For those of you who have yet to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, fear not.
Spoilers in the intro, find you will not.
After the jump, however, I will be freely expressing my delights and disappointments with The Force Awakens(TFA). I watched the first two trailers a handful of times when they were first released, and after made a conscious effort to stay away from anything related to this film. My goal was to manage my anticipation, as much as was humanly possible, and to be able to go into the film armed with as little knowledge as possible regarding the events that were to unfold.
I succeeded to a partial degree. I was very aware of how my anticipation had been subconsciously building as it was something I felt myself struggling against during parts of the film.
In the event that you did not read the subtext of my previous non-spoiler post, I am very fond of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I have issues with it, that may or may not pass with subsequent viewings, but it is important for me to establish the fact that I’m pleased with the film. Please keep that in mind when ascribing weight to any criticisms I may level at writers J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.
I do not promise a fully articulated, coherent review, hence my parenthetical reference to this being a “conversation”. I do hope that those of you who have seen it will converse freely. You may agree, or disagree, with anything I have to say and will have a free space in which to do so. I will not find your lack of agreeing with me disturbing.
And readers, please assume that EVERY comment in the comments section contains spoilers. Read at your own peril.
With that preamble out of the way, here is my side of the conversation.
ONCE AGAIN, EVERYTHING HEREAFTER SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A SPOILER. PLEASE GO NO FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM.
For those of you who would say, “Well, I’m going to see the film eventually, but I am okay with some spoilers”, let me respond: “You will not be okay with some of the following revelations. Go away, go quickly. This is not the review you are looking for”.
DELIGHTS
1. Rey.
I think Rey is fantastic, both the character herself and the way in which Daisy Ridley brought her to life. It is hard not to use the inadequate and overused description of Rey as a “strong female character”, but she is just that. She is a young female Han Solo, Laura Croft, MacGyver of a character and I was impressed from the moment she came on screen.
I’m pleased that she has a mysterious back story that fans will be able to discover as the film series continues. I enjoyed the idea that even though she has stayed on Jakku in the hopes that her parents will return, she has not been idle while there. She is obviously very self-sufficient, which gives weight to the things we see her do throughout the film.
I like her outfit, her staff, and have to admit that ever since the first trailer I have been inordinately fond of her fudgesicle bike. I can’t help it, I think the thing is shaped like one of those two-sticked fudgesicles we all ate as kids, laying on its side. And I love it. If we want to start chalking up disappointments, one would be that it was only onscreen for a brief period of time.
I have a whole theory about who she actually is. I tend not to want to attempt to figure out stories, instead preferring to experience them as they come. But my head was swimming with Star Wars on the way home, and this theory coalesced. I’ll put it in the comments. Its too long for what is already going to be a TL;DNR post.
I was pleased that Rey proved to be capable of “saving herself” many times throughout the movie, and yet she did not have an attitude about receiving help and being a part of a team. Her awakening scene was great. I loved the way she was able to mentally push back against Kylo Ren’s
2. Finn
Just as engaging was John Boyega as Finn.
I’m thrilled that the writers chose to bring us individual human Stormtroopers once again. No clones. Even more fascinating is the idea that they are taken at birth and conditioned. I have always liked the Stormtroopers as a concept, and now am even more interested in them because of these little behind-the-scenes tidbits we have been given regarding the origin of those we see in TFA. And from that force comes Finn.
His awakening, which we see quite early on, is great. I enjoyed seeing his crisis of conscience and the very real fear he exhibited, for some time, that drove him to put as much space as possible between himself and the First Order.
Finn has some really nice moments of humor, particularly with Chewie, and I liked that we were able to see him come into his courage during this film. I enjoy the bond he and Rey have already developed.
I was pleased that both characters were able to have a go at Kylo Ren and his crossguard bladed lightsaber.
3. The Millennium Falcon
Was I thrilled to see the Falcon, sitting there under a tarp in Jakku, just waiting for Rey to fire her up? You bet I was. I have grown fond of a number of fictional space vehicles in my time, but none comes close to the prominent place in my heart occupied by the Millennium Falcon.
