Monday, January 4, 2016

Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens Review (SPOILER FULL)

Welcome to the spoiler full version of Star Wars Episode 7. Here I will analyze ALL the spoilers. I have a spoiler free companion blog you can find here. Turn away now if you don't want spoilers.

Are they gone? OK, lets do this.

If it's not a good game or Catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."

So, time to discuss spoiler full review. Well, Snape kills Dumbledoor. Yeah, major spoiler. OK, meme aside, lets look at it for real. First off, I want to say that this movie is very reminiscent to A New Hope; but not copy/paste. Like, you know how Anakin blowing up the droid control ship was like Luke blowing up the Death Star or Qui-Gon dying at the hands of the sith to pass the torch to Obi-Wan was like how Ben died at the hands of Vader to pass the torch to Luke? Yeah it's very much like that. The opening had that "Vader storms the rebel ship" feeling, and then Kylo-Ren stopping the blaster shot was amazing. Like, in episode 4 we had Vader walk in and kill a guy with a single hand. In episode 7, we have Kylo stop a blaster shot in mid air. That's something we've never seen before. Like, no other jedi has ever done that, they always deflect them with the saber. He has to have some SERIOUS power to stop a blaster in mid-air. Just from the opening we get set-up for an amazing story.

Then there's Finn and the storm troopers. Oh man, what a complex character. He REALLY humanizes the storm troopers. Like, we don't want to fully humanize them because they are things to be killed, but the opening makes us not feel for the rest of them. With the clones it's like "OK, they are humanoids, but they aren't human." With the original imperial storm troopers, we got the feeling that they were real humans, but they were still faceless entities. But with Finn and his back story, we got the feeling that these are REAL humans under that armor. But then at the same time, we don't feel bad for them as a whole because we watch them strait up murder a defenseless village. We know they are humans, but they are strait up evil, like the Nazi soldiers in Indiana Jones. There's no problem killing them because of how bad they are.

While I'm at it, let me just finish the villains. The main commander (General Hux) is amazing. Like,  Governor Tarkin was bad, but he just felt like a high ranking official who is patriotic. He doesn't feel like he's loyal to the empire to the death (he doesn't leave the death star because he's overconfident, not because he will die for the cause). Hux however feels like this is his everything. He feels as loyal to the First Order to the level of Kylo-Ren. He feels REALLY complex and is the second most complex villain of the movie. I mean, he blew up the republic as a preemptive strike to prove himself. Tarkin blew up Alderon because it had an enemy base. Hux blew up the peaceful republic not only because he saw them as a possible road block to total domination, but also to prove himself to himself. I want to learn more about him.

But then there's Kylo-Ren, the Sith lord of this series. This guy is the most complex villain in the series. No, not just in this trilogy, the series. Maul and Duku were just bad guys, and Vader has a good complex back story, but his is sort of a "he rolled with the wrong crowd" sort of thing. It's good, but no where near KR. He is the son of Lei and Han, and like favorite student of the last Jedi master, his Uncle Luke Skywalker. He was like his first apprentice as Luke tries to rebuild the Jedi order, but then the sins of his grandfather draw him to the dark side. Anikin fell to the dark side because his desires were taken advantage of by an evil force. Kylo learned the history of Anikin/Vader and saw that he had an unfinished mission. He saw the work of his grandfather and wanted to complete what he started. Then there's the family complexity he has with Han and Lei. Han is still his Chaotic Good (or whatever the term is) and is suspected to be sympathetic to the resistance but not a member, but Lei directly opposes him as she is a head commander of the resistance to the First Order. This whole business of "child opposing his parents to finish what his grandfather started" is amazing, and really questions his dedication to the First Order. Losing his loved ones were what pushed Vader to the dark side, which meant he didn't have any ties to his old life. However, Kylo's parents (and uncle) are all still alive. We watch him prey to Vader's helmet for the courage to continue what he believes in. Then there's the confrontation between Kylo and Han where Han as a great father-son moment of "your mother and I still love you, you can fix your mess if you just come to us." It's a big "point of decision" like "you can go full evil or go full good." By killing Han, Kylo goes completely evil, as his last ties to good are lost. Anikin killed the sand people in hot blooded rage and killed Padme by accident. Kylo murdered his father in cold blood. I can't wait to hear more about this guy.
Oh, and the light saber being unstable when close up to symbolize how he himself is unstable was great. English teachers, that's how to do symbolism.

With the bad guys out of the way, time to talk about the good guys...What do you mean I'm missing some?...Fine, I'll talk about the less important but memorable villains. I guess I'll start with TR-8R, the storm trooper that is taking the internet by storm. His big thing is that he called out Finn for being a traitor and battling light saber Finn with a battle staff. It's a cool fight, and very memeable, but he's really nothing spectacular.
(Oww oww, ok owww, enough with the rocks).
Honestly though, he's just another storm trooper that I guess knew Finn back when he was loyal to the First Order. He shows up, fights Finn, and dies. That's REALLY it. The silver commander trooper is more complex in that she ACTUALLY is more important to the plot than just a little tussle. However, she's still not very complex. She's kind of like Tarkin in that she is loyal to her duty as a high ranking storm trooper, but not much beyond that. He has a sense of self preservation as a 100% brainwashed trooper (or clone) would just say "kill me" before giving into Finn and Han on their attack, but Tarkin probably would have done the same thing, especially since she thought they wouldn't be successful. But hey, at least we now know that the First Order is an equal opportunities employer. And lets not forget the emperor-guy that works in hologram. Right now there's nothing really to him other than "he's evil, and looks like a Marvel villain." Really, look at him and tell me he doesn't look like some space villain from the MCU. I guess we'll learn more about him (like how a Sith can exist after Vader killed the emperor and died later himself), but for now he's just exists because plot. I'm sure J.J. will give us more in future movies since everyone else was so flushed out, but for now he's just Palpatine 2.0.

