Saw The Force Awakens Finally

Entry posted by Zox Tomana January 3, 2016

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Rey is... ehhh.

So look. I don't really care whether my protagonist is white, black, male or female. I care about how they make me feel. Do they earn my respect?

By Rey's ability to survive and take care of her own freaking self, she's got my respect. Here's a character who can handle themselves. That moment where she tells Finn to stop taking her hand was hilarious.

But when it comes to her arc through the movie... my respect for her fell...

Rey did not earn her win over Kylo Ren at the end of the movie. She goes from a scavenger who apparently hasn't ever fired a blaster, though good at quarterstaff, to instinctual Force-guided Lightsaber wielder capable of defeating a Kylo Ren who was trained to a degree by Luke Skywalker and then further trained by not-a-sith-i-swear Snoke. They did a good job of making her look rather n00bish by leading basically every attack with a thrust, but it makes no sense that Kylo Ren would not pick up on that and take advantage of that and cut her down and take the lightsaber that belonged to the grandfather whose darkside path he apparently adores. She goes from thinking the Force is a fairytale to Jedi Mind Tricking a Stormtrooper and resisting the aforementioned trained Dark Side user. Rey should have died.

See Finn's section below for an observation that also drew my respect for the story and her as a character.

Finn was okay.

I wanted more backstory. We get some, him being culled as a kid, raised to be a stormtrooper... And then he's disgusted by it and runs. Simple, straightforward, but I left kinda dissatisfied until I heard the "I was in sanitation" bit. Now, if I'd known that earlier... To me, if I'd known he was in sanitation and then just grabbed for this combat mission then it would a little more sense that the raised and basically programmed killer was suddenly opposed to his job. But then the sanitation thing is played off as a joke (of course) and it didn't occur to me until just a few moments ago that that may be why he wasn't up for following combat orders. So yeah, his initial arc was meh to me. His overall arc was good: deciding to come back and fight instead of run. I liked it.

More importantly, I liked that the apparent romantic interest between him and Rey grew because of mutual experiences and shared hardship, and that is wasn't driven solely by his actions. They are equal partners and that is worth gold to me.

Kylo Ren is a little frustrating.

So it gets revealed that his name is Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. Now, considering that those two are his parents and that he goes off to train with the Luke Skywalker... how is he being all uppity about his grandpa as the model Dark Side user when surely somewhere along the line he was told how Vader chose the Light Side of the Force at the end and so rejected the Dark Side in order to save what he really cared for. Seems like a HUGE detail for him to (perhaps) not know about? We get the vague statement of "he was seduced by Snoke." But ya gotta have something to start with when it comes to Snoke beginning the seduction. Oh yes, the even vaguer "he had too much Vader in him," but what kinda bull is that? He also had a bunch of Solo in him (okay, maybe bad example) but surely his mother and father are more immediate influences on his personality than his grandfather (who, as I said, chose the Light at the end).

What gave Snoke an in? Anakin's fall, if poorly portrayed, was at least legitimately fueled by a desire to be able to save the people he cared for. The Dark Side promised him that power, the Light did not. His mom dies and he felt helpless to save her and killed a bunch of people in a rage. Boom, there's his "in." Tell him he was right to take revenge, and offer him power to save the other people he cares for. Kylo Ren? Maybe daddy issues? Maybe he felt upset for being sent to train under his uncle, deciding his parents didn't want to deal with him, and Snoke got him there? But, again, why the Vader obsession, apparently focusing on him as a Dark Sider? He ought to have known the whole story.

Also. His real secret identity is Severus Snape.

Overall, I liked it. Thought it was good. Not great. Not a wonder to behold. Had some quibbles

Chief among them the disquieting feeling of having seen it all before. But,

I agree with what the folks in that video go on to say. This was to show that they could make a Star Wars film and not screw it up, and since they've hit basically every major plot point from the first two films... well they don't have much to copy anymore and will likely take more risks and do new things.

and had the aforementioned character issues, but I enjoyed it. 7/10, would watch again.

Oh, two more things...

That C-3PO scene where he acts all awkward between Han and Leia... could have been skipped IMO. The way they had R2 in there was good, I think. 3PO should have been behind Leia, said hello, gotten a pat on the shoulder, maybe a quip, and then LEFT. Move onto meaningful scene between Han and Leia. Using him as a funny character there did not work for me.

Finally, how did R2 know when to activate? It couldn't have been proximity to Luke's lightsaber bringing a transmitter close enough to say "Yo, R2! Wake up, dawg!" (my initial theory, busted because we have no idea whether or not Luke ever touched that saber again after his first duel with Vader, and because it was close to him before when Finn originally arrived at base). Does R2 have the Force? Is the Force 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00001101 00001010 with this droid? R2 woke up because the screenwriter wanted him to, as far as this movie is concerned. At least, as far as I remember how the movie went, I saw no reason for R2 to wake up.

That's all I got!