It was such a thrill to see Rey, Finn and BB-8 blast off in the Falcon. Even more thrilling to see Han and Chewie enter and hear Han say, “Chewie, we’re home”. Until video tapes came on the market and we could watch the original trilogy to our hearts content, the greatest bulk of my time immersed in the Star Wars universe was reading and re-reading Brian Daley’s Han Solo novels. Star Wars could just be Han, Chewie and the Falcon and I would be content.
4. Poe Dameron
Oscar Isaacs was great, wasn’t he?
One of many positive things about this film was the dogfight battles between X-wings and Tie Fighters. Seeing the X-wings loop and roll and dive was a part of the movie that made me feel like a kid again. The fact that there was not just one of these scenes was wonderful, and I found the Poe Dameron character to be very interesting.
He is the quintessential heroic flyboy, which is just fine, and I appreciated the way that Isaacs and the writers choose to not make him arrogant. He seems like the kind of wholesome, boy next door character that would be in some of the old movies that inspired Lucas in the first place.
And the reunion scene with BB-8 was touching…yes, I get awful sappy when I watch movies.
5. BB-8
I wasn’t sure going into the film whether or not I would enjoy this droid character. I loved the design, but I was afraid that it would be yet another vehicle for a great deal of fan service rather than an individualized character in its own right.
There was some fan service, to be sure, that pointed right to R2-D2 in A New Hope, but BB-8 was really a sweet, special character nonetheless. I enjoyed that a relationship between BB-8 and Poe Dameron was established right away, and I so enjoyed the early interaction between Finn and BB-8. The “thumbs up” scene was so much fun.
As a kid I had such confused feelings about C3PO. He was so annoying…and yet he was funny and even at a young age I could appreciate that. R2-D2 was always cool, although Lucas tainted him with all the things he added to the droid’s abilities in the prequels. I’m hoping for some R2 redemption here and for the relationships with BB-8 and the other characters to grow as the series progresses.
8. Han, Leia, Chewie and Luke
There is an argument that could be made, which I wouldn’t entirely disagree with, that with the strength of characters like Rey and Finn that The Force Awakens could have been made without the big four. It could have been set far enough in the future that these iconic characters would be long dead. And yet I am glad they were there. I’ve missed them, and it was fun to have them back.
Harrison Ford makes a good scruffy looking nerf herder, even at this age, and seeing him and Chewie on the Falcon again made me wish that Lucas would have made some films with these characters exhibiting their smuggling profession.
They were not together all that much, but I did like seeing Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher sharing the screen again. It was a nice touch to have Chewie go and wrap his arms around Leia when they first saw one another again after so long.
I thought the nod to A New Hope with the holochess game coming on when Finn bumped the table was fun.
I wasn’t surprised that they left the reveal of Luke until the end, but even that brief look made me smile.
7. The overall film itself
Despite the disappointments that I will soon outline, I was very pleased with the film overall.
I was pleased to see them go back to a sand covered planet to tell the story of an otherwise unassuming young person. Yes, it is fan service, and yes it and many other things echo A New Hope. But I think Abrams and Kasdan had to do that to a degree. The prequels are such a point of contention, and they needed to ground this one firmly in the universe occupied by the first Star Wars film. And this was a good way to do it.
And who didn’t like seeing all those derelict Empire ships buried in the sands of Jakku? Wow, that was such a fantastic idea and it came off neat on screen. I loved that Rey was living in a downed AT-AT Walker.
I liked the fact that they choose to have the Kylo Ren character be the son of Han and Leia. It fits in with the now-defunct lore of the expanded universe. It gives some weight to the story that eschews the need to spend a great deal of film time building a back story, while still giving us a much more powerful villain in the background who remains a mystery.
I enjoyed that the story overall was limited in scope to a couple of locations and a manageable cast of characters. It felt like a more intimate film that way, despite it taking place in a very large galaxy.
It was great to see Abrams returning to some of the old school film making that we saw in the original Star Wars film. I’m sure it is the result of growing up not only with Star Wars, but also with shows like The Muppet Show, but I’m okay with puppet characters and men in suits. If you give me characters and a setting I can care about, then I’m okay with some old school techniques. I loved seeing robots in that bar scene that were obviously crafted out of old parts, including the one that had an old silver microphone as part of his face.
I could go on and on with the good, but let’s get into a few of the
- DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. Too much fan service
For those not aware of the term I’ve used throughout this post, fan service means adding things into a story that are intended to be there simply to please the audience. I mentioned appreciating some of this in the Delights section, but I did feel like Abrams crossed that thin line between too much and not enough.
