Hello dear reader, well it’s finally happened. Pop Culture: Episode VII has finally been released into the world and whether you like it or not, for the foreseeable future, it will be very hard to find anything that isn’t set ‘A long time ago’ or ‘in a galaxy far far away….’
So where do you start to trying to review a film that is basically the most anticipated piece of cinema released in the last ten years, possibly much longer? Well the best place to start is at the beginning, or to be more precise, Episode IV and 1977. Now I happen to be old enough, or as I like to see it, lucky enough, to be of a certain age, that I can claim with a certain amount of pride that I have seen every single Star Wars film in the cinema, on its original release. This puts me in the unique position of being firstly, old and secondly wise enough to know that The Empire Strikes Back is not the greatest film in the franchise, and before you lovely people start to ‘lose your shit’ (down with the kids). I would also, for the record, like to point out that I don’t think the one with the terrorist teddy bears is either. The best is, of course, the original. Now, I know this is a controversial point of view and that many of you will completely disagree with me. I have gone on record in previous blogs about how I just don’t understand why everyone else seems to hold Episode V in such high regard. For me it’s a film that’s plot can be summed up quite simply as ‘A snow ball fight, exposition, exposition, exposition, hi son, the end.’ The whole chunk where Luke goes looking for Yoda on Dagobah is a complete snooze fest and quite frankly if it wasn’t for the inclusion of the AT-AT walkers in the aforementioned ‘snow-ball’ fight and a certain ‘bad-ass’ bounty hunter, then I don’t think it would have much going for it at all. Now don’t get me wrong. If someone pointed a gun at my head and told me I had to choose between watching a film that had either Frank Oz voicing the most unrealistic muppet since Ronald Regan or a CGI character from Episode I that could turn the most die-hard of Star Wars fans into a seething mass of ‘going-postal’ rage. Then I’d blissfully go with swamps, cloud cities and amusingly shaped ion cannons every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
However, I do feel like I’m drifting slightly away from the point here and the job at hand. Namely, to give my humble opinion of J.J. Abrams The Force Awakens. Now I am going to do my best to skirt around the edges of a little town I known called ‘Spoilerville’. Especially, given what happens to thingy, when doodah goes and does whatchamacallit in the third act. So it would probably be best for all concerned to go and see the film first before reading on any further. I’m more than happy to wait…
Great, that’s everyone caught up, so now I’ll continue. Firstly I’ll start with the ‘what’s wrong with it’ column. Don’t worry, this won’t take that long but there are a couple of niggles that I need to go over. However, the first is a biggy. Ever since Star Wars film was released, nearly forty years ago’ the ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away….’ opening screen shot and its proceeding screen crawl have always, and I mean always, had the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare to accompany it. They’ve become so ingrained with one another that I can’t hear the fanfare without thinking ‘Star Wars’. It’s just impossible to have one without the other. And I can’t be the only one that thinks that because on certain Star Wars soundtracks that have been released, the fanfare has been included as track 1. But alas those days have now gone. Ever since Mr Lucas sold his soul to Disney, back in 2012, for the better part of four billion dollars and change, we will never again get to listen to that combination again. It may not mean that much to other people but to me Star Wars without it is like Laurel without Hardy, Peter Cook without Dudley Moore or One Direction without Autotune.
My second grumble, and by the way these are now in no particular order, falls squarely on the shoulders of Supreme Leader Snoke. Now, right off the bat I would just like to say that I have absolutely no concerns with Mr Andy Serkis. He does what he does best, namely playing a motion capture character better than any other living person on the planet. My Issue with Snoke is basically that considering he’s the ‘big bad’ of the film, he is criminally under used. He also only appears in the film the same way the Emperor appears in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. He’s a holographic projection. The best way I can describe how Snoke gets shown on screen is, imagine if Apple ever got their hands on Skype and you’d be pretty close to the mark. Also the projection is ‘meganormous’. He towers above everyone he talks to and it’s never really made crystal clear if what we’re looking at is ‘actual size’. I hope it isn’t because if it is Mr Abrams is definitely overcompensating for something. The other smaller problem I have with him is his overall appearance. He looks like the sort of person you’d find on Voldemort’s LinkedIn page. He very much comes across as someone whose bark is far worse than his bite. I didn’t really get the whole ‘menace’ vibe off him at all.
