The Force Awakens: The Good, The Bad, and The Lack of Anything Ugly

Though my heart still beats for the Expanded Universe and is crushed by the knowledge that my favorite story arcs and characters are no longer canonical, I -- along with all other lifelong Star Wars fanboys -- got tickets to The Force Awakens and saw it at midnight opening night.  The experience was surreal, largely because I never expected to see more film installments, and furthermore, the last time I stood in line to see a Star Wars movie, I was 16.  A decade removed from that, a bigger fan now than ever before, I have much higher expectations than did my wide-eyed teenage self.  But I also went into it with far more excitement than trepidation.

With that in mind -- if you haven't seen the movie yet (you should also stop reading pretty soon, by the way) -- it should warm the cockles of your heart to know that (in my humble opinion) The Force Awakens was... excellent.  Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  But excellent.  The movie's high level of quality owes itself to a number of things, not the least of which is its creators'  dedication to continuing the story of the original trilogy; its solid and believable acting; and its clever, actually funny comic relief (as opposed to the slapstick, second-grade-mentality nonsense that permeated the prequels).  Now, I've certainly got complaints about the film, but I think The Force Awaken's good far outweighs its bad -- even if the latter list is longer.

I will admit up front that a number of these complaints will possibly be rectified in later films and novels.  And I'm being exceptionally picky on purpose.  Because when you love something a lot, you want it to be the best it can be.

So here's my laundry list.

By Legion of Potatoes

The Bad

Another super weapon.  Another very Death Star-esque, planet-destroying, genocidal super weapon which the rest of the galaxy apparently ignored during its construction.  Seriously, using those kind of resources is going to draw attention.  The EU had its share of these as well, like the Darksaber and the Sun Crusher, and I'd be lying if I said I missed those elements of the Expanded Universe.  To further the comparison between this new super weapon and the Death Stars, this monstrosity's interior boasts similar architecture to its predecessors, features a weakness exploitable by internal sabotage and torpedo strafing, and its timely destruction even includes a brief trench run over the space of 15 tense, in-movie minutes.  The differences this time around are small but notable: a). the weapon is also a planet with its own ecosystem and geological strata, and b). it literally eats stars to fuel its weapon system.  These are cool variables, but really Starkiller Base is still a Death Star.  A bigger Death Star with a makeover.  You'd think that, thirty years after two predecessors had been destroyed by small snubfighters, the designers would have integrated their diabolical creations with better defense systems.  The Millennium Falcon literally comes out of hyperspace in the thing's atmosphere to get past its defensive shield, because it apparently can only stop vehicles moving at sublight speeds.  In making this thing bigger and badder than the Death Stars, they apparently downgraded its defensive capabilities.  Totally a Death Star.

Another evil Empire-esque....  Wait.  Wait, no wait.  It's pretty much just the Empire again with a different name and a different icon emblazoned on its banners.  And with that, another evil Emperor-esque character.  This time, taller and with a lousy surname.  While I appreciate the prototypical black-and-white Star Wars themes, I also wish the universe would mature a bit in terms of its villains and their philosophies.  Coming from an EU perspective, it would be so delightful to see a Thrawn or a Pallaeon in a Star Wars film -- i.e. a heroic kind of villain, possessing tactical ingenuity, fueled by honor and devotion instead of craving power.  That or a cruel, purpose-driven Palpatine devotee like Ysanne Isard whose brutality is coldly, pragmatically calculated -- not the result of a burning need for revenge.  I'd favor either of these options over another power-hungry Sith, simply so that the story moving forward can remain new and refreshing.  There's nothing worse than baddies with no credibility who never learn from their predecessors' mistakes.

Weak politics.  The major conflict revolves around the First Order versus the Resistance, an underground military group which opposes the Order with the support of the Republic.  But the Republic is... where?  This interplanetary government does what when the First Order super weapon blows up an entire system of planets?  And if the Republic is the ruling governmental structure in the galaxy, why is the First Order so powerful and how are they able to accumulate the necessary resources to construct said super weapon?  And if the Republic supports the Resistance, why are they just a faction of said government?  I'm sure these constructs will be more fully fleshed out in subsequent movies and novels, but Episode VII does little to establish the feeling of a sound political order.  Of all the issues I have with this film, I'm hoping that this one in particular will be addressed.

EDIT: After a second viewing of TFA, I can now appreciate a little more the galactic political situation.  Additionally, this article lends some further clarity.  I appreciate the conscious decision to not dwell on the politics in the movie, but I still would have liked just a little more information embedded in dialogue or something.  The relationship between the Resistance and the Republic is still tenuous at best: it seems to me that the former is a misnomer for what is essentially an anti-complacency campaign.  The name would make more sense if the First Order had risen to power and destroyed the Hosnian system, and THEN the Resistance had formed.

Not enough focus on snubfighters.  I'll concede that this is probably just my preference, but I still get chills watching the Death Star attack at the end of A New Hope, and so I had hoped for more of the same in TFA.  There were plenty of X-Wing sequences, undeniably, but they were all in support of what was happening on the ground.  I suppose I'll have to wait for Rogue One for a true fighter squadron fix (maybe -- I hear it might feature more on-the-ground kind of conflict as opposed to dogfights).