One of the main places was with the Death Star.
Okay, so it was a planet with a weapon inside it or something equally improbable, but let’s be realistic. It was a Death Star. I groaned inwardly when I saw it…and then it got worse.
It just so happens that no one, not even Darth Vader’s grandson who so idolizes him that he turned to the dark side, remembered that it is the acme of foolishness to have some big spherical weapon that can be destroyed with just a few shots from an X-wing or two. And while I generally don’t care when science fiction films get goofy with the science, the silliness of the whole pulling the energy of the sun idea was magnified by it being a Death Star that was doing it.
Star Destroyers and Tie Fighters are some really cool weapons. Could the Empire…er, The First Order have beefed up the weapons in those babies over the last three decades?
Another was the “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” line. I’m very fond of it, but it needs to die.
And did we need another overtly maniacal general/admiral/whatever looking down on the dark side force wielding character, whose smug superiority only leads to his death-by-overconfidence? Sigh.
2. Han Solo
Now I know what you are thinking, I’m upset because they killed off Solo. In this case, you would be wrong. Not that I wanted to see him die, but this was not a huge surprise to me. Harrison Ford was long critical of Star Wars, Lucas and his Han Solo character because he wanted Han Solo to die in the original trilogy. Every interview picture I’ve seen with Ford has him smiling really big, so I suspected all along that Abrams was giving him what he always desired. I would have like to have seen in happen in the middle film of this trilogy, but honestly I thought it was done well and gave a solid emotional punch to the film. It also made for a believable turning point for Kylo Ren.
No, what upset me is that you have a scenario where Han and Leia couldn’t address the loss of their son to the dark side by doing anything but separating from one another and going their separate ways. That annoyed me. I find this to be a tired story line and one that crops up because writers cannot do the hard work of finding a way to make a marriage that works compelling on screen. What was mostly an entertaining movie left me with this icky feeling in regards to characters that have been beloved for decades.
Han and Leia fight. Great, lots of people fight. But not everyone allows the hard circumstances of life to tear their relationships apart. And please don’t take this as an indictment against anyone who has had this happen to them or people they know in real life. It does, and life is hard. But I would like to see screenwriters craft marital relationships that have fortitude to make it work, regardless of the circumstances.
And honestly that is about it. They are minor disappointments in the grand scheme, and are far outweighed by the things I enjoyed, but I wish they had not been in there as it would have made a good film into a perfect film.
Star Wars is back…truly back. Overall I think Abrams and Kasdan knew exactly what the franchise needed and they crafted something pretty special as a start to the new era of Star Wars. I hope much of the fan service in this film was there just as a way to put it to bed and that Abrams will now create his own legacy with where the films go next.
Watching Rey on the Millenium Falcon was perhaps the most thrilling thing for me, and seeing her piloting with Chewie makes me feel like the series has some great places to go.
Please share whatever thoughts you want. I will post my ridiculous theory in the comments and title it thus. It has to be bad, I sent it to my brother-in-law days ago and he has cut off all communication with me.
May the Force be with you…
Okay, here is the theory I cooked up on the way home from the movie:
Rey is Han and Leia’s daughter.
If Abrams is staying true to what we’ve seen thus far, it would make sense to have Rey’s story mirror Leia’s in that way.
But, you say, why didn’t they recognize her? My supposition is that the line where Kylo Ren says to her, “I can take anything from you” as he is starting to probe her mind will be revisited when we find out that Han, Leia and Luke conspired together to hide Rey by allowing Luke to remove any knowledge of her from their minds. They would want to do this to avoid allowing Snoke to corrupt her like he did Kylo.
Luke went away, not just because of his feelings of failure, but also so that Leia wouldn’t inadvertently draw that knowledge back out of him with her force abilities. He went away to protect Rey.
That is a reach. Yes, I know. But I also think this because it would make sense why both Han and Leia seemed to have a strong connection to her so quickly. It is also why I think we hear Luke’s voice over in the trailer about the force being strong in his family. It is what he will be saying to her in a future film when it is revealed who she is. As Mary pointed out, there is also the fact that she in some ways looks like Padme.
