I’ll start right off the bat and say that I love this movie, however I’m not so unwaveringly blind as to not see what could be considered shortcomings to those who are not so familiar with the franchise.
J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt’s continuation of Star Wars is filled with in-jokes, and one-liners which, to those unacquainted with the Star Wars universe, with a slightly hollow feeling, particularly when watching the movie with a fan as they scratch their heads as to why they are laughing as seemingly inane banter. To the dedicated fans however, it engages deeply and pays well with some subtle, and not so subtle, pieces of fan service.
Casting of SWTFA (Star Wars: The Force Awakens; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/fullcredits/) was interesting to say the least. I love the fact that there’s a lead female protagonist in the Star Wars universe this time around which also spearheads a great diverse cast. I’m not going to go into a debate about whether or not the lead character should be male or female - like it or not this is what we have.
So, from start to finish of Episode 7, here are the things which I noticed or felt nitpicky about...because now that I’ve watched it several times now, hindsight is a biatch!
Not all of my points are nitpicking. Some are just interesting observations, comments, and/or ironies of a scene.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet then SPOILER ALERT! You have been warned.
Not all of my points are nitpicking. Some are just interesting observations, comments, and/or ironies of a scene.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet then SPOILER ALERT! You have been warned.
- The opening sequence is carried on as a tradition with the original Star Wars opening musical score and scrolling text. The scrolling text prepares the viewer for immersion into the scene they are about to begin their visual journey on...the problem is with the introduction sequence for this particular movie is that those new to the franchise, some whom have never seen the previous movies will be wondering “Who is Luke Skywalker and why has he vanished?” - they are spoken to as if they were up to date with all prior Star Wars canon. Those with an inkling of some of the main names may also be wondering “Aren’t they the ‘Rebels’? Why are they ‘the Resistance’ now?”
- The First Order’s ship eclipsing a moon as several smaller ships can be seen leaving its shadow is a throwback to previous Star Wars movies, showing an ominous power making a move.
- Why do people insist on living on desert planets and moons when they have access to lush green planets and moons to live on? This has always bugged me. Why anyone would want to live in harsh desert conditions? There is little cover, scarce water, no vegetation (I’m assuming some form of hydroponics or aquaponics is used to grow food), and poor hygiene. Colonies can be easily spotted (“See that part there that’s not rock and endless sand?”) so why would people think it would be a good hiding spot? Ideally the best hiding spot is somewhere where you CAN be self-sufficient surrounded by plenty of resources...Yoda had it right.
- The First Order’s mind conditioning process has failed utterly with one of their Storm Troopers: FN 2187 (Finn). Considering how many Storm Troopers the First Order has, the sheer amount of experience and resources it has access to from the Empire before it, the amount of training each Storm Trooper has, and the fact that Finn was mentally conditioned since birth, for Finn to have failed to obey orders on his very first mission is a little far fetched.
- Kylo Ren’s introduction to the audience comes across as a very powerful being, able to stop a blaster pulse, and the person firing it, using the Force. This perception rather quickly becomes unhinged as his use of the Force is a little inconsistent. Indeed that stunt of stopping a blaster pulse never happens again in the entire movie. He is lucky to have the support of the Storm Troopers as they clean up after his, securing Poe Dameron (the Resistance’s best pilot) for questioning. Also performing a [cavity] search which Kylo Ren could have done himself using the Force.
- Finn, still Stormtrooper FN-2187 at this time, failed to fire his gun at the villagers. Also, as Kylo Ren prepares to leave, he and Kylo Ren pause to take a long hard look at each other. At what point does Kylo Ren, or Captain “Shiny” Phasma decide that “Hey something isn’t right with this one. We should send him to get reconditioned right away”?
- On the First Order’s ship, Poe is taken to interrogation, however he is done so being able to see the entire hangar instead of being blindfolded and lead. Given that they know he is a pilot, possibly a damn good one, allowing him to scout the area probably isn’t the best move.
