“Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” Deep Review
This just might be the most intense review I’ve ever done on a film. Mostly what that means is I’ve put a lot of thought into it. Aka “lots of words.” Haha. (scroll down to the bottom for the tl;dr for all you losers who don’t have half an hour to read this. lol)
Let me first say I’m a huge Star Wars fan. And like any massive fan I saw the original trilogy (Ep 4-6) when I was very young, and was immediately captivated. I escaped and I loved the feeling. It was inspiration for everything I would do growing up and even now. I am a professional video editor/filmmaker.
The impact that Star Wars: A New Hope had on the film industry shook the very foundation of storytelling. Even in the prequels George Lucas (creator) pushed his ideas into filmmaking history by having Panavision build him the first theatrical 1080p HD camera that he could use to capture high definition digital video onto tape. This was no small feat and would later be the start of where we are now in the filmmaking world, despite the industry’s reluctant acceptance of such a massive change. Cameras capable of 6 times the size of 1080p, framerates that make slow motion look fantastical, and a latitude that could allow us to virtually see in the dark AND shoot in real time with natural movement. If you know anything about cameras, these have been LEAPS into a technological age and have opened up incredible opportunities to tell all kinds of stories.
But none of this would be possible if Lucas didn’t go through the stress and pursue something he absolutely, wholeheartedly loved. That alone makes him a hero in my book.
Lucas also pioneered the future of animation and computer generated visual effects. Heard of Industrial Light and Magic? (ILM) Undoubtedly the biggest VFX company on the face of the planet. Started by Lucas and a small team of programmers. They all had ideas, and Lucas wanted to try them all out.
I’m even using technology myself that is in some way a product of those ideas. I did a presentation at school on Star Wars when the special edition came out in 1997. I was and still am completely fascinated by this world George Lucas and the people at Lucasfilm had created.
When I first heard about Lucasfilm being sold to Disney I was excited! And then they announced their plan to release a Star Wars film every year, and then I became suspicious. You see, an average film takes about 3 years to make. That includes the writing, shooting, and editing. So obviously I wondered how they would pull that off and not mess it up at the same time. Naturally you would need more teams of people to work on each individual project to ensure a timely delivery and I was concerned about continuity (not saying they wouldn’t pay attention to it). I was merely curious about how they would pull it all off. In film there’s a basic understanding when making a project. You have three options for your film; good, fast, and cheap. Now pick two. Disney chose fast and good. Ok, clearly the cheap part isn’t as big of a deal. But I’m getting a little off base...
Everywhere I go, every time I pass someone talking about it, it’s been nothing but good words about this film. People love it. Even the kids got into it. A little too much in my first viewing, but hey… they’re kids, so… whatever. My words are pretty much the same! It was fantastic. All the Star Wars without feeling too nostalgic… Exciting pace throughout. I kind of wish I got more info about the characters, and we discover the past of what’s been going on through mostly dialog. Nothing wrong with that, I just wanted more. Haha.
Let’s get down to it. Star Wars The Force Awakens was fun! Plain and simple! The action was classic JJ Abrams non-stop action with laughs and tears and interesting turns. It kept the “fantasy” part that Star Wars is so well-known for but barely hung onto the mythical-character story line, which we will probably see more of in Ep VIII (yet to be titled).
I’d like to share some moments that I loved and questioned when watching the film, then talk about formats (regular to IMAX 3D) as well as some ideas of where Ep VIII and IX will be going.
Let me get one thing straight first: Star Wars is fantasy adventure! NOT science fiction. Star Trek is science fiction, Star Wars is fantasy fiction. Stop trying to make sense of things that have no merit in real science. It’s flipping fantasy! You don’t try to make sense of the Elves’ abilities in The Lord of The Rings, do you? Or Superman in-- wait… ugh, you guys are ridiculous.
With Star Wars I never questioned the scenes or aliens or dialog. I just accepted it and got swooped up in that galaxy far, far away. The same happened with The Force Awakens.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens… in Rey! I so badly wanted that to happen! I wanted Rey to be the twin of Kylo (aka Ben) and in the end she brings Kylo back from the dark side. Just like Luke did with his father. But the big question is are they even related? And if so, how or why doesn’t Han know or care to share in this one? Maybe he doesn’t know. Maybe Luke and Leia kept it from him for some reason. Maybe Rey is Luke’s daughter. Maybe Rey is daughter to one of the potential Force dwelling pupils that Luke took on… No idea. But the idea of having these two related would make sense, as it would up the ante in conflict and create more drama and their interactions with each other, bringing the stakes even higher for our protagonist!
