So, if all goes according to plan, today’s post should publish on the very same day that, ten years ago, the first Star Wars film of the Disney ownership era as well as the start of a new Star Wars sequel trilogy – The Force Awakens – hit movie theaters to usher in a new era of Star Wars that is new and different… although you wouldn’t have been able to tell from watching the movie.
At the time of release, people considered it to be a return to form after the polarizing prequels. For some, it felt like Star Wars again… for others, it felt too much like Star Wars; to the point of almost being a carbon copy of the original film from 1977.
And then The Last Jedi came along and pretty much shat the bed that The Force Awakens set with its dogged insistence in subverting your expectations; something that has become a meme over the years in and of itself. Regardless of your opinion on the film – and I’ve made my feelings perfectly clear – the fact is that the second chapter of the new trilogy was a divisive film and brought about an air of uncertainty among the Star Wars faithful. And then Solo came along… and finally, The Rise Of Skywalker ended the sequels and any subsequent hope for further annual Star Wars feature films, relegating the franchise to limited series runs on Disney+.
What began as a sign that things were going to be okay… turned out to be anything but… and when one revisits The Force Awakens ten years removed from its initial release, with all these other films out there and everything that has happened, is the movie as good as it was? Has it aged poorly? Was it ever that good to begin with?
The answer is… complicated.
It’s important to note something here.
The six movies – both original Star Wars trilogy and the Prequel trilogy – is the saga of the fall of Anakin Skywalker and his eventual redemption with the help of his son. You can watch those six movies from Phantom Menace to Return Of The Jedi and they tell a complete story. Sure, there are blanks that could have used some filling here and there, but by the end of Episode VI, you’ve reached a satisfying conclusion to a long saga. You could end it there and leave whatever comes next to the imagination.
This is where the obvious problem with any potential Sequel trilogy comes into play. It’s never been a matter of wanting to know what happens afterwards, but rather it’s a matter of whether we really NEED a Sequel trilogy.
Yes, the Expanded Universe pretty much filled that void. Beginning with Timothy Zahn’s incredible Thrawn trilogy that pretty much set the standard for the kind of stories that could be told within the Star Wars galaxy and then continuing onwards with hundreds of novels, top-notch comic book productions from the fine folks at Dark Horse, and the deluge of video games did a fine job of not only exploring what happened next, but also pretty much eliminated the need for a Sequel trilogy. What happens after Jedi? You’ve pretty much got that ground covered. Many people have told that story with blessings from Lucasfilm. The only thing that a Sequel Trilogy would do is nullify all that hard work.
Let’s face reality here. George Lucas would not be beholden to the Expanded Universe if he had done his sequels. If he wanted his sequels to tell their own story, he would do it and then all that Expanded Universe stuff would be invalidated. If Luke Skywalker was destined to abandon the Jedi life, go back to Tatooine, and fulfill his lifelong dream of picking up power converters from Toshi Station, then that’s what’s going to happen. If Leia and Han get hitched and they have ten kids and half of them end up being Jedi while the rest become scoundrels, that’s the new reality. If the New Republic is threatened by Admiral Bone-To-Pick, ready to avenge the death of General Grievous and Captain I’m-A-Bad-Guy, then goddammit, we’re getting three films of Admiral Bone-To-Pick being an asshole. This is what some people don’t get. It doesn’t matter if Disney or Lucas or some obscure Turkish outfit decided to do a sequel trilogy; the point is they can do whatever they want and that would be the new “What Happens Next” in Star Wars.
And so when Disney bought the franchise among other things and announced that they’re doing a new Star Wars trilogy that’ll kick off a new run of Star Wars films and, oh, by the way, we’re doing our own canon and relegating everything that came before to the Legends line, I was like, “Oh… okay.” I didn’t freak out like a lot of people did. I knew more or less that stuff was on borrowed time once there was any new filmed material that would take place after Jedi. None of that stuff “needs” to follow what other hands did. That’s why I prefer the Star Trek mentality of what counts as canon and continuity; if it’s on screen, it’s in continuity. Hence, all your movies, TV shows, and animated series are part of your Star Trek canon while everything else – no matter how brilliant that stuff is – is outside that canon. That doesn’t mean that stuff is worthless. There are good stories in there that are worth checking out, but it’s one take on the future that’s overwritten by another take.
