Spoiler alert for this review of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". It is now 9 months after release so that should be OK for most of you.
I was disappointed by the lack of originality and the flirting with in depth themes which failed to develop. "The Force Awakens" came across as a nostalgic remake of "Star Wars: A New Hope" (1977) with a female lead character a lot like Luke Skywalker. It did not make sense to me to change the home planet from "Tattooine" to "Jakku". "Jakku" seems identical to Tattooine so why not go all the way with nostalgia and revisit Tattooine? This film revisits everything else.
Within the limits of this retelling there was some writing craft in ingeniously rebooting the story characters and elements 30 years later. It was fun to see the "Millenium Falcon" emerge from a junkyard. I began to think that it was a little implausible that a spacefaring civilisation would have so little technical advance in 30 years that an old spacecraft would be competitive with the current models. Then I remembered that our civilisation currently has only one spacecraft design for human space flight and that is "Soyuz" which is a 50 year old design.
IMO it is a good element and a rare example of emotional complexity to have the great love story of Han and Leia turn to separation, with sadness and shock that their son has become the new Darth Vader. It is unfortunate that status appears to be inherited a lot in this universe. OK so Anakin Skywalker was apparently an egalitarian new talent emerging from a poor family. Which raises a question about the female lead character who I keep thinking of as "Daisy". Error, that is the actress - pauses a moment to look it up - "Rey". Is "Rey" an upwardly mobile poor person with talent? (As I hope). Or will it be revealed that she is really the descendant of someone great thus adding Star Wars to the thousands of years of propaganda that supports privilege and status by inheritance rather than by merit.
The standout impression for me is the flirting with elements of the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s by using some elements that then go nowhere. IMO this is a lost opportunity to make a far better film as in depth and drama than what I see here. The unexplained 3-way political play in this universe looks to me like a retelling of the story of the Spanish Civil War with the "First Order" as the emerging Nazis, the "New Republic" as the Spanish Republic, the "Resistance" as the International Brigades and the planet "Tokodana" as Guernica. IMO this would have been a better film if it had done more retelling with these elements and less with the "New Hope" elements.
There is a new hope of a different kind. Currently in production is a Star Wars spinoff movie, as in a side dish to the main course, titled "Star Wars: Rogue One". From its IMO excellent trailers and some website comment this may achieve some more originality and depth. As in a "war film" with something worthwhile to say about oppression and rebellion. It may even achieve some complexity. Trailer quote - "If you continue to fight, what will you become?" Online speculation suggests that the lower status has given the director more freedom to interpret the "Star Wars" universe, although news of reshoots has given rise to speculation that "The Suits" have stepped in to remove the edginess. The biggest Star Wars drama now is to see what turns up in December. Can "Rogue One" deliver some originality and depth?
Speculation about Rogue One reshoots:
http://screenrant.com/star-wars-rogue-one-reshoots-rumors/
Rogue One trailer on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdj1zb9sMY
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