Poor Han… but it was necessary! Especially when you look at the characters of Kylo and Rey, who I believe are the central story here for this new trilogy. Finn has his place, or maybe he doesn’t? This murder throws them both - Rey and Kylo - down a certain path. Rey’s character, who considered Han to be the father she never had, would want revenge or some kind of vengeance to the person who killed her new friend. Kylo is swayed by the dark side and has only begun his training with Snoke. Who knows how powerful he can become. Who the heck is this Snoke guy? Some people are speculating that it’s actually Palpatine, who was thrown down a shaft by his dedicated right hand Darth Vader. But that seems very unlikely, as with all Star Wars characters, when they die, they don’t come back. (Unless they’re a Jedi who has found their way in the Force to reach back to the physical world as a ghost.)
With Kylo getting more powerful and Rey about to learn the ways of the Force, I think we’ll run into something very similar to Return of the Jedi, where Rey has to confront her brother (or some other relation) Kylo, and either convert him to the light side or defeat him to bring balance. Very much like how Luke had to fight for his father, Darth Vader, who ended up turning to the light side and kills the Emperor. I think it would make for a great story arc for both characters and therefore is why killing Han is such a great move for the story.
Leia has the Force. Perhaps somewhere along the line Luke asked her to help him in his new Jedi training academy and tries to train her. After all, he does this in the books after Episode VI and then Jacen and Jenna are born. Two Jedi twins from Han and Leia. One goes to the dark side and one tries to bring them back. I have a feeling this is the story Abrams and Kasdan decided to go with. Which excites me. But I’m also excited to see where these other characters go!
Poe Dameron has to be my favorite character so far! I mean, I loved Oscar Isaac before I saw the film, but dang, he is a fantastic actor! Poe’s demeanor and attitude towards situations just makes every scene he’s in feel that much better. He’s got the cockiness of Han Solo and the gumption of Luke while still maintaining a nice political stance and voice like Leia. I especially loved the Tie-fighter escape scene. The banter between Poe and FN-2187 (aka Finn) is like something you can’t just write. You get that Poe is obviously a leader and knows how to talk and keep morale up as she talks to Finn in the escape.
I especially loved the Wilhelm Scream placed in during the Tie-fighter shootout as they are escaping. Simply perfect. :)
Luke! I’m sad he didn’t have any lines and only showed up in the last scene, even though that scene was best done with no dialog and made everyone wanting more! But hey, his story was told. It’s obvious he has a lot to overcome, but now he has a new hope. A mysterious hope who we (the audience) don’t know much about, or who her family is that she mentions so much. She’s the new Luke. I like the fact that she runs away from this when discovering Luke’s lightsaber. When she grabs it she immediately rejects it, much like Luke did when Obi-Wan suggested he go with him to Alderaan and to learn the ways of the Force to become a Jedi. Rey doesn’t necessarily want adventure. She wants to find her family, which we all know won’t be coming back to see her any time soon. You can tell in that moment when she tells BB-8, “They’ll be back. Some day.” It made me feel sympathetic for her because it was so obvious she was in denial. In a lot of ways this makes me want her to be Kylo’s twin (or merely sister) and which explains the strong Force in her. Again would make the story and conflict pretty awesome to experience.
The ending of this felt a little off, but so right. Episode VIII will inevitably be Rey’s training by Luke. In so many ways this film just FELT like the first act of the story. Everything was building and building. I can only imagine what the next one will hold. Definitely more epic, more battling, more meaning, more backstory… I can’t wait!
The Knights of Ren. Who are they? I want to know more! And how is Kylo the master and couldn’t defeat a girl with no knowledge of the Force and had never dealt with a lightsaber before? She’s special, obviously, but that also sort of sets up his growth in power over time throughout the films. He could get much more powerful and become a strong opposing force to the Resistance and the coming new Jedi.
I know people griped about Rey’s ability to overthrow Kylo’s sword swinging even though that was the first time she even used the weapon, but really… when you think about it, Rey used the Force, and the Force was with her, guiding her sword! Sound like fantasy? Good! Because it is!
I will talk on Kylo’s lightsaber, though. From a strictly fantastical point of view, of course. It makes perfect sense that his lightsaber is the way it is. Sounding menacing and looking like it’s falling apart. His training is incomplete and he probably constructed it himself (as all Jedi do. Luke ends up making his own that he uses in Return of The Jedi). Kylo probably doesn’t have proper training on constructing a hilt, and therefore it would be imperfect. The flow, charge, and even the infamous crystal in the hilt used to focus the beam. Kylo isn’t a Sith. He’s a Sith in training. Why doesn’t he have his First Order build one, a good one? That would go against the principals of the Jedi right? Or perhaps he’s too proud… either way, his connection with the dark side interrupts the flow and intensity of his blade. It looks menacing, but that’s only because it’s flawed. With enough force from a true Jedi and his lightsaber, Kylo’s blade could be cut in half, very much how a samurai sword does when it is sharper and wielded by an expert swordsman. Why doesn’t Snoke just give him one? (Like how Ben just gives Luke his father’s lightsaber?) As the master he is suppose to train his pupil, and the pupil does everything himself. The master merely guides. And obviously, Kylo’s master is corrupt and evil, so it would make sense that his lightsaber followed that method. Which makes me wonder how far along Kylo got in his training with Luke before he switched over.