In any event, Disney eventually released The Force Awakens amid much hype and ballyhoo. People liked the film, it made some money, and then people kinda cooled on it. I thought the movie was fine, it touched all the right notes, and it had me looking forward to the next film.
And then The Last Jedi happened… and then the Rise Of Skywalker happened… and then Star Wars stopped being special. It became another brand of content under the Disney umbrella that gets slapped on inferior products that only the hardest of hardcores will scarf up. And who knows if they do it because they actually enjoy the stuff that’s being put out or if it’s because they just like the brand and want to be part of that clique?
And so going back to The Force Awakens after all this time, the question remains… is it still a good movie? Does it still hold up?
Like I said, it’s complicated.
Part of the problem is that the movie spends a considerable amount of time making me care about Finn, the stormtrooper who decides to defect over to the other side by helping an imprisoned Rebel Resistance pilot, Poe, escape. It . And then he gets sidelined in favor of scavenger girl Rey. And what happens with Finn in the later two movies? Relegated to side story fodder, paired up with a rather worthless side character (so worthless that they are eventually relegated to background character in the last film), and then paired up with some other female character because she shares the same skin color. Now I go back to this film and I’m supposed to invest in Finn’s story, knowing how it turns up? Doesn’t work for me, brother.
So, yeah, we might as well touch on Rey… essentially the Mary Sue protagonist who fixes compressors and figures out Force powers… and then the big reveal where she has some cursory knowledge of saber combat gained from somewhere… which I’m actually willing to belief because she fights with a stick and sometimes, you can use that as a sword if it gets cut in half. And yes, she eventually becomes the next Jedi hero of sorts… even getting her own trilogy one of these days.
The big sin in the eyes of many is in how The Force Awakens treats some of its legacy characters as afterthoughts. For most fans, they just want to see what happened to their old heroes and the results were… less than inspiring. Leia is a General in another Resistance against the First Order – our new sequel stand-in for the Empire, right down to the old TIE Fighters, Storm Troopers, and Star Destroyer designs. Han and Chewie are going about their business looking for their missing ship, which is in a dump in Jakko. And Luke Skywalker is a mythical hermit on some planet somewhere, which provides us with the main focal point of this film. Where is Luke? Maybe he can help us. Oh, does Rian Johnson have news for you on that front.
But even before that happens… yeah, the main Vader stand-in, Kylo Ren, revealed to be the wayward son of Han and Leia who turned to the dark side (what is it with these Force-sensitive Solo boys falling to the dark in these Star Wars stories), kills the old man, which made Harrison Ford happy that he got his character killed off… only to be brought back as a “force ghost” or something in the last movie. Leia eventually dies in the last movie. And Luke… well, like I said, Rian Johnson has some expectations to subvert. But hey, at least Chewie is still alive at the end of this trilogy. It’s the one thing that Disney fixed in regards to a flaw with the old Expanded Legends Universe line, where he was killed off in one of those Yuza Vong or whatever they’re called… the most marketable creature outside of the droids and Darth Vader, and you kill him off?
It seems like the more I watch of this film and its potential plot points to be expanded or touched upon at later point or the progression of its characters both old and new, my enjoyment is tainted by the foreknowledge of what becomes to these things and how they’re resolved. Perhaps this is where The Force Awakens falls apart over time. As flawed as the six Star Wars movies were – and yes, let’s all admit it; the original trilogy has its share of problems, too – they are still entertaining. They still hold some substance. I can watch those movies again and still be entertained by them as solid pieces of work… or in the case of Attack Of The Clones, being able to poke fun of its numerous, numerous failings. Most of all, you can watch those six movies and they feel like a complete story. Is it any wonder why George Lucas never went ahead with his own sequels? Was there any debate as to whether we really needed to know where these characters ended up? The Expanded Universe stuff, as fleeting in its canonicity as it may be, seemed to be doing that just fine.
And so… the Force Awakens feels like a soulless copy of a superior work. It’s a thing that wants to remind you that, yes, this is indeed Star Wars just like you remember it, but fresher than before… while, at the same time, having nothing to actually say that merits a revisit.
I don’t know… I wish I could go back in time and pretend we only had six movies. I don’t think the prequels deserve to be deleted as badly as some others would, but I could live without what came afterwards.
I don’t know… to be continued, I guess.
dtm666 