In that long-ago, far-away galaxy, the saga continues.
The Star Wars prequels were deplored for their wooden melodrama and puerile humour, so series creator George Lucas is out and writer-director-producer J. J. Abrams – he of the Star Trek reboot – is in, delivering a crowd-pleasing first instalment to a new trilogy. The Force Awakens is a comfortably familiar adventure that was equally predestined to ignite the box office and to disappoint anyone looking for genuine dramatic depth or for a self-contained story that stands on its own merits.
The evil Empire has evolved into a regime called the First Order. In opposition stands the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, one of many returning stars now occupying secondary roles), who has sent top fighter pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) to the planet Jakku to recover a secret map which leads to the vanished Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last Jedi warrior.
Luke – who hardly appears in this movie – represents the galaxy’s best hope of resisting the First Order, whose mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis, in what is so far a brief but gratuitous demonstration of motion-capture performance by the undisputed champion of the method) has a deadly disciple in Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a masked devotee of Darth Vader who vows to complete the eradication of the Jedi.
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Directed by J. J. Abrams. Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. |
Snoke also has a tedious pseudo-Nazi bureaucracy led by the profoundly uninteresting General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), who as lackey to the shadowy villain and commander to the rank and file is neither frightening nor entertaining but represents a missed opportunity to flesh out the antagonists with rounder characters than the traditional stock types.
On Jakku, Rey (Daisy Ridley) ekes out a living scavenging wrecked spaceship parts for salvage.
She is quickly identifiable as a next-generation Luke Skywalker figure based on the plucky energy of the actress, but further hints include her character’s humble beginnings on a desert planet, mystery-shrouded past, and fast friendship with a droid – not R2-D2 or C-3PO (both of whom return), but Dameron’s spherical BB-8, an instant audience favourite whose possession of the map to Luke’s hideaway drives the plot.
The third new major protagonist is Finn (John Boyega), the series’ first stormtrooper with a conscience. After defecting, he falls in with Rey and the pair escape with BB-8 aboard the Millennium Falcon, meeting Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), who are in fine form, the characters and performers alike, with Ford looking more engaged than he has in a decade.
Ridley, previously an unknown, delivers a spirited performance worthy of the pop-culture juggernaut this happens to be, and Boyega gets the chance to flex his comedic muscles after a debut as a bad-tempered personality in Attack the Block.
Meanwhile, Isaac as Dameron, ostensibly “the new Han Solo,” exudes less charisma than the other major players – except for Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, one of the least exciting aliens in all of Star Wars, and perhaps Leia, who makes for a fairly eccentric general (and seems to have renounced her royal style, conceivably being princess number One Too Many under the Disney roof).
Duels, battles and dogfights look better than ever throughout, but tend to be more exciting the smaller they are in scale; when it comes to the climactic showdown, however visually thrilling the aerial action, it has even less impact than the fateful yet middling human drama unfolding elsewhere.
In both characterizations and plotting, The Force Awakens frequently gives the impression that it is less a continuation of the story than a loose remake of 1977’s Star Wars (later rechristened Episode IV: A New Hope in an early example of tinkering for the sake of series continuity) for the sake of capitalizing on nostalgia while maximizing mass appeal.
Once again, a rebel figurehead on the verge of capture entrusts information that can save the galaxy into the possession of a fleeing droid, while freedom-fighters face the threat of a planet-destroying weapon in the hands of an evil duo consisting of an aged mentor (who appears only via hologram) and his black-robed, Force-adept apprentice, who commands legions of stormtroopers.
As in Episode IV, the climax sees an oddly undersized band of X-wing fighters raid the comically oversized super-weapon – defended by another strangely modest squadron – in order to prevent the obliteration of their cause.
Ironically, the same diehard fans who know the original trilogy line by line and whose energetic fandom has kept the Star Wars flame alive this long are the ones most likely to feel disappointed or betrayed by how brazenly Abrams has cobbled together a new film out of pieces largely carbon-copied from existing instalments.
And newcomers to the Star Wars mythology – poor, deprived creatures that they are – have every excuse not to understand what all the fuss is about, if this is where they begin.
With an entire universe of planned sequels, spinoffs and merchandising options riding on its success, The Force Awakens plays it safe and takes few risks.
The score by John Williams helps to jog the needle on the emotional seismometer, but musically this might be the most subdued episode to date.
And amid the large-scale failings of a generally well-executed adventure yarn are numerous thrilling little flourishes, from a sizzling blaster bolt frozen in mid-air by the silent power of the Force to the deadly, pulsing glare and crackle of lightsaber blades wielded in battle, and a whole slew of surprises from BB-8.
In true Star Wars fashion, parentage is chief among the cliffhanger questions, and for all that this lends more weight to the charge that Abrams is a glorified remix artist, answers will have to wait for 2017’s release of Episode VIII.