Not being the type to give up on something problematic, I returned to The Force Awakens this week as the starting point for my incremental Star Wars marathon. By incremental, I mean I’ll be watching the movies in my own good time instead of bingeing all nine like a psychopath. I would like to say my return to Star Wars was prompted by an open mind and healthy sense of adventure. In reality, I was simply interested in once again watching Adam Driver portray the angry space boy that is Kylo Ren.
The Force Awakens is not groundbreaking in terms of plot; however, it is successful in pairing familiar tropes from the original trilogy with modern cinematography. While the result is somewhat familiar, witnessing Star Wars in high definition with realistic special effects breathes life back into the series and is a safe basis for reintroducing the world to Star Wars.
There is a certain cognisance to the characters in The Force Awakens that differentiates them from the largely conventional cast of A New Hope. This is in part due to Disney’s effort to ensure diverse representation in their Star Wars universe. While the identity politics of this are of marginal significance to the quality of the film, the diversity of the cast has resulted in a unique set of characters who lend a certain richness to the films.
Throughout his career, Adam Driver has proven himself to be an actor with great emotional intensity and has been cited as “our generation’s greatest yeller” by GQ magazine. Who can forget the epic fight between Adam and Jessa in season 5 of Girls, for example? Driver brings this same chaotic energy to his performance as Kylo Ren, perfectly illuminating the conflicted and emotionally volatile nature of this character.
Our introduction to Rey in The Force Awakens sees her clambering through the carcasses of deserted Star Destroyers and AT-ATs. This is a powerful image, reflecting how filmmaker and audience alike are navigating dead history in this new series of Star Wars films. Rey is rendered miniscule against this landscape, nicely speaking to the difficulty of establishing a new hero in the Star Wars canon.
That being said, while Rey is certainly a likeable character, she is as bland as the desert planet Jakku from which she hails and lacks the complexity that would make her a truly interesting hero. It was sufficient for Luke Skywalker to be a misty eyed do-gooder because in the 1970s, the concept of the plot alone was hugely innovative. There is a burden on Rey to differentiate herself in order to justify a new series of Star Wars movies. What is the point of making three more films about another minimally conflicted orphan who we all know will do the right thing in the end? At no point is the temptation of the dark side truly in question for this character and that is a failing for a series that considers the internal struggle between light and dark to be its central theme.
Rey is only rendered interesting by her interactions with her environment and other characters. Finn is a good example of this. In part due to John Boyega’s charisma and the inherent intrigue of being a Stormtrooper turned good guy, Finn stands out as particularly vibrant. There is also more room within his character for comedy and animation than is afforded to Rey, which makes him more palatable.
In spite of its conventional plot, The Force Awakens seems to promise the development of a unique dynamic between Rey and Kylo which would differentiate it from its predecessors. When Kylo discovers that Rey can use the force, his interest in her appears to stem from the possibility of understanding and companionship more-so than the prospect of harnessing her power to serve the First Order. If this is explored more thoroughly in the films to come, this will prove to be a fundamental and compelling divergence from the relationships between Luke and Darth Vader or Anakin and Darth Siddius.
The Force Awakens plays it safe and seeks to get original Star Wars fans on side. This proves to be the film’s strength and weakness. What it lacks in innovation, it makes up for with fun call-backs and nostalgic charm. There is also an inherent sense of wonder in seeing the Star Wars universe rendered more realistic than ever before. That being said, beneath the surface there is a promise of something more unique to come. Greater risk taking and creative license in the future is certainly more likely now that the initial foray back into Star Wars has been met with such success.
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