The new Star Wars and why fans should be upset

If you’re like me and millions of other Americans, your anticipation for the new Star Wars film “The Force Awakens” could hardly be contained. We eagerly scoured the internet for predictions, reviews, and any information we could. Hell, many of us even teetered on the thought of buying that authentic stormtrooper outfit. From merchandising to advertising, it is undebatable that this is one of the most profitable movies ever to hit the big screen, and for good reason. The film that started it all, “Episode IV A New Hope,” created a cult following the likes have never been seen from a single movie. I think part of the reason that the original was so beloved was due to its originality and creativity. During a time when many Americans were looking up to the stars and truly feeling like they were closer than ever, Star Wars expanded our imaginations into that final frontier and instilled a sense of adventure that seemed to be absent in our monotonous society. Perhaps it was the desire to capture this feeling again that drew all those to the opening day of this new addition to the franchise, and I can honestly say that at least something will seem familiar in watching this movie. While the film certainly captured the “Star Wars” feel, it fell far, far away from its hype, which admittably still leaves it a fine movie since its hype was so high. However, fans of Star Wars who see this film should be upset for the following reasons.

 

**Spoilers Ahead**

 

1.) The movie’s plot:

The background is a futuristic society in a far away galaxy. A service droid is entrusted with some vital information before being abandoned on some desert planet. While being chased by an evil organization, the droid finds a force sensitive teen who has no parents and nowhere else to go or do. The droid and the teen then run into Han Solo who flies them to meet more allies. They later meet up with a rebel alliance who plan to use fighter ships to take out a large moon-like weapon that can destroy whole planets, which it ultimately demonstrates. The whole while, they are apprehended by an evil user of the force, wielding a red lightsaber, robed and masked in black, who is taking orders from a higher up. The rebels exploit the weapon’s weakness and blow it up, while a main character dies in front of the new protagonist.

Name that movie. This should seem like a no brainer, but after Dec. 17th, this actually describes two movies! This right here should be the number one complaint, that the “new” Star Wars film shares the same plot as the original film: “A New Hope.” While the movie’s plot was executed excellently, it relies on nostalgia over originality. This itself is fine for all those with an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy, but I have a feeling that these people would be much more satisfied watching episode 4 on their VHS at home and are not likely amused by anything ever playing at a cinema anyway. Let’s admit it, we all were expecting something new and creative, not the same story all over again. Sure, some minute details are different, like the family relations, the sex of the main character, and that there’s even a black guy, but these don’t constitute an original plot. If so, “The Hangover 2” can be considered a completely revolutionary storyline never been done before. Personally, I can’t believe they tried to use the Death Star a THIRD time (the first two times worked so well, am I right). The point is, Disney wanted to go the safe and easy route by recycling a well-liked plot, perhaps to gain the trust of the audience after the generally disliked prequels. What an unbelievable insult to J.J. Abrams and the writers at Disney to think they cant learn from those mistakes an make a new, enjoyable plot. In fact, the movie made all this money with the plot being completely unknown anyway, so they didn’t save a dime doing it this way. This was a poor move on Disney and hopefully the last of the recycled plots we will see in the new franchise.

 

2.) The movie’s title:

“The Force Awakens.” Just like how many Star Wars fans were upset with the title of episode 1 “The Phantom Menance,” This title fails to do justice for the expectation of the film and in hindsight, is not very acurate either. While the word “awakens” does beckon to the fact that this is a new trilogy, this is a recycled movie plot and hardly “new,” being that it is the seventh movie in the franchise. So…what then? Was the force just asleep this whole time? Obviously it’s supposed to describe Rey who comes into her jedi powers in the movie, but she is actually far from absent of them in the begining. We see first off that she is able to understand BB-8, a beeping droid, instantly; a trait that for humans seems to only be found in the force sensitive, especially the skywalker family (remember Luke and R2-D2). She also is very familiar with the millennium falcon despite not having previously flown it, and was able to out-fly two TIE Fighters. Aye, the force is not asleep in her. The title could/should have been more dramatic or exciting.

3.) The villian:

In this movie, we see a new villian who will most likely be around for the remaining episodes in this trilogy. He has an awsome backstory, a fiendish obsession, and much hate within him, but somehow falls short of the villian that this new trilogy deserves. His soul is in constant struggle between the dark and light, making him weak-willed and short tempered at times. While Darth Vader may have some shoes to fill (for the audience and Kylo Ren), it’s clear that Disney’s intent was to make a villian who could easily change sides if they choose. The problem is, the more sympathy or pity you throw a bad guy, the less bad they become. While some don’t mind this fact, let’s remember why Vader is such a beloved villian. He is powerful, calm, and unquestionably evil. While he does go back to the light, that doesn’t take place till the end of the story where he needed to die anyway. Star Wars needs another character with these traits because we all love to hate someone, and without villians, there would be no conflict or story at all; we’d probably just be left with dancing ewoks. Aditionally, Adam Driver was probably one of the least intimidating people to be hired to play Kylo. Not to harsh his excellent acting in the film, but I can’t take him seriously with that 8th grade mustache and professor Snape’s hairdo.

4.) Captain Phasma:

We’ve known about this character for awhile from the movie’s marketing , but she gets, what, maybe a whole 2 minutes screen time  (don’t quote me on that). For a named character, she played almost no part in this movie. Hell, I would rather know the name/code of the storm trooper with the gravity hammer that fought Finn. Hopefully she will be a bigger character in the next films but yet again, an example of expectations that fell short.

5.) The First Order:

Ok, so there’s a new evil organization that replaced the Empire, I dig that. There obviously has to be some antagonist, but the truth of the matter is, this is NOT the Empire which we are familiar with. The First Order should not have nearly as many troops or resources as the now reestablished Republic which we would hope is supplying the Resistance. However, the Resistance seems no bigger, if not smaller than the old Rebellion Army which didn’t have a government to support them. And if the Republic didn’t supply the Resistance, then what the fuck are they doing? The First Order had built in the last 30 year a new fucking death star and they are just going to stay out of it!?!? If anything, the size difference between the old Empire and the Rebellion Army should have been reversed in this movie, and who knows, maybe they really are, but the Resistance sure was short of fighter pilots on that last assault.

 

I believe that the above criticisms of the new Star Wars film are both acurate  and deserving. Furthermore, they alone should be enough for the Star Wars fans to be upset with the new film. Many critic and fans seem to place this new movie on a pedestal that it really doesn’t deserve. This is probably due to that, as a “cult following,” many fans put on rose colored glasses before and after leaving the theater, enthralled in the nostalgia of seeing their beloved Star Wars with the stunning CGI scenes it deserves. That being said, by no means did I dislike the film, and definitely believe it is worth the ticket price. I was entertained, just slightly disappointed at the same time. In keeping to this post’s topic, I have yet to describe what I enjoyed about the film and what Disney did right, which whould probably make a list just as long if not longer than this one. Personally, I believe Rey has the makings to become  my favorite jedi yet, and I can’t wait to see who her father really is and her whole back story. In all, I give the film a 7/10. To sum up, the film had its flaws, but mainly due to it’s expectations being too high to realistically deliver on. Thanks for reading and hopefully you found my post insightful.