Movie Review: The Force Awakens with Spoilers Abound

Unless you have managed to be on a self imposed hermitage, it has been rather difficult to not be bombarded with advertising for the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. For fans of the series, the release of the seventh installment has been a point of celebration and anticipation. In order to display how successful this film is financially, it has the highest opening total of all time -- over a half of a billion dollars, or $528.9 million, according to Forbes. There are also another slew of records which the film broke, but due to redundancy, I will merely state it is vastly extensive.

Now is a safe point to plug a disclaimer: If you have not seen the film and wish to enter into the theatre with an unsullied mind, free of previous criticism, now is the best point to quit reading, because spoilers are soon to follow.

My critique is going to center on two points of the film, the least and best executed.

There are varying levels of criticism which are dependent on biases. For example, Ultra Passionate Fan (UPF), as coined by Mark Hamill, might have a varying degree of criticism as compared to a person who has no attachment to the preceding canon. For this review, I will try to stride the thin line between the two.

Essentially, The Force Awakens is written atop of the template for A New Hope, but not perfectly. This format very closely mirrors Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, specifically, "The Hero's Journey." It is even stated by George Lucas, he followed Campbell's format to its exact line, and without getting into a long diatribe, the format is: Departure, initiation and return.

However, this is not the necessarily a bad attribute. I imagine for many sitting in crowded theaters, having the call-backs to the original series is quite refreshing. The problem is sometimes this is executed to a fault.

Spoiler: The Death Star times five was one of my least favorite plot devices in this movie. As many fans of the original trilogy will note, two Death Stars were blown up, and after many tropes already have been reintroduced in this film, maybe it is time to create a different mechanism for destruction. Also, with only 30 years after Return of the Jedi, when this film is set, raising that amount of capital and finding contractors to work on this project, which size is comparable to that of planet, would take a ridiculous effort and would have to take place under the guise of the Republic -- almost an impossible feat.

The essential function of this film is to set up the next generation of the Star Wars franchise. With this being stated, it was in the film's best interest to be self referential to the preceding films, but less callbacks, the film would have had more strength.

I found myself really caring about the two new characters in the franchise: Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega). I cannot express how well the duo acted, and will have no doubt made their mark for future generations. But the best plot device centered around the character of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

Spoiler: Kylo Ren is Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. As a brief synopsis, Ben Solo displayed attributes of the dark side from a young age, and as a last ditch effort was sent to his uncle, Luke Skywalker for help controlling his evil urges. This fails. Ben Solo is seduced by Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order (Andy Serkis) and ultimately takes the path to becoming a Sith, thus changing his name to Kylo Ren. Prior to the film's release, there was much buzz online about Kylo Ren being Luke Skywalker, due to his absence in the trailers, but it was refreshing as a viewer to not have the character of Kylo Ren slump in the lowest common denominator in terms of plot device. Essentially, Star Wars is a family drama, about the very dysfunctional Skywalker family, and having this new character being introduced only added to the strength of the film. The penultimate moment of the film is Ben Solo taking the final step into devoting himself to the dark side by committing patricide. In a very well executed scene, the audience can witness the internal conflict of Ben Solo before ultimately stabbing Han Solo with his lightsaber.

This film poses more questions than it can answer, which is not a bad attribute. Throughout the last week, I have discussed this film with many people who have shared with me their ideas and theories. One attribute of a great film is it creates discussion, and enables the viewer to ask questions after the conclusion of this film. The Force Awakens succeeds without a doubt in this facet.

At its core, Star Wars is an adventure movie, filled with the beauty of a journey to finding one's path in life. In every movie there are faults, and The Force Awakens retains its fair share, but what this movie succeeded in for me as a viewer, is it restored my faith in the franchise and made me pose the simple question: What happens next? I cannot wait to watch Episode VIII. I did not share this sentiment with the prequel trilogy.

This film is not quite a reboot, but it is not entirely original either. It falls somewhere in between, leaning more towards reboot. This film did successfully launch next generation, and did so with a heart not seen in the franchise since the original trilogy.

The only way I can see this franchise fail in the next two movies is if it continues to rely on the classic tropes of the first films instead of embarking further on its own path, and continuing to create a new story for a new generation, where not just the names are interchanged, but the story as well.

Grant is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 19. He can also be reached via email at gkarazsia@gmail.com.