- Our lead protagonist Rey makes her debut fully masked while within a derelict ship, a remnant of the old Empire, which she is searching for parts. She proceeds to leave the wreckage and go outside before promptly removing the mask...I find this odd as getting sand in your eyes and throat would be more likely outside than inside the wreckage, and especially while on a homemade speeder bike.
- Rey’s dwelling is a fallen AT-AT (as seen in The Empire Strikes Back). Given her technological affinity, and access to a wealth of parts from the crashed Star Destroyer, repairing the AT-AT should not be that difficult. Also note the parallels here between her and Luke Skywalker - Luke using the belly of a fallen tauntaun on Hoth to survive, and now we have Rey doing the same but in the belly of an AT-AT. Why didn’t Rey use the Star Destroyer wreckage as her dwelling instead? It definitely would’ve been roomier, and she’d be able to scavenge around the clock.
- Cue BB-8! Think Short Round from Indiana Jones (quite literally short and round). And it is caught in a net which Rey easily saves it from with a dull makeshift blade...despite BB-8 likely being more than capable of taking on “Teedo” and freeing himself from the net using one of his many internally kept gadgets (his “thumbs up” flame thrower comes to mind). Design wise, BB-8 would likely have issues with depth perception as it has only one camera “eye” to see with. BB-8’s metal spherical body would also have difficulty in the sand dunes, particularly the steep dune hills, as there wouldn’t be a great deal of traction available. Lucky BB-8 has made friends with a very tech-savvy person (Rey) with a conscience.
- Breaking out Poe could have potentially not happened. By this time Kylo Ren had already ascertained from Poe that the BB droid was on the planet - you know that desert one with few inhabitants. Poe’s usefulness to the First Order was spent the moment he revealed BB-8 was on the planet. Considering Kylo Ren’s bloodlust in killing Lor San Tekka (that old man at the beginning of the movie) without even getting the answers he wanted leaving Poe alive seems odd.
- The TIE fighter used to escape from the ship faced surprisingly few obstacles getting out and could have been more powerful than the Resistance’s X-wings. The number of blaster hits the TIE fighter sustained while Poe and Finn were making their escape was substantial. If you recall the number of hits Poe’s X-wing took on the planet earlier before promptly blowing up and compared it to the TIE fighters hits, while it was flying, it’s a mystery why the TIE fighter didn’t blow up in the hangar. Also, why didn’t they just raise the shields and block ships from entering or leaving the hangar? Unless the TIE fighter has some sneaky way of passing through the shields then Poe and Finn’s escape would have ended like a fly in a bug zapper.
- Although I’m not fluent in TIE fighter design, I thought TIE fighters generally had only single seat cockpits (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TIE_Series), but apparently the First Order have their own TIE fighter variation (http://www.starwars.com/databank/first-order-special-forces-tie-fighter) which explains the second seat...and why the guns seem more powerful...and why it can take more of a beating.
- Fleeing from the First Order starship Finalizer Poe and Finn did not encounter any other TIE fighter resistance. This seems odd as the Finalizer is an [almost] 3km long star destroyer (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Finalizer) - surely it has more than a single smallish hangar from which to allow ships to enter/exit. Also, the Finalizer is built and designed to be in combat with multiple attackers and in this case all it has to do is focus on one TIE fighter. Surely General Hux (the red haired guy) could have assigned more of the ships 1500 turbo lasers onto it as well as the tractor beam. They didn’t need Poe or Finn back alive since Kylo Ren had already extracted the information.
- Through sheer luck Finn has crash landed in close proximity to the settlement he needs to be at despite the TIE fighter sustaining heavy damage and Poe being unable to control its descent.
- The TIE fighters were blasting every large structure, including the quad-jumper Rey and Finn were running towards. Yet the TIE fighters somehow missed the [larger] Millennium Falcon parked out in the open.
- The mid-air flip Rey makes the Millennium Falcon do to shoot down the last TIE fighter somehow, in the minimal altitude, flip upside down then counter the rotation and continue on the right way up.
- BB-8 has the lowest security protocols I’ve seen in a droid. It caves into Finn’s pleas to tell Rey the location of the Resistance despite Finn telling it that he was not with the Resistance just moments before.