Now this could all be true if she was actually Luke’s daughter, but I find that less likely than the other. At any rate, we know that there will be some reveal about her parentage, and if it isn’t Luke or Leia, I’m not sure what else would make sense.
It also makes sense, if Abrams is again sticking close to the overall Lucas idea (and he did a lot of that here already), that he would have a family member try to redeem Kylo Ren, and that would make more sense if she happened to be the younger sister he knew nothing about. I don’t think they would bank on Carrie Fisher being around in a third film to be the one to try to redeem Kylo.
Then there is the whole “Ren” and “Rey” name thing.
As I said, it is a stretch, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m off base on all my assumptions.
Here are some flaws in my theory:
Kylo didn’t necessarily look old enough to be that much older than Rey, even if she was 15 now, he would have to be quite a bit older to have not known she was born.
Abrams’ killing of Solo in that manner, while he was trying to redeem Kylo, may have been Abrams way of saying that he was killing that idea outright, and Kylo Ren may prove to be a completely irredeemable monster in the next two films.
So what are your theories?
Overall love for the movie however, disappointed Knights of the old republic is not considered Canon. Happy to see technology from Kotor in the movie (star forge related). After watching the new movie two ideas came forward about Rey; Skywalker or Solo?
Knowing the Jedi code about marriage it wouldn’t make sense if Rey was Skywalker, Solo seems to be the key player for these two powerful children,
After seeing the new ‘death star planet’ it gave me some hope in saving the lore found in Kotor. This brings another question; why did the Jedi really fall? (not canon) 10,000 years ago the Jedi would have never gone to war using a clone arm even to protect the republic. This is why Revan was asked to leave the order. So why did Yoda jump at the idea of turning the Jedi into weapons? Maybe this is why Luke is at the first Jedi temple. Did Vader really bring balance to the force by ‘resetting’ the order unknowingly?
Let me know your thoughts on these questions. Canon or not.
Although I’ve read precious little in the EU of Star Wars, I’m not well versed in what they are changing by going in this new direction, but I do feel bad for the fans that have taken the time to get so immersed in those stories.
Really good remark on the Jedi code. I don’t see Luke having a child out of wedlock, and it would be weird for the Luke in this film to suddenly have a wife when they did nothing to establish that here.
I could be really wrong about everything, but I cannot see how Rey isn’t Han and Leia’s daughter at this point. What few clues there are seem to point that way, and Abrams has obviously proven with this film and with the Star Trek films that he isn’t comfortable going too far off established story lines with franchise films. It would be a real shock if she wasn’t Han and Leia’s kid.
I’ve never liked the clone trooper idea. Now that isn’t to say that I have anything against the Clone Wars series, I was just disappointed that the “clone wars” reference in A New Hope was later interpreted as an army of cloned men. My disappointment stems from what I envisioned when I was a child. When I heard the term “clone wars”, my imagination conjured up images of an army of people who were all clones of the existing people and that the clones went to war with those people. I would, in fact, be battling my own clone. It seemed a really terrifying idea when I was a kid, and so when the prequels went the direction they went, I was saddened.
It does seem weird to me that the Jedi would feel the need to have an army of clones. Have you seen the Honest Trailer for Revenge of the Sith? One of the parts I was shaking my head “yes” to was a line about how easy it was for the Jedi to be defeated by clone troopers. That doesn’t seem quite logical with the established rules of this fictional universe that Jedi are supposed to be these incredibly powerful warriors.
I’ll be interested to see how deeply they go into the story line of Luke at the temple.
First, I want to say that I loved the movie. I really did. It’s rare that I go into a movie and don’t come out with nitpicks and plot hole complaints. 🙂
And actually, you pretty much nailed all of my nitpicks–everything from the amount of fan service (though it didn’t *bother* me so much; I was just simply aware of the “silver platter” of the service) to the way Han and Leia were handled. I agree completely with what you said–I *wanted* those characters to have been able to figure out how to work with their son’s betrayal. I wanted them to have had *more* than just walking away. HOWEVER, that is Han’s character, is it not? To just take off when things get tough? (I still love him though.)
