Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to know what happens in the new star wars movie, DO NOT READ AHEAD.
This movie is great. It is a lot of fun and everything a star wars movie should be. In some sense it makes some of the same mistakes too - like the unbelievable coincidences one after another- but if you are willing to put it aside and enjoy the movie, you are in for one enjoyable ride.
What I loved the most about Awakens is the parallelisms that you find in the film. What made the original films great is that they played off of basic story archetypes. Awakens used these archetypes in new forms to get the story across and possibly hint at what will happen in the future.
BB-8
BB-8 is the obvious new R2D2. Both bots look alike and start each movie finding the new hero/heroine with a mission that sends off the new hero/heroine on an adventure and (for the most part) is their constant companion thereafter. Of course, in the end of the film BB8 is with Dameron and R2D2 is with Rey (and Luke), so it will be interesting to see if BB-8 will end up by Rey’s side or maybe even follow Finn. But BB-8’s existence does make one wonder what will happen to R2D2. The two little robots have almost the same character. Is this the end of the bot in blue? Is his role taken over by the newer, smaller, and slicker product? BTW, praise God BB-8 doesn't come with a new C3PO. One is just enough and maybe still too much.
Poe Dameron
Poe is a great character. I admit that I entered the film rooting for him because I already joined the Oscar Isacc fan club bandwagon. I thoroughly enjoyed Isacc’s performances in Inside Llewyn Davis and HBO’s Show Me a Hero. (Looking forward to him in this coming summer’s X-men movie, but I’m admittedly more skeptical about him playing Apocalypse). Now Poe’s character could be just the back up x-wing fighter pilot that didn’t get much airtime in the original films. Maybe he’s the glorified Wedge Antilles, Dax or [insert other pilot I’m too embarrassed to have remembered the name of].
But maybe Dameron is more. He also plays the leader of the rebellion role similar to Princess Leia. He hides important rebel info in a droid which sets up the plot for the remainder of the film. He’s captured and interrogated by the film’s antagonist and then rescued by a suspicious stormtrooper (Luke in 4, Finn in 7). His exceptional pilot skills may hint at potential Jedi abilities, but I doubt they will take the story that way. You’d think that someone from the resistance would have cued Luke in on his Jedi potential earlier if he had any. (He does fly an x-wing with the new version of R2D2- bb8- so who knows?) I think he will end up continuing to be a mentor for Finn in future films, maybe a more loyal Han Solo type with his snark. I wont be surprised if he doesn’t make it through the whole 7-9 trilogy. I say he gets killed off in 9. (But this is Star Wars so he might survive. They definitely didn't kill off enough guys in Return of the Jedi. Really, why is Lando still alive?)
Han Solo
Han Solo ends up being the sage archetype in this storyline taking the hem of Obi-Wan Kenobi and even Qui-Gon Jinn. When Solo meets Rey, he introduces her to the reality of the force just as Kenobi does with Luke and Jinn does with Anakin. All of these conversations happen in the first film of each trilogy. And just like those trilogies, the sage character dies at the hands of the main antagonist (of that film). In episodes 4 and 7 the death of the sage happens while their mentee watches (You could even say that Jinn dies while Kenobi watches so episode 1 kinds works too). What makes it unique is he is the first nonJedi to take on this role. Great twist.
Snoke
Snoke is obviously the new emperor. The bad guy behind the bad guy. Emperor Gollum. It will be interesting to see his story unpacked. Where did he come from? Is he another former servant of Palpatine? Palpatine's clone? Resurrected Frankenpalpastein?
Kylo Ren
Great, great bad guy. He’s obviously the new Vader, trying to be like him in every way. He’s dressed like him, doing the choke holds, killing innocents, and following some ambiguous evil Emperor. (Plus, he gets mutilated by the end of Awakens which make him more machine than man going into episode 8). Also, he has a similar relationship the protagonist, Rey, as Vader had with Luke. Ren's goal is to pull Rey to his side. He sees her potential. One thing that is different is that we get to see Ren’s struggle with the light side from the beginning. We just see Vader change to the light at the last second as the emperor is killing Luke. But Kylo Ren is open and honest and frankly embarrassed that he feels the light side inside him and this struggle is evident to good guys and the bad.
Plus, we are begging to wonder how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren, just like we wondered how Anakin became Vader. I’m sure we will get more unpacked in the second film in this trilogy as we did in the second films of the other two series. We do already get some glimpses of Ren’s mutation. We see he has some Daddy issues in his jealousy of Rey’s relationship with Han Solo. BTW, Ren also was a developing Jedi who was trained late by a inexperienced mentor- same as Anakin with Kenobi. So, I’m hoping we’ll see what happened in the next film how Snoke pulled him to the dark side.
