Star Wars The Force Awakens Review- * Spoilers Ahoy*

In anticipation of the watching Star Wars the Force Awakens I decided to view: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back (I ran out of time for Return of the Jedi). I also had fun with Cinema Sins take on all 6 movies.

It occurred to me that the Star Wars universe requires an incredible amount of coincidental meetings of people and things in order to work. I will not go into detail but any fan knows this is true.  And I was struck with that same notion while watching Star Wars the Force Awakens. One example of this early on in Star Wars the Force Awakens is when Finn and Ray stumble upon “the old bucket of bolts”, the Millennium Falcon on Jakku.  The scene takes place as Finn and Ray are escaping The First Order by foot. They run into an open plain and see two ships in a junkyard. The Millennium Falcon being one of them. They run to the other ship, rejecting The Millennium Falcon as a choice, but that ship is destroyed in front of their eyes so they only choose the Millennium Falcon because it was the only choice. This is just one example of how random coincidence serves as a plot device to bring the “heroes” together. Maybe this plays to the series notion of Fate and the Force working in mysterious ways. Either way, on reflection, an overuse of coincidence and chance meetings becomes too cute and strains credulity, even for “A Galaxy Far, Far Away”.

Star Wars the Force Awakens is a good Star Wars Movie. Better than all the prequels and Return of the Jedi. It stands in a solid third place behind Empire Strikes Back #1, A new Hope # 2. All of the things we love about the Star Wars Universe are here. In fact the film mirrors a New Hope in many Ways:

ü  Secret mission given to a droid

ü  Hero Character living on a Desert stumbles upon said droid

ü  Heroes escape Desert planet in the Millennium Falcon

ü  Cantina Scene featuring the scum and villainy of the galaxy

ü  Death Star like Super Weapon with a single weak point to be exploited

ü  Hidden parental relationships to main characters

You get the point. The film delivers what we all liked about Star Wars a New Hope for fans and new comers in spades. This is a very enjoyable film and I look forward to repeat viewings.

The character of Ray is bright and instantly likable as is the story of Finn. They make a good duo and we want to see these two adventures together. There is much left a mystery about Ray and we learn that she is a Jedi. We have to assume she is the daughter of Luke Sywalker or possibly a unknown Jedi(she is way too young to be Obi Wan’s daughter).

That being said I have a big issue with the main antagonist: Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Leia Skywalker. We find this out halfway through the film through a touching scene where we learn that Han and Leia have been estranged from each other because they lost their son to the dark side. We understand that they sent Kylo Ren( Han calls him Ben) to Luke for training to be a Jedi. We also learn that one of Luke’s apprentices turned to the dark side and murdered the other Jedi. We assume this is Kylo, but are not told this specifically. This perceived failure on Luke’s part is the reason why Luke disappeared. The droid BB-8 secret mission is to deliver a map showing Luke’s secret location to the Rebel alliance.

So the revelation that Kylo is Han and Leia’s son is big! Han and Leia vow to work together to bring Kylo home to the light. This theme of adolescent rebellion is one that, much like the death of a child or parent (JJ often uses these themes, see the opening scene of STAR TREK 2009) can be a great plot device to draw viewers in and create an emotional connection.  As a parent I was invested in seeing this play out.

However, after vowing to bring Kylo home, Han sees his chance when he coincidentally crosses paths with Kylo toward the end of the film. Their meeting is emotional, well-acted, we feel Han’s pain and longing to save his son. Then, Kylo commits Patricide.

I disagree with this choice. It makes Kylo Ren completely nonredeemable. It completely defeats the point of bringing Han Solo into this film. It was a cheap trick and the film did not earn Han Sol’s death. If you wanted to Kill Han Solo off, fine, but don’t have his son do it! In the context of SW this makes no sense. The themes of SW are redemption, turning away from the Dark Side to the Light. As much as we hated Anakin in the Prequels, in the end, he saves his Son from the Emperor. Now, maybe Han didn’t die, we see him impaled and then fall to his death. We then see Chewbacca leave with the Millennium Falcon. Chewbacca would not leave without Han so he must be dead. Either way Kylo meant to kill his father.

For this reason I could not give Star Wars the Force Awakens 4 tacos out of 5.

Final verdict:

3.5 tacos out of 5