Star Wars is Back

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2020)

I sat with anticipation, the likes of which I had not felt since the premiere of the Special Edition or Episode I when I was in Middle and High School. The marketing had worked its magic on me and transported me into the haze of nostalgia to prime me for, what I hoped would be, the second coming of Star Wars, delivering us from the wasteland of the prequels which we had been languishing within.
Walking out of the theater, I couldn't have been happier. Sure there are little things here and there that I didn't care for but on the whole, everything I love about Star Wars was back.
In my review of "The Last Jedi" I talk about how much I love that film because it "brought the force back into Star Wars." I lament the way that the force is relegated to the role of superpower in the prequels and comment that we get hints of the forces return to prominence in "The Force Awakens." Having revisited this film more recently, now, I realize that "The Force Awakens" had already done this and brought life back into the franchise.
The spirit of Star Wars was lost in the prequel years. Films that had been about the choice between good and evil, the seduction of darkness, and the redemptive power of light became about Visual Effects Fireworks displays, convoluted political plots, and lightsaber fetish inspired dancing. The central questions of the first trilogy are questions of character and motivation not playing plot fill-in-the-blanks or fan service.
"The Force Awakens" returns us to form, where the light vs. dark questions and story of the force are once again central. The turning point of the lightsaber fight at the end of the film turns not on a loss of temper, a flourish of the sword, or a quick thinking characters ideas. It turns, instead, on the moment wherein Rey (Daisy Ridley, "Murder on the Orient Express") begins to believe that if she stands up for the light, the light will empower her to defeat Ren (Adam Driver, "Marriage Story").
I will forgive much of a film for the sake that it has gotten this correct. Luckily, there isn't much for me to forgive because the film is so joyfully and beautifully made.
The new characters are great and recapture the young spirit of the originals. We forget that the mains in "A New Hope" were kids when they made those movies (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford) and their youth is apparent in the way they speak to each other, the joking together they engage in, and the spirit of adventure they all share. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega ("Pacific Rim: Uprising"), and Oscar Isaac ("Ex Machina") are that youth, excitement, zeal, and adventure in this film. Watching Rey and Finn go back and forth about holding hands and who knows more than the other is very reminiscent of Han and Leia. Poe teaching Finn to shoot in the TIE fighter feels like Luke and Han shooting down TIEs in the Millennium Falcon. Rey, longing for meaning and family feels a lot like Luke longing for adventure.
For many, these similarities are a negative. They see "Force Awakens" as a copy of "A New Hope." A lesser copy. I don't see it that way at all. To me, this is a breath of fresh air.
On the surface, I can understand how some people, without thinking all that deeply about the subject or perhaps simply parroting reviews they watched online, might see the films as being extremely similar.
After all, the protagonists in both films begin on desert planets, a droid holds a secret piece of information in both, they visit a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a super-weapon blows up some planets, the super weapon is destroyed by a single fighter, and a mentor is sacrificed within site of the one they are mentoring. There are loads more correlations but I want to point out that they are all similar only on the surface. Almost in every case, the meanings behind these things are different.
Rey may be on a desert planet, but unlike Luke, who wants desperately to get away, she wants to stay. Even once she leaves she wants to go back. Her motivation is exactly the opposite of Luke's and people have the audacity to say that it's basically the same. I could go down the line of the objections pointing out how all of them are simply surface similarity, and if someone wants me to do that, I suppose I could on the podcast, but I don't want to belabor my point here.
Let's just say that after watching it over and over, "The Force Awakens" is simultaneously reminiscent of the original trilogy but presents similar themes and ideas in new ways. To me, that is a remarkable accomplishment for a filmmaker, especially when considering the size and importance of this film to the studio making it.
I simply don't understand how people who loved the original trilogy can watch this film and not like it. It is EXACTLY what this sequel should have been.
Except for the rathtars. That sequence blew.