Finn
Gotta love Finn. In some ways he’s the new Han Solo, but he’s the anti-Han Solo. (I think that may be why their scenes together are great). Han Solo is fearless, skilled, and awesome. Solo is the allstar QB. Finn, well, isn’t. Finn is cowardly, inexperienced, untalented and awkward. So why is Finn the new Han Solo? Both have a past that is trying to catch up with them. Solo was had debts with Jabba the Hutt and Finn (Anti-Han) is a First Order deserter. Also, both spent their introductions trying to not be part of the rebellion/ resistance but in the end were fated to be one of the good guys. I do think that like Solo, Finn’s past will catch up with him and Finn will pay both for leaving Captain Phasma’s unit and for forcing her to bring down Starkiller base. (BTW, what a terrible use of Phasma the first cinematic star wars villain. Obviously, they are setting her up for the future because any storm trooper could have said her lines and been used by Finn so why get a great actress and put her in a sweet suit. But for her to let Solo and Finn force her help the resistance makes absolutely no sense at all. Oh well…) Anyway, my prediction is that Phasma captures Finn in the coming films just as Jabba gets Solo. Finn will probably not end up encased in carbonite, but I imagine he will not be in a good place at the end of episode 8.
For those who are wondering, I don’t think Finn will end up with Jedi abilities although it is weird that he is the only storm trooper to switch sides. I also doubt his back story comes up again. (Please don't be the lost son of Lando Calrissian, Mace Windo, or some absurd origin). And I am concerned that Americans and well, the rest of the world, have too many race issues for Finn to get the girl in the end. Its a shame to say, but it would take a lot of moxie for disney to let them end up together even though this is 2015.
Rey
Rey is the most interesting character of the new group. She is, of course, Awaken’s protagonist. She is an obvious new Luke. She is found on a desolate planet who finds small, endearing robot that sends her off on an adventure. She is introduced to the force and learns to use new powers. By the end of the film she becomes triumphant over the antagonizing Sith Lord. I’m sure I could go on more on those parallels, but I’ll stop there. I will add, she is also a little bit of a new Leia as well, She is a strong-willed feminine hero that wont be bested or ordered around by anyone. She holds her own against Finn, Solo, Kylo Ren and others. I think my favorite scene depicting her female fortitude happens early on when Rey fends off Finn’s grabbing of her hand when he is the one in need of her hand holding.
There is much to be asked about her background too. With all of the crashed x-wings, TIE fighters, and Star Destroyers, in the beginning of the film you have to ask, what in the world happened to Jakku? Did that battle happen at the same time Rey’s family left? Also, some speculate that Rey is Luke’s daughter. That deduce this because when she finds Vader/Luke’s light saber, she has a vision of the island Luke was at. But I think Rey was just seeing her future as Luke does in Empire when he sees his friends tortured at Bespin. And wouldn’t Han Solo or Leia have put that together. People also see the hug she has with Leia at the end of the film as a hint of their kinship. But I’m not sure their hug hints blood but rather its just the combined mourning of someone who lost a lover and another who lost their mentor. I kinda hope she has no Skywalker relation, but we’ll see. I think I remember Kylo Ren taking a questionable notice of her involvement in foiling his plans early on, but it may be nothing.
Another thing I will say about her character is that she is the young Anakin that we always wanted. She can do anything. She can fight. She can fly. She can intuitively fix things. She picks up how to use the force like its her job. And she’s likable! Then as she fights Kylo Ren at the end, you see her rage. You can see her starting to turn to the dark. Ren sees it too. “All you need is a teacher,” he says. Here is how I hope things play out. I want to see Rey turn to the dark side and Ren (Rey/Ren, Ying/Yang) turn to the light in episode 8. Then Rey come back to the light in 9. Maybe a fight between Snoke and Rey and then a fight with Luke and Ren to do it. Admittedly, their are some issues with my proposed desired scenario. One, it looks like Rey will once again fight Ren and his Ren squad according to her vision with the light saber. Second, it took the whole first trilogy to turn Anakin bad and they handled that poorly, so how could they do turn Rey to the dark in just one film (Plus, it took another 3 films to turn him back again). I admit I may be a little disappointed if the next two films just focus on turning Ren back to the light. Or if they have him turn back to the light as he is dying at the end of episode 9. “You were right about me Rey. Tell my mom. Tell that that deserter, wuss Finn. You were right.”
I would love to hear your thoughts. What did you see that I didn’t see? Any predictions?