OK, now for the good guys. I guess I'll start with the bridge between good and evil, Finn. From what I remember, there isn't really a character that was bad and then turned good in the series (well, other than Vader in Return of the Jedi). Finn was the first to really be a bad guy turned good guy that didn't fulfill a prophesy. Then as I mentioned earlier, he REALLY humanized the soldiers of the First Order. His backstory is also pretty depressing. Like, the storm troopers are plucked from their families at birth and then brought up as ruthless soldiers for the first order. All Finn knows is the First Order, and he's been brought up to be a lean mean killing machine. However, he still has humanity as he watches a fellow soldier die in his arms, and then get the order to kill everyone in the village even though they can't hurt him. He then decides to break the one resistance guy out and basically join the resistance. However, he doesn't want to stop the First Order, he just wants to run away. When given the choice between fighting the First Order and escaping to the outer rim, he wants to escape. That is until he sees the awesome might of the resistance, and gets captured in the fight with TR-8R. He then fully joins the resistance and is their inside info to the death planet (I don't remember it's real name, but it's the death star that's built into a planet). He's also rather skilled with a light saber, even though he doesn't have Jedi tendencies. This was a first, since the only time a non-jedi used a light saber was when Han cut open the ton-ton on Hoth, and that wasn't in a battle setting. I was thinking he might be the new Jedi of the movie, but that honor went to the "friend zoning Rey," (even though I don't really think it's romantic since that's a bit cliche).

Speaking of Rey, she is a great main character. Sure, she is kind of a female Luke Skywalker in that she doesn't have any parents on a desert planet, and ends up being a Jedi after meeting an old man who is a mentor to her, and the old man dies to pass on his duty to her...OK she is A LOT like a female Luke Skywalker, but she is the hero of this hero's journey, and those components are pretty important to the hero's journey story. So it isn't EXACTLY lazy. Plus, the way they go about it is different enough that she has a defined character. Luke just grew up with his Aunt and Uncle, Rey was abandoned with the hope of her family returning. Luke left Tatoween because he lost he didn't have any more reason to stay there (his aunt and uncle dying), whereas Rey left Jaku because she accepted that no one was coming for her even after her 15 or so years of hoping and waiting. Ben was just a mentor to Luke, Han was a father figure, making his death all the more devastating. Plus, Luke wanted to be a Jedi like his father; he was ready to take on that responsibility after his old life was over. Rey was confronted that she was a Jedi after she decided to leave her old life behind, and she wasn't ready. It wasn't until push came to shove did she embrace her destiny. She is quite different than Luke after you look beyond the hero's journey components.

I guess I will start with the droids; new comer BB-8 and veterans C-3PO and R2-D2. BB-8 is a nice companion to everyone. Sure, he is vital in that he has the map to Luke, and he's more than just a holder of the map in that I am personifying him wit the the pronoun "he" instead of "it" to demonstrate how much of a character he is, but he is just kind of "along for the ride." I guess R2 and 3PO were "along for the ride" in A New Hope and they got more flushed out in Empire and Jedi, so here's to hoping. But for now he is just a companion that occasionally helps out. As for C-3PO and R2-D2, they are there because they belong to Lei (and in the case of R2, provide the rest of the map to Luke). I'm not REALLY complaining per-se since the droids really are just machines without emotion designed to perform a set of functions. Technically, droids aren't supposed to be complex characters since they aren't alive, so they can get away with just being basic plot devices. There needs to be some kind of container for these crucial map pieces, so why not make them interesting containers with a little depth. Also, the only reason C-3PO and R2-D2 are here is because Lei is here; but since they are her property and are still useful, there really isn't much of a reason why they wouldn't be there. It would be like Grandma not having her iconic purse, or something like that. The droid's existence in this movie isn't organic like all the other characters, but they aren't organic beings so it's actually kind of genus.