EDIT: After a second viewing of TFA, I think the balance between aerial and on-the-ground sequences was actually pretty good.  However, I would have liked the in-cockpit dialogue to be a little more in the "official" vein as it was in A New Hope -- Poe, as squadron leader, issuing more orders, 

Rushed pacing.  We travel from planet to planet fast in this movie.  Long hyperspace journeys are boring, so all the Star Wars movies have moved quickly from location to location, simply to move the plot forward.  However, there's some questionably fast arrivals in this one: the First Order appears out of nowhere to destroy the Resistance hovel and capture Rey; subsequently, the Resistance is on top of the super weapon within minutes when it threatens their base.  This doesn't ruin the overall credibility of the movie's plot, but its long-distance space travel does feel somewhat less believable than the original trilogy's did.

The background cultures aren't terribly immersive.  This complaint is given somewhat hesitantly, because much of the rich lore of the original trilogy arose courtesy of the EU.  There's no explanation or backstory of every character in the Mos Eisley cantina in the films: all of this depth ultimately came from novels and games.  So when I look at all these new aliens, extras, and places in TFA and feel disconnected from them, it's largely because they don't yet have that same kind of extra-dimensional life that the EU provided for the earlier films.  So I am confident that later material will rectify this dearth and fill in some of the gaps I felt watching this movie.

The galaxy far, far away is apparently home to people from... earth?  Obviously, the snippy British personas of the First Order are appropriate, if only to continue the representation of stiff Imperial grunts that began in A New Hope.  However, the Chinese and Scottish accents -- decidedly in-your-face, earth-based accents -- exhibited by the smugglers who attack Solo and Chewie to collect their dues were decidedly out of place.  This is Star Wars, JJ, not Star Trek.

Captain Phasma.  Seriously, what an inconsequential blip on the radar.  Why even bother with such a character except to place a woman in shiny stormtrooper armor?  Furthermore, she wasn't even the only female stormtrooper: one of the grunts who reported to Kylo Ren during the hunt for Rey had a distinctly female voice.  The character of Phasma was so publicized and merchandized prior to TFA's release that her lack of any true plot-related significance made her feel -- forgive my bluntness -- like a total feminist gimmick.

Same old story.  Ultimately, the plot of TFA is virtually the same as the plot of A New Hope -- perhaps intentionally so in some ways -- but I was hoping for a more quest-based movie.  I'd envisioned a dedicated search for Luke while dodging the First Order, and discovering what had happened to drive him into isolation in the process.  Instead, TFA was very much an updated retelling of A New Hope with new characters: a droid escapes with important plans vital to the survival of an underground faction's survival against a tyrannical power, attaches itself to an orphaned major character, a climactic fight with the villain ensues which causes said central character to lean into blossoming Force abilities (admittedly, A New Hope's version of this battle was aerial), and a conflict surrounding a gigantic super weapon ensues, involving a hinged ground-and-air assault that ultimately cripples and destroys the technological terror.  The end.

But wait!  There's more!  The final, prolonged reveal of Luke Skywalker -- after the moment that felt like it should have been the movie's natural conclusion -- almost felt like the scene that would have followed the credits in any Marvel movie.  These latter moments of TFA were essentially an in-movie teaser for Episode VIII, largely hinging on R2-D2's timely awakening (THAT'S what the movie should have been called!) in order to reveal Skywalker's final location.  Contrived?  Maybe not.  Convenient?  Definitely.

By Patrick Seymour

The Good

Lots and lots of questions.  It's infuriating to think that we have to wait another two years for more answers.  IN A GOOD WAY.  It's simply good story-writing to drop viewers in the middle of the action and keep them hooked so they're desperate to know why things and characters are the way they are.  For this reason, I think a fair number of the complaints I listed above will find resolution in episodes VIII and IX, and probably in the Anthology films as well.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Episode VIII opens with flashbacks to post-Return of the Jedi events in order to fill in some gaps and launch the new story with Luke Skywalker.  Sort of the way Peter Jackson went back in time to Smeagol finding the ring and becoming Gollum at the beginning of The Return of the King, before focusing heavily on that character's role in the final installment of The Lord of the Rings saga.  Leaving the theater with a lot to talk about and ponder is a good thing -- it means the next movie will build on the foundation of this installment, and points to the probability that the story arc will span the next two installments of the trilogy, rather than simply focusing on one movie at a time.

Natural arcs in character development.  I thought this was well done.  The appearances of old faces didn't feel contrived to pacify a hungry audience: key characters appeared at important moments in the plot and maintained their former personas well.  Carrie Fisher even held up as a war-weary Leia, despite her inability to smile (or make many facial expressions at all for that matter).  In the same vein, the new faces introduced are full of life, potential, and believable chemistry.  I love Poe's sarcastic, bold, perfectly flyboy kind of character.  I love Fin's disillusionment with the First Order, which inspires intrigue into the First Order's methodology of taking children and indoctrinating them at a young age to be stormtroopers (which, ironically, is not unlike the Old Republic's Jedi Order's modus operandi).  I love Rey's gradual awakening to her Force abilities -- a trickle at first, and then a waterfall as raw necessity drives her to act on instinct, just as Kenobi instructed Luke to do decades prior.  Finally, the elimination of a certain key character (I won't mention any names juuuuust in case), shocking though it may have been, ultimately felt natural for ushering in the new generation of heroes: creating a palpable void for the up-and-coming characters to fill.