I like the fact that they keep Anakin's lightsaber. It marks a period of time in the galaxy that was more regal, had more honor and distinction. “A weapon for a more civilized age.” It beckons us back to that age of sword fighting, when it was a craft; honed and mastered. The one thing Luke never got in his training because of the near extinction of the Jedi. He basically had to figure it out himself, which is why when he confronts Vader the sword fighting is more slow and methodical. Luke uses the Force more than anything else as a weapon. But then again, “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”
Although, I have to say, I’d be very interested in seeing where the sword fighting will go since in today’s movies fighting is all about making it big and making it fast paced. Story-wise, it wouldn’t make sense to go back to the mind-bending, on-going saber fights we see in the prequels, as amazing as they are. I bet they will consider the environments they are in much more heavily, very much like the way Vader used the space around him and Luke on Bespin.
One thing that bothered me was how a character like Maz Kanata lives for a thousand years, but there are just stories and “myth” of “war heroes” and events and ideas. Word of mouth is strong. Especially when you think about Han’s dealings as a smuggler. He should be feared as the man who killed the notorious thug lord Jabba the Hutt, and killed Boba Fett (accidentally, but still), and as someone who fought against the Empire and won. Twice. But apparently the galaxy forgets this when a new power arises from the ashes of the Empire. Or perhaps it’s because everyone who had first hand knowledge of the wars were killed off. Kind of like the passing mention of the Clone Wars in A New Hope. By the time Luke finds out Ben Kenobi fought in those wars, Ben is an old, old man. Probably one of the last alive from that era. Then again this universe is of fantasy and from the structure of mythology. So, it can go either way! I feel like I could say that with a lot of things. With Star Wars, we’re not in a universe we know as our own. After all, it is from “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” I don’t like it when people see this series as science fiction. There’s really nothing science about it, except for that moment they talk about the Starkiller Base weapon and how it works. Like… what? No one had to explain the Death Star. All they said was it could destroy planets. That’s it! None of this mumbo-jumbo about sucking life from a star and regulating it as a weapon. Star Wars is, and always was, fantasy adventure! Trying to argue the physics of a fantasy world is just… a little counter-intuitive, don’t you think?
Bala-Tik (one of the gang leaders that tries to gun down Han for their money) calls on his radio to tell the First Order about BB-8 and the two ‘fugitives.’ Isn’t he a smuggler and dealer like Han? Wouldn’t he want to sell the information for money and try to make back what Han had lost him? I don’t know enough about the character of situation to say, but that seemed kind of out of context to the Star Wars Universe to me a little. Unless factions like the Huttese Clan, and their violent methods, had been wiped out completely in the 30+ years between films.
I understand that Garindan, the character in A New Hope that calls on his radio to tell the Empire of the where-abouts of the droids as they enter docking bay 94, does the same thing, but those shots were at least nice and sly, and represented the character well. This shot blatantly shows the woman walk right up to the camera and call into her walkie about the droid. Like… c’mon, there were more creative ways to do that. Even the droid before her who calls to the Resistance about BB-8 was a creative shot. It starts on BB-8, tilts up and pans over to him. JJ Abrams is known for movements in his camera and shots.
I particularly like the shot of the Resistance base that starts with two fighter pilots jogging from left to right, giving the camera a movement to follow so it becomes a nice transition into Finn as he walks into frame and we then begin to follow him, where he crosses paths with Poe, and etc. As you watch the two fighter pilots who jog to give the camera meaningful movement they end up jogging towards… nothing! Haha! Their main purpose was to give the camera motivated movement. I’ve been an extra in films before and have been ever so curious about the different kinds of direction they receive on set. How much does the director tell them? How much the unit manager in charge of the extras tells them? In my opinion, they need more direction from the man himself, but then again, if the purpose is just to give the camera a motivated movement so the entrance to the scene is more interesting, who am I to question their methods!? Ok, moving on...
I don’t really feel as much for Finn to the extent I feel like I should. His entrance was… odd. He plays a stormtrooper who goes on his first mission, a mission where he and his unit are ordered to kill all the residents of a village, and he then gets weary about his position that he was “bred” for from birth. He might be the anomaly, but who’s to say he’s the only one? I feel like if we had seen his life before the slaughtering we would better understand why it affected him so much and therefore would help us feel some kind of sympathy for his apparent situation. Think about it; we see him doing these mundane tasks with his crewmates and maybe a game to pass the time. Then suddenly he is thrown into a terror show where his best friend dies, leaving blood on his helmet, and is ordered to kill a bunch of people he has no idea about. That would seem much more impactful than jumping right into the fire fight and not revealing anything about him prior to that moment.