- Upon meeting Han Solo (and Chewie) Finn asks Rey “Han Solo. The Rebellion General?”. Up until this point the Rebellion has been referred to as the Resistance. This puts Han’s absence from the Resistance to potentially be before the Rebel Alliance became the Resistance.
Pedantic note: “rebellion” is a verb. Previously they were “the Rebels”, the “Rebel Alliance”, and “Rebel scum”. “The rebellion” is normally a reference to a period of upheaval by a group of people, not the name of the group itself.
- Rey’s knowledge of the Millennium Falcon goes beyond simply who previously owned it. Proof of this is when Han asks about who placed a compressor on the ignition line and Rey responds with knowledge of how it puts stress on the hyperdrive..how does she even know of hyperdrives?? I suspect that Rey has worked more closely with Unkar Plutt (the big guy issuing rations for parts) in her years on Jakku than the movie has let on.
- While on Han’s bigger freighter the Rathtars (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rathtar) get loose. For some reason they are happy to kill the crew of the other freighter vessels on sight but when it came to Finn, the rathtar felt more inclined to drag him around the ship.
- Han had never used Chewie’s bowcaster before. Ever?
- While looking for medical supplies to fix Chewie’s injury, Finn handles a small sphere which is a Jedi lightsaber training tool. Clearly, during all those changes of hands, the Millennium Falcon was never ransacked for parts or items.
- When in front of Dark Lord Snoke (or at least his hologram), General Hux and Kylo Ren come off as a pair of school children trying to gain preference with their teacher. It’s a bit infantile and not something you’d expect from the one running the Finalizer.
- The piece of the map that BB-8 has names on it and yet people are unable to cross-reference the piece with a larger map. It seems the map piece that BB-8 has is the only one in the galaxy. Not even the First Order, the Empire before them, or the Republic has a full map of the galaxy...which I find a little odd.
- Before meeting Maz Kanata (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Maz_Kanata) Han gives Rey a small blaster and, despite Rey’s extensive technical skill she doesn’t realise the safety is on.
- This one isn’t plot-related but the planet where Maz lives reminds me a little of Druidia from Spaceballs…
- Maz is more than 1000 years old. This puts her at least 100 years older than Yoda. The wiki puts her year of birth being “1000 years before the battle of Yavin” which is the battle which blew up the first Death Star. Maz’s race also appears to age much better than Yoda’s as she is able to run a bar and is still very nimble.
- Kylo Ren sits in his room talking to the charred remains of Darth Vader, requesting to feel the power of the dark side. Unbeknownst to him, and possibly Snoke, Darth Vader turned back to the light side of the Force before he passed away. Perhaps Kylo Ren being “called to the light” could be Vader/Anakin calling? It would also seem that Luke never told Leia, Han, or the young Kylo Ren. This seems a significant oversight by Luke.
- When Rey touches the lightsaber she sees
- A hallway collapsing, possibly due to an attack
- Luke communicating with R2-D2 outside what appears to be the fiery remains of a structure. It is identified as Luke due to the robotic hand. His interaction with R2-D2 would seem to implicate that R2-D2 has a role to play
- Kylo Ren and what I presume to be his Knights of Ren standing in a field of dead Jedi; Han explains that Kylo Ren was the one who undid all of Luke’s work in training new Jedi - this scene would seem to show the end of the battle which killed the last of Luke’s new Jedi
- Her young self being taken away on Jakku as a ship flies away. We can presume that either her parents, or someone that knows who they are, was onboard that ship.
- Kylo Ren emerging from behind a tree in a snow covered forest with his lightsaber drawn. This is more of a premonition than a flashback, as if the Force has already shown her the past she has come from and is now preparing her for what is to come.
A breakdown of the vision has been reviewed here (http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-rey-vision-explained-2016-3?IR=T)
- A hallway collapsing, possibly due to an attack
- The voice(s) of Obi-wan Kenobi is heard as the vision fades
- Maz says “I am no Jedi but I know the Force”. This statement has far reaching connotations as
- She didn’t stipulate whether it was the light side or the dark side - only the Force.
