Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den! It's time to review the newest Star Wars movie, the Force Awakens! Now, I warn you, there will be spoilers, but I'll try to keep them to a medium level.
Now, people have been saying that this movie feels like Episode 4, and both my dad and I agree. It brings back what we loved about Episodes 4-6 while dropping the baggage of 1-3. No mention of the Clone Wars, Dooku or midiclorians. On top of that, they've turned both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker into beings of myth and legend. Heck, the lightsaber that the two men shared, in essence, became the "item of power" for the main hero. The Force has been made mystical and mysterious again. No trade conflicts, no conspiracy, no gungans, just a story about a young reluctant hero being forced to become the hero the galaxy needs her to be.
That's right; in the tone of Disney's badass princess and J.J. Abrams tendency to make stories about badass women, the hero of the story is Rey, a woman from the planet Jakku. Portrayed by British Actress Daisy Ridley, Rey shows little girls of this generation that they can be a hero, no matter what anyone says.
Now, time for spoilers. 30 years have past since the end of Return of the Jedi, and while the galaxy isn't in the same dire straits as it was during the Rebellion, it is in trouble. The First Order, a dark side cult dedicated to a lot of the principles of Palpatine's Empire, is searching for Luke Skywalker, the "Last Jedi" as he's called in the opening crawl, seeking to finish Palpatine and Vader's quest to wipe out the Jedi. The Resistance, an offshoot of the New Republic military, is led by General Leia Organa, fought back against the First Order and is keeping Luke's location a secret by splitting up the map and keeping it safe.
The major focus of the movie is that of Finn, a First Order Stormtrooper deserter, and Rey, a scavenger on Jakku who has the Force in her. She gets caught up in the adventure when Finn gets Poe Dameron, a Resistance pilot, off the First Order base, who had previously given his droid, BB-8, the missing piece of the map to Luke Skywalker. At first, Rey doesn't want to get involved, wanting to return to Jakku after getting BB-8 to the Resistance, even rejecting the item of power that is the lightsaber, but when the chips are down and her friends are threatened, she steps up and accepts her destiny, actively using powers she'd been using instinctively since childhood. And, much like Luke before her, she seems to be a prodigy with a lightsaber, being able to beat a wounded Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel, even rejecting the Dark Side's pull to kill him.
Now, I won't beat around the bush with this; Kylo Ren is Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, grandson of Darth Vader. And the mythical figure of Darth Vader is who he looks up to; he rejects the light legacy of his mother and uncle, and embraces the Dark Side like his grandfather did. He's even the reason Luke went into exile; Luke was trying to rebuild the Jedi Order and Ben was one of his students. But Luke's lessons didn't take, and Ben murdered Luke's other students. Luke, feeling a failure, went into exile, and that's where we are at this point; Rey needs Jedi training, and Luke is the only place to get it.
This movie feels good. It pays homage to what we've loved about the franchise and reminds us that someone out there still cares about where the franchise is going. Some people are upset that it doesn't conform to the previous Expanded Universe canon, but honestly, it feels right. Disney did away with the the baggage of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Killiks, Darth Jacen Solo (I know Kylo Ren fulfills his role, but he's not Jacen Solo. He wasn't lied to in order to be come Sith. Hell, he's not even Sith at all. He's more of a Dark Jedi who wants to emulate Vader. That's the whole reason for his mask!). It focuses on the story of the characters, and is not trying to make the bad guy sympathetic. But even then, it succeeds; Kylo Ren is sympathetic because he's trying to be bad, but isn't, unlike his grandfather, who was trying to be good, but wasn't.
All in all, I enjoyed Episode 7. It felt like Star Wars, something that you couldn't really say about 1-3. (Yeah, 3 was good, but it didn't feel like 7 does.) I'm looking forward to what Disney and J.J. Abrams bring to the table with Episode 8 and 9.
But for now, stay beautiful freaks!
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