Well, since I mentioned her, I'll start talking about the alive returning characters by talking about Lei. In this movie, Lei is about as useful as she was in Empire (more useful than the "damsel in distress" of New Hope, but not the "super fighter, front lines warrior" of Jedi). In this movie she is a top commander of the resistance, and the troubled mother/concerned wife. She is quite useful to lead the resistance and know what needs to happen to stop her son and the tyrannical rule of the First Order. She's a great tactical leader. It's very reminiscent to her role in the Rebellion, and is quite appropriate. Then there's the "troubled mother/concerned wife" aspect. She plays off of Han really well like they did in Empire; lovers quarrel and whatnot. Whereas she was the driving force for Han's future and "breaking his smuggler heart of stone" in Empire, she is the driving force for "breaking his smuggler heart of stone" by being his key to the past. Without Lei, I don't know if Han would have taken on the First Order, so that's pretty important. Also, she is really the humanizing force to making Kylo-Ren such a complex character. Like, with Han as a father it wouldn't be to far fetched for his son to fall in with the wrong crowd. I mean, Han does hang around the bar all day and he got into some major trouble with loan sharks in this movie. Lei however, really has that "caring mother who understands and will do whatever she can for her son" feeling. With Lei and her family stories, you could feel that Kylo-Ren had a good upbringing but was corrupted by his family history. Then there was her line; "he has too much of his grandfather in him." Yes, it is meant to be a call back to Aunt Beru's line "he has too much of his father in him," but her delivery is perfect in encompassing the feeling of "we did all we could, but he is his grandfather's grandson." Plus, we already knew that Kylo "has a lot of his grandfather in him" as shown by how he is preying to Vader's helmet, so this is really meant for looking at Lei and giving a family history that only she could deliver. Plus, she felt a disturbance in the force when Han died. It was very similar to the look that Yoda had during order 66, but it also hints that Lei does have force powers, and maybe we'll see her utilize them and have conflicts with embracing her Jedi powers or continue to be a non-Jedi commander. Lots of opportunity.

OK, so I've been talking a lot about Han with the other characters. Well, that's because he is a major character. Whereas Luke, Lei, and the droids are kind of here to give back story and foreshadowing as well as connecting the movies, Han is a main character that is a major driving force of the movie. I'm not saying that the other returning characters are tokens, but they just aren't as involved as Han. Han is the Ben Kenobe of this series. He is a mentor/father figure to Rey, a legend to confirm the suspicions of Rey and Finn, a guide to the resistance, a strong potential ally to the resistance but conflicted over if he should return to the good fight or not, and the last tie to good that Kylo-Ren has to being good. He is very flushed out, probably more so than in the original series. They took original trilogy Han, made him even more Han, and combined him with Ben Kenobi. That's really the best way to describe him. We see him be a guiding force for the main characters, see him get more flushed out by seeing him smuggle, and he hasn't slowed down one bit. Obi-Wan/Ben slowed down considerably between episode 3 and 4; "Slow dance fencing" Ben was not the same "leap 50 feet in the air fast fighting" Obi-Wan we knew from before. That is not the case with Han Solo. Han is still "that old space pirate smuggler." When he doesn't want to join the resistance, it's not that he can't physically do it, it's that he doesn't want to due to relationship troubles with Lei, guilt from making the enemy, and "I can't fight my son" sentiments. I mean, he was smuggling some super strong monster things when we were introduced to him, and he alludes to commanding a crew of smugglers. Smugglers aren't like loyal soldiers, he had to assert his dominance over these young crewmen. While he probably wouldn't be able to pull off another "rush the death star," he isn't letting his age get in the way.

Then there is Chewbaka, the counterpart to Han. He's really an extension of Han, like he was in the original series. And his cross-blaster. Man, that cross-blaster. It's soooo OP. I expect us to get more development with Chewy now that Han is dead, but for now he's a good extension of Han. My only question now is, how long do wookies stay youthful? I mean, something like 60 years has gone by between the events of Episode 3 and this movie, and in Episode 3 he was like fully grown, and after all this time he's still kicking at full force. Sure, Han hasn't slowed down much at all, but you can tell he wouldn't be able to charge the Death Star anymore. Chewy could probably still run next to a young Han as he charges the Death Star, even though he's like over 100 and isn't a Jedi master like Yoda. Man, that wookie biology I tell you what.

Now there's 1 last returning character to talk about, the driving force of this entire movie, the last Jedi master, Luke Skywalker. Well, in this movie he's more of a plot device. The entire movie is leading up to trying to find him after he went into hiding when Kylo-Ren turned evil. Then when we find him, he doesn't say a word, and just takes off his hood to make eye contact with Rey. It's kind of funny how the character that got all the development in the original trilogy was just a plot device in this film. However, it's not that bad seeing that everyone else is very flushed out, and it opens it up the events of Episode 8, ready for the sequel. I have a feeling that Luke is going to be a Yoda of sorts to Rey. It really worked out alright.

All the other good characters aren't really worth mentioning, so I will tackle the MANY parallels to episode 4. Most of the major ones I've already talked about (Rey is Luke, Han is Ben but also Han, Lei saying "he has to much of his grandfather in him, etc.) There are others as well, like Jakku basically being Tatoween, and that the storm troopers use the same uniforms. These aren't really lazy writing, or trying to play on Nostalgia, or any of that. OK, it's a little playing to Nostalgia. However, it is done quite organically. I don't feel like J.J. wanted to rely on the old movies, but he wanted to put in some things to let people know "I'm handling these right." They aren't anything to complain about. They also don't distract to much. They are handled really well.

And that's my full review of Star Wars Episode 7, The Force Awakens. Be sure to check out my Spoiler Free part if you haven't already. Well, this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

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