I walked into the movie also certain that Han was going to die, and as soon as he came face to face with Kylo Ren, I knew that was how. I was fine with it too; Harrison Ford is just too old to be doing this, and it was taking some of the magic away for me. 🙂
Okay, so here are my predictions/hopes:
1. I don’t want Rey to be a Skywalker, an Organa, or a Solo. I want her to just be someone in whom the Force is strong. A truly new generation. Why can’t that be? That’s my hope.
2. I predict, if #1 is true, that she and Ben/Kylo Ren will have a relationship. Either he will love her–and his love for her will either turn him back to the Light and/or he will sacrifice himself for her/the Resistance in the end. And I love the idea of him being redeemed via love. I even would love for Rey to fall for him as well, though that would be a longer stretch. (And very difficult to do–but she did see him kill Han. What a redemption arc that would be.)
There was definitely a connection between the two–and I’m choosing *not* to believe it was because they are sister and brother. That’s too much Luke and Leia. I don’t want to see that again. 🙂
3. I predict, and want, Rey and Finn to only be friends. I want them to be like Harry and Hermione. I want to see a strong partnership between a man and a woman that is not related to a love relationship (and it has nothing to do with their skin color, btw–I am totally digging the relationship with Jessica Jones and Luke Cage).
I just want to see a friendship handled in that way. They are a great team; I love them.
4. I personally would love to have Rey and Poe hook up (but you know I am a romantic, so we will see).
Okay, that’s my thought. Love to hear your feedback on this, Carl!
Glad you enjoyed the movie so much.
I actually don’t mind, and am starting to want, Rey to be Han and Leia’s kid. Now that Han is dead, Rey would be a great person to carry on his legacy, in her own unique way.
If she is not, I certainly would not want to see her fall for Kylo Ren. Mostly because I don’t like the character…I like him as a bad guy, but I personally would love to see him not be redeemed and instead prove to be a true bad, bad guy. If he is redeemed, I would rather it be a sister or mother’s love, and not because of romance. Because even if that happened, they would have to write quite the compelling character, and he would have to provide a compelling performance, for me to want to see Rey get with him.
I didn’t see a connection between Rey and Ren. I’ll have to look more closely the next time I see the film.
I wouldn’t mind seeing her and Poe develop a relationship, but at the same time I would be perfectly happy without having to have a romantic plot thread in this trilogy.
I do agree about Rey and Finn. I would love to see them be great friends. I think that is part of the thing that in some way disappoints me about a very enjoyable film. By trying to cram so much in this movie, we were robbed of the opportunity to see Rey and Finn and BB-8 have some longer adventures aboard the Falcon.
I disagree that Harrison Ford is too old to do this. Han Solo isn’t an action hero, he is a smuggler turned rebel hero and his age doesn’t interfere with his luck or his ability to con/swindle his way out of a situation. I still don’t have a big problem with his death…at least not at the moment…but unlike Carrie Fisher, who was pretty rough on screen, Ford still had charisma.
I’m glad I’m not the only one annoyed by the way they handled Han and Leia’s relationship. And you bring up a good point, we don’t even know if they were married. I just assumed so because I know what happens in the books, which are not canon anymore.
I think that is a solid review. I’ve been wondering about Rey, myself. Is she Luke’s or Han’s? It’s a difficult question to answer. However, if they are taking ideas from books, we do know that Han and Leia have twins that are destined to fight each other, (Jacen and Jaina). It makes me wonder if they have just tweaked names, (Since Han seems to yell, “Ben”, at Kylo. Unless he actually yells “Ren”, it’s difficult to tell.)
She could also, very well, be Luke’s as he comes to have kids too. Including a son named, Ben, (which is another issue I have with Han possibly calling him Ben.) I’m not sure how they’re going to play her in, but I do look forward to that reveal!
I like your thoughts on Luke wiping their memories of her to guard against Snoke and Kylo. It’s an interesting theory but it would make sense why they would just abandon her with no one. (That doesn’t seem like a move Luke would make uNess he truly had too.)
I don’t know! There are a lot of ways they could go with it, I’m just excited to see the story unfold in the coming years!
We thought he yelled “Ben” too, Stephen. But given that he has the name “Ren”, that seems odd. Then again, perhaps “Kylo Ren” is his Sith name and he was names Ben after Obi Wan.
I don’t think they did anything in this film to establish that she might be Luke’s daughter, other than her reaction when touching the lightsaber. It could be the case, and maybe they will do that, but I do agree with what was said above about the Jedi code.
