Okay, I'll do a proper, spoiler free review of
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
This is something ridiculously hard to review. Looking at Star Wars objectively if you're of my generation is really tough. The films were completely pervasive as we grew up. Not just the films, but the entire culture around them. Everything revolved around Star Wars.
There will be other things that are close to people's hearts from when they grew up (Pokemon maybe), but nothing had the huge cultural impact across the entire of society that Star Was did.
It was hard then to watch the new Lucas trilogy from 1999 onwards. The promise of telling more of the tale in the same way, ruined.
Don't get me wrong, the original Star Wars trilogy are very much regarded as something more special than they are. They're flawed, but there's a charm about them still that captivates continuing generations. The films are simple, but make you feel as though you're viewing a small part of a much larger universe - that was Lucas' genius for the original films.
Episodes 1,2 and 3 tried too hard to do so much with too little. Lucas handled it badly and we got a mess.
With all that in mind, the hype machine that has hit for Episode VII could never deliver on the promise. There is no way that any none "Star Wars fan" could see anything that came close to the hype. Does that mean it was awful? I'd love to say that I viewed it objectively, but can't... It was a fantastic film, and that's kind of objective...
I like to think of it as "Star Wars by numbers". Each scene a repeat of what's gone before, only this time painted using JJ Abrahams' palette rather than Lucas'. It parallels the original film to the point you can only think of it as essentially a reboot, rather than something fresh. It's always self-aware of what it is and what it's doing. "Yes, I'm still the same kind of story in the same kind of situations doing the same kind of stuff, but I don't care because you'll be too busy enjoying me to care!"
From the opening sequences, it's clear that Abraham's has brought Star Wars kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. It's a near flawless bit of action movie. Constantly moving, always something going on, great characters and it gives characters a bit of a chance to get to know each other.
This is Star Wars if it was made today - like, DUH!
It's not perfect. There are times I wonder when Daisy Ridley is going to settle on a facial expression and then realise that she can't manage it and just goes for alcohol gaze into the distance. Fin's character isn't settled, he spends the time you get to know him as scared, but then he's suddenly the boy from the hood seemingly out of character. Plot holes the bigger and more destructive than a vent port in the Death Star open up. I didn't care though.
Thinking now, it's easy to start pulling things apart. Kylo Ren is the Anakin/Vader Lucas never delivered us. A fantastically flawed villain with a slightly funny walk. He's made me understand the Vader "NOOOOOOOOOOO" in a way Haiden whatshisface never could. The way the plot was like a shadow of the original's (in a good way). The gorgeous environments and the feeling of such a large world (it was brilliant Abraham's never went back to the planets Lucas did, but still kept the feelings.
It's easy to pull it apart now, even almost objectively, but at the time I couldn't. Not (though for the first half an hour I must admit it was) because I was sitting watching a new Star Wars film, but because - dammit - I was so busy enjoying it.
It's a solid action/adventure yarn. I suspect a bit too silly for people who aren't fans, but if you watch it like you would an Arnie movie, it's kind of acceptable.
So it's a good action film. Is it a good Star Wars film?
I think part of what made the original trilogy so successful was their simplicity. If you think back to them, very little happens, but it's all done through big "scenes".
The opening scene is iconic. Tattoine with the cantina. The escape from the prison into the garbage chute. The Death Star trench run. Very little actually connects those scenes, but they stand out. The whole film is essentially:
- Droid escape
- Tattoine
- Death Star
- Blow up Death Star.
All the time those scenes are focussed on through the eyes of one or two heroes.
Empire is similar:
- Hoth
- Space worm/Degobah
- Bespin/Dark side cave
- I am your father
Return is:
- Jabba
- Degobah/Sister
- Endor/Death Star/Space battle
There's very little too them and the new film? It's a lot, lot more complex. There never seems to be just one thing happening, but lots. Often the action is seemingly halted for an unnatural amount of time for the plot/characters to move on.
I can't sit here now and pick out "top scenes" that stand out (apart from two near the end, but they're not quite the same). It's all a constant run of things happening and it needed to occasionally stop and take a breath. Did it need monsters attacking pirates? I doubt it.
So due to the complexity, it's missing the dubious charm of the original film. However, as a "not Star Wras film" it's much better. It hangs together as an action film in ways Star wars could only wish for. As a "reboot" of the series - this is the film Lucas would have made if he'd made the original Star Wars today. So I think that yes, it beats A New Hope.
It doesn't beat Empire for me though. That is
my Star Wars. The film I remember clearly seeing at the cinema and the shock of Luke finding out Vader is his father was incredible. Never has a film series performed such an act of unexpected plot twistery. It was sublime and I still love the mix of action and humour across the film. It's got the wonderful edge of darkness to it. It's pretty close though to be honest, because - as an action film - The Force Awakens is really good. Like, really
really good.
I'll find out on subsequent watchings how much I was hoodwinked. How much playing to nostalgia has tainted my view on the film. The fact that I didn't care it was Star Wars by halfway through and just enjoyed the ride says it's good beyond fandom. I hope so, but I suspect on subsequent watchings the flaws will appear larger and the holes massive. However, that has never stopped me from loving the original trilogy, so maybe I can overcome it and let it into my Star Wars hollow as a special friend.
Over complex, over hyped and over here - but I don't care. It's Star Wars through and through and I loved it - warts and all. I can now forget that episodes 1, II and one hundred and eleven exist and live in the world Disney brings us in the future. It's like Marvel, only Star Wars - which (except for SPiderman) was always better anyway.
It's 10/10 as a Star Wars film, but it's also a 9/10 as an action film at the moment - I may knock that down to 8 on more watchings, but if you like Star Wars just the slightest, go and see it now. You already have I'll bet...