Thirdly, and more importantly lastly, it’s time to bash, albeit very lightly, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. Now it’s not really Adams fault here and I suspect he didn’t have much say in the overall look that J.J. was going for but there is a huge problem. When he has his face mask on and his voice is enhanced, the whole character works. Unlike Snoke, Kylo Ren does come across as daunting and as someone you wouldn’t want to upset during a game of space chess (FYI, always let the Wookie win) but as soon as the mask comes off and the hair cascades down, he looks like he’s just wandered in from the set of ‘Made in Chelsea’. I’ve seen oranges look scarier than Kylo does unmasked. It just doesn’t work at all. Now it was pointed out to me that Adam Drivers ears are rather on the large side and the hair could be being used to gently cover them up but there have to be better styles available. Whenever he’s on screen ‘sans headgear’ it felt like I was watching a Vidal Sassoon commercial.
So that’s the gripes over and done with, now onto the good stuff…..(clears throat)……
THERE ARE WOMEN IN THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE!!!! That’s right actual real women, doing actual real jobs and ladies and gentlemen (best sit down for the next bit) they have actual lines of dialogue as well. See what happens when you let grownups handle the screenwriting responsibilities Mr Lucas. It’s so nice to see a universe that’s been populated properly and with characters that are well rounded and well written. We have the Oscar nominated Lupita Nyong’o playing Maz Katana, Emmy nominated Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma and of course the one and only Carrie Fisher back as ‘General Leia Organa’. However the real star of the show is Daisy Ridley’s Rey. She’s a self-reliant scavenger, who is more than capable of looking after herself and doesn’t need to be rescued as soon as things start to go south. Between Rey and John Boyega’s Fin, the story of The Force Awakens is in very safe hands. They both have on screen chemistry with each and it doesn’t take long before you actually start to care about what happens to them.
As for Fin himself, he is struggling to deal with the fact that he’s a Stormtrooper with a conscious. This is not a good combination and leads him to the conclusion that he doesn’t know what he’s fighting for anymore. After the realisation that he may not be on the right side, he helps Oscars Isaac’s Poe Dameron, who’s been captured by those pesky ‘Dark-Side’ types, steal a Tie-Fighter and escape faster than you can say ‘There appears to be a very large and angry cheese wedge after us’.
The Force Awakens is a film littered with comedic touches and great action set pieces. It’s obvious; right off the bat that I lot of time and effort went into making sure they got it right. This film was always going to be compared against the last three films that were made and in some ways that’s unfair. Episodes I, II and III are what they are. Some people hate them, some people don’t but to compare them against this film and the others that will follow, over the coming years, is like saying Coke is better than Pepsi or Daniel Craig is a better Bond than Roger Moore. It all comes down to opinion at the end of the day.
The Force awakens is a fun film to watch. It isn’t a slow burn that takes forty five minutes to build up and set the scene for what is to follow. It’s pretty much full speed ahead for the get go. As had been well documented and publicised, some of the original characters from the first three films have returned. The aforementioned Carrie Fisher as Leia, Peter Mayhew playing some of the Chewbacca part, Harrison Ford is back as Hans Solo and isn’t just there to pick up a pay check. Solo is not a blink and you’ll miss it cameo and is not only is he integral to the story, His (spoiler) with (spoiler) that results in his (spoiler) is one of the best parts of the film. R2D2 and C3PO both return but they seem only to be on film to appease the god of nerdum. They don’t real help move the story along and to be honest the film wouldn’t have been any worse had they not been in it. That brings me along to Mr Mark Hamill. Again no big spoilers here but all I will say is that I bet he didn’t have to spend a long time learning his lines.
In closing I’ll say this. The Force Awakens is a great film. It’s smart when it needs to be and at just over two hours and fifteen minutes long, it isn’t going to numb parts of you that it shouldn’t. It isn’t one of those films that it’s likely to diminish over time or with repeat viewings and has easter eggs galore throughout. Its Score, as with its predecessors, is written, composed and knocked out of the park by John Williams. Overall I’d give it a very solid four out of five. It’s very respectful of what’s come before it and does an excellent job of not treading on their toes. If The Force Awakens is anything to go by then Episode VIII is going to be a blast and the good news is we only have to wait until May 2017 before it turns ups.
Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTLAx3VDX7g
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/star-wars-force-awakens/review/
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