EDIT: Fin/Rey roles.  One of my favorite elements of this movie, now even more after a second viewing, is that the plot largely focuses on Fin for the first half, albeit with an elongated sequence devoted to Rey's life on Jakku.  However, the progression of events -- from Fin's conscience-driven break from the First Order, to his jailbreak with Poe, to his escape from Jakku on the Falcon with Rey, to accepting Luke's lightsaber when Rey refuses it and being the first to activate it, to his rescue/espionage mission with Han and Chewie, to the final confrontation on Starkiller Base when he duels with Kylo Ren... Episode VII altogether tricks you into thinking Fin is going to become the central character of the new saga.  However, it gradually transitions to focus on Rey's awakening to her own powerful Force awareness and ultimately concludes with her completing the quest to find Luke Skywalker.  I absolutely love the nuances of this patient bait-and-switch, and I'm eager to see whether or not she has any connections to characters from any of the previous films, or if her backstory will be entirely new.

Kylo Ren is tempted by the Light.  THIS was a unique twist on the mythos of the Force, and creates the kind of tension I think more Star Wars villains need to have: a tortured, driven, darkly sympathetic aspect.  Vader possessed this quality in Empire and ROTJ: the father who had made his choice long ago and could no longer tread the path of the light -- that is, until his final moments when his son drew out the latent good in him one last time.  In the prequels, however, he became an immature wuss in the misrepresentation of Anakin Skywalker and ultimately lost this appeal.  Kylo Ren, on the other hand, springs from the right vein: youthful, passionate, conflicted, subservient to a power he believes in, but tempted by the Light -- perhaps out of guilt or pain or longing for his family.  And, supposing he survived the destruction of the First Order's super weapon (as did Vader before him), Ren stands poised to be even more driven and twisted in Episode VIII.

EDIT: Kylo Ren is simply a raw supernova encased in a human body.  His emotions are as radical and unsteady as the symbolic lightsaber he carries.  Contrast this fear, anger, and emotional instability to Rey's purity of character and purpose: she is hopeful (waiting for her family), he is fearful (anxious that he cannot complete his mission); she is self-controlled and calm, he is reckless.  Yet, they are both full of raw potential, desperately in need of refining.  Both characters stand to grow significantly in their abilities in later chapters.

NO MIDICHLORIANS ANYWHERE.  I can't drive a stake into the ground based on just one point, but this was absolutely huge for me.  TFA presents the Force as it should always have been: an energy field that surrounds, penetrates, and binds all living things together, accessible to anyone with the devotion and the penchant.  Pure, unadulterated philosophy.

An appropriate blend of models, puppets, and CGI.  Everything in this movie looks as good as a huge-budget movie should.  And in comparison to the CGI overload of the prequels, it also manages to feel much more natural, visceral, dimensionally appropriate, and -- ultimately -- believable.  The Force Awakens blends the feel and vision of the original Star Wars trilogy with modern technology and creates a stunning visual presentation of the galaxy: alien creatures that look real; lightsabers with vibrant colors that cast significant back-glow and behave as energy weapons would; rich explosions that aren't merely for the sake of action scenes; realistic spaceship movement with physical properties.  All of this was supremely well-done, and every shot in TFA was both well-framed and positively gorgeous.

Appropriate, character-based humor.  I mentioned this earlier.  But there are no goofy, bumbling Jar Jar Binks characters.  There are no moronic battle droids.  There is no forced humor between lousy actors.  There is only the best kind of wry, situational humor: Han/Chewie banter; one-liners; C-3P0's rude interruptions; Fin's amusing, self-created predicament.  The onscreen chemistry between new actors and old was wonderful, and inspired genuine laughter and emotional response.

Chewie didn't die.  Ever since Vector Prime, I've missed the character of Chewbacca -- even if his death was noble and appropriate for re-establishing the mortality of the key characters.  EU authors did a fantastic job of taking Han and other characters through the grieving process in the aftermath, and permanently imprinted the loss on the cast even decades later in the storyline.  Certain speculations I read online prior to seeing TFA had pointed toward another heart-wrenching Wookiee death scene.  But the choice to keep the character alive and well was, in my opinion, a good one.

You might find it hard to believe that I loved The Force Awakens after reading this.  My criticism certainly outweighs my praise on paper (you know what I mean).  However, I truly see this movie as the foundation for what will be powerful, plot-driven sequels that do this enduring saga the due justice that the prequel films failed to deliver.  Actually, I don't even like the word sequels for these new installments, because the story was definitively written to be a multi-film epic with one huge climax across all episodes.  Big-picture focus is the kind of focus this new Star Wars needs to keep its integrity -- not just emphasis on churning out new, exciting films for a new generation of fans.

So far so good.

The wait for Episode VIII will be excruciating.  But I trust the payoff will once again be phenomenal.