moment when he yells at his son and steps on that bridge-looking-thingy. I will miss seeing his character on screen (in this form because we will see a young Han Solo in a future spin-off Star Wars movie) and I will miss his humorous side. Talking about humor, his relationship with Chewie..oh man!…the bromance it’s still on after all this years.
Other characters like: Captain Phasma, General Hux and Supreme Leader Snoke were awesome aditions but represented a small part in a giant machine that’s the main story. Also…what’s up with Snoke? Is he Darth Plagueis? I wonder…
I could talk about Star Wars and this movie all day because that’s what I love to do.
In the end, I could say that this movie injected a new hope (see what I did there?) in the future of Star Wars franchise and also in me regarding this universe of „space-wizards”. I regret that the marketing for this movie was to aggressive for my taste (maybe that’s why the hopes were so high…that never leads to something good…for example „Avengers – Age of Ultron”). There were many symbolique scenes in this movie that inspired me: the way the shot was lighted when Han Solo and Kylo Ren were speaking (blue and red meaning the light and the dark), the way the earth parted in two after Rey and Kylo finished the battle, the longshot between Poe and Finn, the shot regarding Rey eating on a fallen AT-AT (on the planet Jakuu), the going-in-hyperspace scenes (renewed effects) and some other that I forgot.
The young cast was awesome and…oh man I forgot about Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs). Even if his apperance was little he brought some pretty good scenes, especially with Kylo Ren and Finn. He reminds me of Han Solo (if he renounced being a smuggler and joined the Rebellion or something).
I hope that you saw or will see this movie because it’s good…not bad…not great…but good…and somehow inspiring for me.
P.S.: I forgot about the soundtrack. It wasn’t that majestic as in the other episodes. The only part that stuck through my head was the „Rey-theme”.
P.P.S: The last shot of the movie before it goes into credits (that helicopter shot) destroyed all of the „movie-magic” for me. It threw me into reality. It was like a Michael Bolton’s video clip for a song or something…
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