- It hints that both the dark side and light sides of the Force are incomplete
- It hints at the possibility that there could be more to the Force than just the dark side and light side
- The blast from Starkiller base (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starkiller_Base) destroys an entire star system, including all of the inhabitants, however something doesn’t add up
- If the blast travelled at the speed of light then there would have been time for some people to escape as FTL (Faster Than Light) travel using hyperdrives is the general mode of interstellar travel. A blast travelling at the speed of light would take some time to reach its destination unless using some sort of wormhole, or space folding, technology.
- Maz’s bar gets destroyed by the First Order and Finn, Han, and Chewie get captured for a few moments until the Resistance arrives in their X-wings to see the First Order off. There is no explanation as to how the Resistance knew of the attack.
- The Finn and Poe “bromance” continues when they find out that they’re both alive. There have been articles online speculating that Finn and Poe might be gay, however I will wait for Episode 8 and 9 on that call. There is nothing wrong with two men hugging after the ordeals they’ve been through (escaping from the Finalizer.
- Chewie gets his wound properly treated but then chats up the medical staff at the same time. The scene dialogue seemed forced (no pun intended) and a little sarcastic (“You must be soo brave”).
- BB-8 pulls the cover off of R2-D2. How did BB-8 know R2 was under there, or is BB-8 just a little cover-pulling scoundrel?
- When Kylo Ren is interrogating Rey he takes his helmet off and onto a pile of ashes. Could these be the same ashes as before when he was talking to the charred helmet of Darth Vader? If so, where is Darth’s helmet/head? Update: It turns out that these ashes could be the ashes of fallen adversaries.
- As Kylo Ren reads Rey’s mind he pulls out a vision, which previously came to Rey as a dream, of an island in an ocean among other things. It is this island and ocean which plays a role later.
- Starkiller base begins charging by drawing the sun into it. Physics and/or thermodynamics gets thrown out the window as solar flares are sucked into the core of the planet. The wide angle showing the sun being sucked into the planet makes the planet appear very very close to the sun. At such a distance I’d hazard a guess that the planet would not have been habitable.
Additionally, should Starkiller base absorb all of the nearby sun’s energy, there would be no light or warmth, meaning the planet would soon become a frozen world unless it is heated in some way.
- Snap Wexley, one of the other X-wing pilots, played by Greg Grunberg (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0342399/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t23) of Heroes notoriety, gets a few lines. So too does Ken Leung (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504962/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t32), who plays Admiral Statura, whom I only previously recall from movie ‘Keeping the Faith’ despite him being in many films since that one. For that reason I can’t stop seeing Admiral Statura singing “Jessie’s Girl”.
- As Finn, Han, and Chewie work their way into the base, Finn’s reveals his old job to be in sanitation. Yep! Finn was a janitor! He literally had to deal with the scum of the universe (ba-doom-tish!)
- After capturing Captain Phasma and making her lower the shields, Finn asks what they should do with her. Han asks whether there’s a trash compactor to which Finn replies “Yeah there is” with a cheeky smile. The mention, and emphasis of, of the trash compactor is something that viewers will not understand unless they have seen Episode 4. Without that understanding Han and Finn are just being sadistic.
- Infiltrating the base, Han, Finn, Chewie, and Rey are off to plant bombs. However there are numerous locked doors ahead. Rey bypasses them by pulling a component out (another fuse?). It seems an ongoing flaw in Star Wars technology that bypassing advanced door locks and locking mechanisms can be done simply by pulling out a fuse in an unsecure area. It seems that requiring a droid to hack the door security is no longer necessary? At least R2-D2 can fall back to serving drinks in bars..
- Kylo Ren’s real name is Ben Solo. Another “Ben” in the Star Wars universe was Ben Kenobi, whose nickname was Obi-wan (“O-bi one”). With this in mind there’s a striking resemblance in names: Both are “Ben” and both are one (solo = one)...it’s cute.
- During their fight Kylo Ren tells Rey “You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force!”. At this moment there is a realisation that Ren has no intention of killing Rey.
