I already posted my lengthy post-movie thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But that doesn’t mean I’m done. Oh no.
This will probably all be SPOILERS.
But first, a non-spoiler.
Today I told Milo his name rhymed with Kylo Ren. Then I watched his head explode.
OK, on to the SPOILERS.
You’ve been warned.
Let’s do it.
Girl Power
First: the girl power of Rey. Love it:
“A girl Jedi!’ my 10-year old whispered to me. “Finally!” –EW.com
There’s going to be a lot of stories like that.
Here’s another one:
On Sunday morning my 6-year-old daughter woke, picked up her brother’s battered toy lightsaber, and hit the button that makes the “shwoom” noise.
Finally, the Force was with her. –Forbes
This line is pretty good too:
The Jedi were supposed to be nearly extinct, yet they outnumbered women with speaking parts.
Comic Book or Reboot?
I’ve seen a lot of complaints that The Force Awakens is just a reboot of A New Hope. Some folks don’t like that it repeats so much of the original.
Bah!
And here’s someone who agrees with me and uses more than just exclamations to back it up. They argue that the new movie is more like a comic book. Interesting stuff.
Update: And here’s more. This one is even better because it calls out the many differences between The Force Awakens and A New Hope. People keep saying The Force Awakens is a scene-by-scene remake, which is just wild exaggeration. C’mon. Yes, there are a ton of similarities (by design). But there are also a ton of differences.
Theories
We also have lots of theories.
Here are the four best theories of who Rey’s parents are. I’m not convinced of the Luke theory. The Kenobi theory has some nice symmetry. But I like the nobody special theory. The idea that Rey is just like the rest of us and it doesn’t require special lineage to be a hero is much cooler.
Lots of people are speculating on some of the many other questions. Here’s a list of 33 such questions.
Frankly, I think a lot of them are things we don’t need answered. That’s the beauty of this movie. It revels in the mystery.
How did Kylo/Hux/Phasma survive the destruction of Starkiller Base? Who cares? They did (will). How did Darth Vader survive in a short-range craft with no base nearby (and plenty of Rebels)? Who cares. He did.
How did Maz recover Luke’s light saber? Who cares. She did. How did Darth Vader figure out Luke was the pilot who destroyed the Death Star? Who cares. He did.
Sure, there are stories there and it might be fun to know. But it’s not something we need to know. Good storytelling doesn’t try to answer every question.
One theory about why things are so mysterious: Even the writers don’t know where we’re going yet. I don’t know if I buy that, but it’d be kind of funny.
If you really want questions answered, apparently the novelization has even more answers. Get ready for more of that. Have you seen how many Star Wars comics there are? The reason for C-3PO’s red arm is supposed to come in comic book form in February.
And if you really want to get nitpicky, here are 40 plot holes (plus 20 more). These supposed plot holes crack me up. If you question everything too closely, none of it works. You could pick apart the originals in the same way.
Extras
Lots of folks are talking about all the various cameos in The Force Awakens. One I haven’t seen mentioned often is Freema Ageyman who played Martha Jones in Dr. Who. I thought I recognized her!
I wonder how many actors were begging to get a role in a Star Wars movie?
Oh, and this deal with Obi-wan and Yoda in The Force Awakens is pretty great.
Update: I just keep finding stuff. I’ll add them here:
- 10 scrapped ideas for The Force Awakens, including an idea using Anakin’s ghost (and bringing back Hayden Christiansen).
- Alternate designs for BB8.
- Deleted scenes.
Light Saber Realism
Back in 2013 I said that I hoped the new Star Wars would return realism to the light saber duels. Apparently I’m not the only one who thought the prequel duels were a little insane:
My one Star Wars tweet: the difference between the light saber fights in TFA and the prequels is the difference between actual sex and porn.
— andrewkarre (@andrewkarre) December 21, 2015
I love that. It’s about right.
The Force Awakens had wonderful light saber fights that weren’t full of crazy, ridiculous moves and mind-numbing choreography that you can’t even follow. They were gritty and real and simple.
My only hope is that we weren’t watching the light saber duel of a bunch of rookies and in the next installment they’ll be pros and we’ll be right back to the prequel insanity.