{"id":22859,"date":"2015-12-18T01:15:27","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T09:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/?p=22859"},"modified":"2015-12-23T00:25:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T08:25:59","slug":"star-wars-the-force-awakens-review-total-recall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/reviews\/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review-total-recall\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars The Force Awakens Review: Total Recall"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

This is a Spoiler-Free Review: i.e. no major plot points, no plot recap. If you\u2019ve seen the trailers and put the pieces together, then you’re safe.<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/em> is the movie that Star Wars fans have been waiting 16<\/s> 32 years for. Fans waited 16 years for The Phantom Menace<\/em>, only to be bitterly disappointed, and now 16 years after that, those same\u00a0anxious fans and more are lining up outside theaters with high hopes for Star Wars nirvana.\u00a0In the immortal words of C-3PO: here we go again!<\/p>\n

For fans, it all really boils down to two questions. Is The Force Awakens<\/em>\u00a0better than the prequels? Yes.\u00a0(Is the Dark Side stronger? I mean, come on.) Is it as good as the originals? Well, maybe\u00a0not, but time will tell. Always in motion is the future.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the good news: you\u2019ll actually want to see it again.<\/p>\n

\"TFA-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I<\/span>n many ways, 49-year-old director and co-writer J.J. Abrams made the most sense as the torchbearer for George Lucas\u2019s grand space opera vision, and after seeing the movie, he still feels like the right choice. He understands the balance of character, action and humor that were important to the original trilogy.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another \u201cforce\u201d at work here, and that\u2019s the larger sense that Star Wars has passed from being the singular vision of one creator (for better and for much,\u00a0much<\/em> worse) to being the cog of a much larger machine, \u00e0 la Disney\u2019s Marvel Cinematic Universe.<\/p>\n

In some ways, the Disney universe approach offers some satisfying moments, and at other times, feels forced. To paraphrase one character in the film, \u201cI feel like I\u2019m being torn apart.\u201d Some characters and plot devices seem like they\u2019re passing through the movie, only to (presumably) reappear again in a later episode or perhaps in a “sidequel.” (The standalone Star Wars Anthology movie\u00a0series is set to launch next year with Rogue One.<\/em>) On the other hand, there\u2019s a sense of mystery and unexplained backstory that permeates the plot and\u00a0feels like it will be paid off at some point down the line.<\/p>\n

For this, we have only to blame The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>, still the high water mark for the series. Empire<\/em>\u00a0kickstarted the Star Wars template\u00a0of a non-self-contained plot,\u00a0even though\u00a0it was originally panned for doing so. So if The Force Awakens<\/em> borrows liberally from this story structure, then we have only success to blame.<\/p>\n

\"Han<\/a><\/p>\n

The Force Awakens<\/em> co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, the screenwriter of Empire<\/em> and its sequel Return of the Jedi<\/em>, is known for his affinity for the Han Solo character (and with son Jon Kasdan is co-writing the Han Solo origin movie set to be released in 2018). It\u2019s no surprise then that Harrison Ford is top-billed in TFA<\/em>\u00a0and is a major part of the last two-thirds of the movie. Ford brings some of the playful glint we\u2019d seen from his earlier Solo days, but there are moments of the 1990s \u201cGet off my plane\/find my wife\u201d Ford that slip through. His performance is key to the story, but as this is still an action film, we still don\u2019t quite get caught up with Solo the man. But perhaps that is the key to his mystique.<\/p>\n

As for the original cast, Carrie Fisher seems to struggle to find the core of her original Princess Leia characterization, but she\u2019s not given much to do and the role is small. As for Mark Hamill, well, you\u2019ll just have to see the movie to find out how he does, but he doesn\u2019t disappoint.<\/p>\n

Y<\/span>ou can see where the filmmakers famously debated on the direction of the film\u2014whether to go in a completely new direction or bring the old faces along for the ride. That conflict\u00a0does make the character development a bit of a patchwork with so many more central characters. It’s also\u00a0the rumored reason Michael Arndt, the original screenwriter (and credited associate producer), was replaced by Abrams and Kasdan.<\/p>\n

The two new faces, young actors Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn), actually do breathe new life into the series. (Oscar Isaac is solid as pilot Poe Dameron, but it\u2019s a small role.) They are front and center in the marketing campaign, and they do hold up their end of the bargain. The story gives them fresh new things to do in what feels at times like a series of callbacks to the original trilogy.<\/p>\n

You will definitely have moments of head-scratching d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu from\u00a0lines of dialogue and set pieces, as well as plot devices, major and minor characters, props and various minutiae that will probably take multiple viewings to uncover. The filmmakers also manage to squeeze in a note of surreal mysticism in the middle of the movie, just as\u00a0Empire<\/em> did in the middle of its story (the cave scene). Just when it feels like the fan service might be too much, Abrams and company do take the series in some interesting emotional directions, especially in the last third of the movie.<\/p>\n

\"Kylo<\/a><\/p>\n

The Force Awakens<\/em> opens strongly but surprisingly meanders in the middle. However, the spine of the story starts to appear in the last third, and the new emotional beats have a satisfying ring to them that will echo through at least two more installments. Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) is a major reason for this shift, and his performance is fascinating. The work that Abrams, Kasdan and Driver put into this aspect of the movie feels like the richest part of the whole enterprise.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>here is more CGI in the movie than some fans might be expecting after pre-release hype suggested an almost apologetic\u00a0turn away from the cartoonish prequels. The CGI is more organically integrated but at the same time, some key characters are clearly CGI in ways that do not feel satisfying, like say Gollum was in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> series (although this movie’s\u00a0involvement of Andy Serkis\u2014Mr. Gollum himself\u2014probably should\u2019ve given that away).<\/p>\n

Let’s not forget John Williams. The 83-year-old composing genius once again scored\u00a0the music (listen to the soundtrack<\/a> on Spotify), and while it doesn’t sound\u00a0as inspired as his earlier work, Rey’s Theme and The Jedi Steps are notable additions to the Star Wars musical oeuvre.<\/p>\n

The Force Awakens<\/em>, though flawed and overly familiar\u00a0at times, does set up the promise of a much grander story. It stands\u00a0on solid legs with the new cast led by Daisy Ridley who convincingly balances fierceness with vulnerability and is ready to carry the baton (or lightsaber, if you will) for the next generation of Star Wars movies\u00a0and its fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the movie that Star Wars fans have been waiting 16 32 years for. Fans waited 16 years for The Phantom Menace, only to be bitterly disappointed, and now 16 years after that, those same\u00a0anxious fans and more are lining up outside theaters with high hopes for Star Wars nirvana.\u00a0In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1427,102,37,1301,1428],"class_list":["post-22859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-jj-abrams","tag-splendiferous","tag-star-wars","tag-the-force-awakens","tag-the-force-awakens-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22859"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22904,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859\/revisions\/22904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}