- There is a flaw in the designs of the Death Star, Death Star 2, and Starkiller base: ALL of them require that it be fully charged to fire.
- After the battle between Kylo Ren and Rey, Rey goes to Finn’s side (he had been critically injured fighting against Ren). Fortunately Chewie was flying the Millennium Falcon and had found them. The odd thing is that they were in a forest yet Chewie was able to find a clearing to land.
- The Starkiller base planet appears to be imploding at one point, then exploding (with the power of the captured sun) the next. The resultant gravity well should have caused more issues as the gravity of the sun is significantly greater than that of the planet.
- Rey leaves to find Luke in the Millennium Falcon with Chewie and R2-D2 now that the map to find him is complete. In the cockpit Chewie takes on the co-pilot position. It would appear that Rey has jumped rank and taken ownership of the Millennium Falcon despite Chewie having seniority over her.
- Rey is also now sporting new clothes to indicate an increase in maturity and responsibility. It is less conservative than her previous clothes however more elegant.
- When Rey makes it to the island in the ocean (as hinted at in her dreams) and confronts Luke. Despite neither saying anything there are distinct changes in facial expression and emotion states being witnessed and compressed into a small timeframe:
- Upon approach there is a look of concerned curiosity on Rey’s face. She has made it to the end but doesn’t know whether the figure on the hill is the one she is looking for
- Luke reveals himself, revealing to her [and the audience] that he is indeed still Luke Skywalker however he has been through a lot since last we saw him. His right hand is just the raw mechanical parts now - there is no trace of the artificial skin.
- Rey’s face once Luke reveals himself changes from confusion to one of purpose as she reaches for the lightsaber, as if knowing that it will trigger something in Luke.
- Luke’s expression changes as his attention focuses on the lightsaber to one which seems to ask the question “How did you get that?”. It then changes as his focus returns back to Rey almost accusingly
- Rey’s expression is one of doubt and concern that she is doing the right thing, but then changes to be one of confidence and steely resolve
- Luke’s expression changes from harshness to one of dreaded realisation: his past has found him yet again. He opens his mouth but says nothing (or is unable to say anything).
What the Future Holds..
As to what exactly will happen in Episodes 8 and 9 is anyone’s guess - all we can do is speculate.
More and more evidence is mounting that the next installments of Star Wars will be about the unification of all Force aspects (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force/Legends):
The Force is broken down into these aspects:
With these in mind and the underlying prophecy by Yoda of “the one who will bring balance to the Force” we can now ascertain that this balance is not actually about the light side defeating the dark side but rather a person who can combine all aspects of the Force without permanent bias.
Bring on Episode 8!
More and more evidence is mounting that the next installments of Star Wars will be about the unification of all Force aspects (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force/Legends):
- The appearance of Force-sensitive Maz Kanata who, despite not learning the ways of the Jedi like Yoda, rivals him in age and experiences
- The failure of the Light Side to defeat the dark side
- The failure of the Dark Side to fully destroy the Jedi
- Rey’s visions, which could also be seen as Force Visions (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_vision/Legends) which hints at the power she possesses
The Force is broken down into these aspects:
- The light side
- Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Obi-wan
- The dark side
- Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Jerec
- The Living Force
- Qui-Gon Jinn
- The Unifying Force
- Yoda, Darth Sidious
- The Cosmic Force
- The Physical Force
With these in mind and the underlying prophecy by Yoda of “the one who will bring balance to the Force” we can now ascertain that this balance is not actually about the light side defeating the dark side but rather a person who can combine all aspects of the Force without permanent bias.
- Rey will definitely be learning more about the ways of the Force
- Kylo Ren, although leaning towards the dark side, also contains knowledge of the light side. He will become more like Darth Vader than ever but may come to realise that Vader is the light side which continues to call him despite Snoke’s influence
- Finn should recover however with a newfound purpose from his experiences combating the dark side and experiencing [and surviving] Force attacks first hand
- Leia still has a part to play, being Luke's sister and Force-sensitive
- I'm hoping Maz will make a return - she still has payback to give for the First Order destroying her bar
Bring on Episode 8!