There’s a saying: no one hates “Star Wars” more than “Star Wars” fans. While the river of abhorrence flows freely through the deluge of online forums and social media now, it feels like everyone was genuinely excited about the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015.
There was something in the air during this time. The Force was strong as audiences packed theatres, wearing Jedi robes and raising their lightsabers in unison as the famous opening crawl scrolled across the screen. And why shouldn’t they have been excited? It had been 10 years since “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” and this marked the beginning of the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga. A new new hope, so to speak, under Disney’s controversial umbrella, but that’s a story for another day.
At the helm was filmmaker J. J. Abrams, who had successfully rebooted the “Star Trek” movie franchise years earlier. Everyone knows Trekkies are just as passionate as “Star Wars” fanatics, so if anyone could carry the space opera into a post-George Lucas future and keep the fans happy – well, for the most part – it was Abrams.
Much like how Goldilocks liked her porridge, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” turned out to be neither too hot nor too cold; it was just right. The film treads safely and reads like a greatest hits of everything “Star Wars,” but it also finds the appropriate balance of leaning on nostalgia and preparing for the future.
It’s something Abrams also confirmed to Wired. “We wanted to tell a story that had its own self-contained beginning, middle, and end, but at the same time, like ‘A New Hope,’ implied a history that preceded it and also hinted at a future to follow,” he said.
The new hero is Rey (Daisy Ridley) – a goodhearted nobody who gets pulled into this seemingly never-ending battle between light and dark. But who is she, really? That promises to be revealed later on. She’s joined by the fresh additions of pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), and the cute-as-a-bug droid BB-8. Each of them offers a hint of how they will aid Rey on her journey of discovery, but they also have their own unique backstories that beg to be unravelled and explored further in subsequent movies.
That isn’t all, though, as the legacy characters return. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), C3-PO (Anthony Daniels), and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) feature in several ways. Rightfully so, Abrams keeps Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) off-screen for most of the film, raising the anticipation for when Luke and Rey finally meet and he assumes the Yoda role.
Then, there are the villains – arguably, one of the most important elements of any “Star Wars” film. Snoke (Andy Serkis) positions himself to be the new Palpatine, manipulating and scheming in the shadows as the leader of the First Order. Serving Snoke is the Darth Vader of “The Force Awakens”, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo. He has the Skywalker bloodline running through his veins, but broke bad at a point in his life. The question is, will he or won’t he turn his back on the dark side like his grandfather did many moons before? Well, that lightsaber through his father Han’s chest suggests not – at least not in this movie.
If one were to dissect “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” you’d find it tends to follow the formula of the original film, “A New Hope”: A reluctant hero emerges and they’re aided by a motley crew of companions as they embark on a mission of restoring hope to the galaxy. They encounter the Big Bad and quickly discover how ruthless they are, losing a beloved mentor in the process. However, this chosen one finds the inner strength to win the battle – not the war – setting up the stakes for a sequel.
As the first entry in the latest trilogy, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” effectively accomplishes its primary task: it establishes the premise, introduces new characters into the universe, and teases the future storyline. It also received mostly positive reviews from fans and critics, and brought in a mouth-watering $2 billion at the box office.
Unfortunately, all this good work gets undone by the sequels that lack any creative cohesion or forethought. Legacy characters fall to the wayside. Finn and Poe become insignificant in the story. Snoke dies unceremoniously. Rey is revealed to be nobody significant, only to be retconned and related to Palpatine, who somehow returns.
Oh, and Kylo Ren has a come-to-Jesus moment, turns to the light side of the Force, and falls in love with Rey, because… who knows. Probably not even the filmmakers or actors. If anything, 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” proves that everyone is just winging it at this point and hoping for the nightmare to end.
So, what went wrong here? The biggest issue is that Lucasfilm hired three filmmakers for the trilogy. The original plan was that Abrams would tackle the first film, Rian Johnson would do the second, and Colin Trevorrow the third. Trevorrow departed after creative differences, ironically. Abrams returned and attempted to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but grabbed a turkey instead.
There was supposed to be some semblance of an outline of where they were going overall, but that’s debatable when you watch the seismic jump from “The Force Awakens” to “The Rise of Skywalker.”
It’s to be expected, though. When you throw three different filmmakers into a universe, they will each have their own visions of what they want to do. It’s like asking three chefs to make potato salad. One might make it the traditional way with boiled potatoes and mayonnaise, while the other chucks ghastly boiled eggs into the mix, and the final person decides it needs sausages too. At some point, this potato salad turns into a stew that no one asked for.
What’s frustrating about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is how it’s an easy-to-follow blueprint, but it gets wiped out in “The Last Jedi” like it’s the second coming of Jar Jar Binks. Johnson turns everything on its head, cutting the story threads introduced by Abrams and heading off in his own unexpected direction. Now — even though this upset the fans at the time — it would be okay if there were a final pay-off in “The Rise of Skywalker,” but there wasn’t. It’s a perfect example of what happens when films are made by committee and by people who don’t understand “Star Wars,” something that George Lucas has said about Disney’s handling of the trilogy.
While “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” doesn’t compare to the best Star Wars movies, it’s certainly the best of the sequel trilogy and glimmers with potential. The only problem is when Han says, “I got a bad feeling about this,” he was not only predicting his own fate but also that of the future films. Maybe they needed more sand here… or just better creative leadership.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is available to stream on Disney+.
