It's been 2 weeks now since the release of Episode VII of Star Wars, named The Force Awakens. I won't believe you if you tell me you've never heard of it. As a big fan, even I was overwhelmed with the enormous amount of publicity about it, with an overdose of Star Wars labeled products available everywhere (from water to batteries and toilet paper).
The movie is on its way to battle with Avatar for biggest gross income worldwide at the rate it's going (already 8th overall, without the Chinese market, opening in about a week). Obviously, these results wouldn't be so high if the film wasn't an enjoyable experience.
I enjoyed it very much, and after a ten year wait since the previous movie, I left the theater with a sense of wonder such as only this saga can bring me. Moreover, my wife who's never been a big fan of the franchise was very enthusiastic when the ending credits appeared.
However, a few details bugged me during the viewing, and the days that passed since increased both the number of details and the importance of them. Disappointment, probably due to excessively high expectations, appeared.
Spoilers ahead!! For those who haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to stop here.
Tribute to the origins, or lack of creativity?
Since the announcement that new Star Wars movies would be made, and especially since J.J. Abrams has accepted the job to direct the first of these new movies, it was clear that the goal was to emulate the spirit of the Original Trilogy. Upon watching The Force Awakens, it is impossible to deny that the objective has been reached. Maybe a little bit too much.
First, let's take a lot at the story, and especially, the similarities with the very first movie, namely Episode IV.
Some critical data is hidden in a droid, lost on a sandy planet. After being captured by scavengers, the droid meets the future hero. They leave the planet aboard the Millenium Falcon. A dark, masked antagonist, too late to retrieve the critical data, tortures the protagonist who hid the data inside the droid. Once the droid safely reaches the Resistance/Rebellion headquarter, an attack is decided against a ferocious station that can destroy planets. The station is destroyed after a vulnerable point has been hit, leaving the masked antagonist probable to return later to avenge the attack.
I have of course left out of the summary multiple points aside, but I think anyone can agree that from this short synopsis, it is impossible to tell which of Episode IV or VII I was referring to. Some might not mind the excessive mirroring of the two stories, it did bother me. Sadly for me, the lack of creativity for me doesn't stop there.
After the story, the setup mirrors way too much in my opinion. Everything is done so that old fans are put in a situation of comfort. Too much for me. The movie, happening about three decades after the event of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, leaves us with a sensation that nothing much has evolved. There still is a civil war between an Empire-like side and a rebellion, the addition of a mostly unseen New Republic being mainly useless to the story. But worse than that, the lack of evolution of the characters bothers me. Leia is still a high personality in the Resistance, apparently not trained in the ways of the Force. Han and Chewbacca are still smugglers. The case made for this situation actually makes sense, but it still leaves us with a sour taste, as if the galaxy had been frozen in carbonite for 30 years. Too much tribute, but too much novelty
The second point on which the new episode seems to miss the mark can seem to be negating the first one. The spirit behind it is quite different though.
We are back in an universe we all know. However, if we put aside the characters who had a line (including Ackbar and Nien Nunb for instance) in the previous movies, the universe seems to be all new. All the planets are new, never mentioned before. Even the desert planet (Tatooine/Jakku) and the urban planet (Coruscant/Hosnian Prime) are all new.
And while I might be wrong, I can't remember of one species that appeared on the screen during Episode VII that also appeared before. No Hutt, no Twi'lek, no Rodian, no Gungan (I know most are happy about that one), no Nautolan, no Weequay, no Gamorrean, ... and the list goes on.
While so much effort has been put to place the fans into a known story, none of the background actually reminds us of the old Star Wars movies. Are we even in the same galaxy or were the main characters transported in another one?
A few details that weigh in on the result
These last few inputs are actually of different kinds.
The last planet seen on screen, now known as Ahch-To, had a striking effect on me. We were not in a galaxy far, far away anymore. We were on Earth. I know the emphasis has been put during production on actual filming on location. But the way of filming that scene, and the decor in itself left me disappointed.
Another last point that I will bring up here, is in relation to the Starkiller Base and its actions. I know we're in a space opera and not in a hard SF setting, so I'll pass on the laser beam going faster than light, let's say it's possible in that universe. No problem with that. But how can such a beam separate in multiple beams just before impact? And worst of all, and Abrams is becoming notorious for not knowing how light and space function, especially that space is huge and light is slow: How were the people on Takodana able to see the destruction of the Hosnian System? The sunlight takes 8 minutes to reach us, and compared to the distance between stars, this is ridiculously fast. That made no sense.
Still excited about Episode VIII
You might think now that I am done with Star Wars after that. You would be obviously very wrong. I only listed the problems of this new episode. I didn't list all the good points because this was not the subject of this blog post. I am still very excited about Episode VIII and the direction in which this movie has set up the future of the franchise with its ending. I'm hoping for a little more risks and innovation in the story though, and a little more familiarity with the planets and extras to make me feel like I'm a that beloved galaxy far, far away...
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