Then again, FN-2187 is not the center of the story. We get to see Rey’s character before she is thrown into action. We get a glimpse of her life so we can understand her a little more. Once the sh*t fits the fan we feel everything she feels because we know where she is coming from! And since she is the protagonist of this trilogy, it makes sense to spend more time telling her story than Finn’s. But still, Finn plays an important role in this film and I would have liked to have seen something more about him. Perhaps we will in the coming films.
I guess blue milk is an expensive item on Jakku, Maz’s Castle, and other places because I didn’t see it anywhere? Haha.
If you think Poe got into the Starkiller Base’s regulator chamber and out pretty easily, it’s because he just makes flying look easy… I mean, he is the best pilot the Resistance has. While we’re on the subject, that panning long shot of him taking out one Tie Fighter after another while we follow Finn on the ground was fantastic!!! Would have loved to had seen more of that! The music placed in that moment just got me so amped up! Finn even expressed it by shouting at the end of the shot, “Wooo!! That’s one hell of a pilot!!”
Speaking of music. I noticed the soundtrack (composed by the one and ONLY John Williams) was being released the day of the film. Normally soundtracks are released the Tuesday before the film, so it made me wonder if there was anything in the soundtrack that could give anything away. Fortunately they learned their lesson from Episode I: The Phantom Menace when they named one of the tracks “Qui-Gon’s Noble End.” It wasn’t necessarily a huge spoiler, but made you aware of the outcome for the character.
In any case I refrained from listening to the soundtrack until after I had seen the film. There were moments I noticed in the film that made me think “Holy crap, I love this fanfare!” I finally did sit down to listen to the whole album and, at first, it didn’t click with me. I didn’t get it. The themes didn’t sink in right away. But as I continued listening it finally caught on and I got it! Soon enough I was humming along with the themes and anticipating certain fanfares. It’s really a huge testament to Williams and his incredible ability to create something so classic and timeless; something so complex yet so simple, and literally etched into history something new, fun, and amazing! It felt like I was discovering Beethoven’s newest masterpiece and just knew it would be heard for centries!
I believe John Williams still has so much to offer and that he will continue to churn out one fantastic classic piece after another until his dying breathe. Never burning out, but getting stronger and more creative. He’s a genius.
The editing was by far one of my favorite things. Transitioning scenes with the circle wipe, line wipe and others was a nice touch. Abrams has a wonderful vision when it comes to cutting scenes together to make a fluid movement and not stall any time or hold back anything interesting. I can only imagine how fun it is for Mary Jo and Maryann to have cut the film! He places a lot of very specific movements in his shots to help us go from scene to scene. There were even some transitions I didn’t even notice the first few times I saw the film. Transitions I am very familiar with - as a video editor myself - but also very curious as to why they chose that particular transition at that particular moment.
For instance, there is a picture wipe in the forest by Maz’s Castle. Just before Rey sees a stormtrooper and realizes her gun is in safety, she is running up to get a view of the radio noise she hears. There are two shots; the wide of her running from frame right to frame left, and a following shot of her walking towards the camera, looking frame left I believe. Right in-between those two shots is a wipe. It wasn’t distracting, wasn’t obvious, which is exactly how a cut is suppose to be. We call it an “invisible cut.” It’s what most conventional editors strive for throughout their cuts, including myself. If I ever get the chance I want to ask them about that transitional cut.
I went to three screenings of the film, and I’m finishing up this review mere hours after finishing the third. My first viewing was on the regular screen at an AMC. Where I live the movie theaters are pretty bad and AMC is pretty much the only good one around, so I had very little choice. It was fun to see another Star Wars film on the big screen again! But the sound was lacking terribly.
I then went to the IMAX screening which was only available in 3D. There are really only two or three shots worth seeing in 3D, so I didn’t enjoy it as much, but the sound quality was a lot better! Then on my third visit I went to a theater in Vancouver, Washington called Cinetopia. I love this theater. Just go look it up. We went to a regular showing, but in a theater that featured the Dolby Atmos sound system. Basically, speakers lining the walls, behind you, in the screen, AND on the ceiling in several rows. The ultimate surround sound experience for anything! (Just be sure to get a good seat.) The screen was the size of the IMAX at AMC, but was considered their regular screen, and with the Atmos sound system I was blown away! A lot of the Falcon sounds and lightspeed sounds were pretty awesome! If you have a theater that is playing Star Wars with Atmos, I highly recommend it! It made me love it all the more!
All in all, Star Wars The Force Awakens was brilliantly done and I can’t wait to see the next two! For now… we wait for the next film in the Star Wars Universe that comes out this year: Rogue One!
So freaking stoked for this one!
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