Ultimately I just hope that is a very interesting part of Rey’s story.
I wouldn’t see Luke wiping their memories unless they were complicit in the act. And I’m reaching with that interpretation of what Kylo Ren was saying, so it won’t surprise me when I found out that I’m way off base with this.
Perhaps one of the first things we will find out is that Luke had a wife and that it was indeed his child that was left on Jakku.
Saw that you were already seeing the film a second time. That’s great!
His name is Ben–Leia and Han use his name when they are speaking to each other, right? So why wouldn’t Han call him by his real name? Not the stupid nickname he gave himself to try and distance himself from his parents.
As Leia said to Han, “Luke is a Jedi; you are his father.” Thus Han would speak to Ben/Kylo Ren as a father, not as a Jedi. 🙂 Makes sense to me.
I didn’t catch where they called him “Ben” anywhere else, but given the similarity between the names “Ben” and “Ren”, I might have missed that. The only place I thought I heard it was on the bridge.
In the comments Lee mentioned seeing it overseas and that the subtitles showed he called him “Ben” on the bridge. Kind of silly to me that they gave him names that sound so close to the same thing. “They” being the writers, I mean.
I’m just assuming that “Kylo Ren” is the name was given/chose when becoming a Sith because that seems to be the way it has gone with the dark side. But the similarity in the way the names sounded meant that I just couldn’t be sure I heard correctly.
When we got out to the parking lot, Julie asked me what I thought of the movie. I told her I liked the overall direction the film took.
I was really sad that we had another plant killer weapon. Abrams gave us what we wanted. Lots of Tie Fighter and X-Wing battle scenes. Too bad they couldn’t find a more creative way of doing it.
I wanted our new characters to be good actors. I wanted everyone to be believable. I really feel like we got that. I was ready for a bad guy with real anger problems. Kylo Ren provided that. He was desperate to prove himself to….himself….and his own father in front of him provided a tempting opportunity. I think the entire room saw it coming, and that’s fine.
I’ll come back with more thoughts.
I was laughing about your bet with Jessica, even the altered one, since I knew what had happened. I knew you were going to get the bow down either way.
I would have been disappointed had Kylo Ren turned out to be Luke. That would have been too obvious.
I do hope we have no more round planet killing weapons in any future Star Wars stories. Enough is truly enough.
I do like that Kylo Ren is going to be a possibly unstable and unpredictable villain.
I knew as soon as he stepped on the bridge that he was a dead man. Poor Han.
Han did yell “Ben.” I saw it overseas and the subtitle had it spelled out as Ben. I agree with all your points. I loved this movie, especially Rey and Finn. Such great new characters to get behind. My only disappointments were that I wasn’t a fan of the holographic Snokes and I thought Leia was underused. She’s a General now. I wanted to see her doing General-like things!
Thanks for that information, Lee. It definitely did sound like “Ben”, but with the name being “Ren” I started assuming I misheard.
I’m not very pleased with the Snokes character at this point. First of all, I hate the name. Second, and of equal dislike, I’m not fond of the CGI look of the character. Now that may be just because it was a hologram and when we see the character he won’t be that way, but we’ll see. It was a bit glaring, I thought, in a film where most of the other characters looked like they were created with old school film making techniques.
I liked STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS as much as you did. My quibble with the movie involves the amount of plotting in the movie devoted to setting up the sequels. Rey is amazing!
Yes, I agree George. The beauty of A New Hope was that it was initially called Star Wars and irregardless of Lucas’ assertions about having sequels planned, it was a self-contained film that had things that would work with a sequel but also could have stood alone.
I so love Rey. I look forward to seeing the movie again at some point soon.
I’ve seen it now twice and I pretty much agree with your review.
Here in Finland, the subtitle says “Ben!”. I’m pretty sure Kylo Ren was referred to as a master of the Ren knights so I assumed the “Ren” came from there and his real name is Ben Solo. (after Obi-Wan?)
I loved the visuals: the downed X-Wing and Star Destroyer, Rey living in AT-AT, the fights. I also loved the music.
It does have an awfully lot of the same elements as A New Hope: essentially the Empire and the Rebels again but under different names. I also hope that this was the movie to bring old fans aboard and the next movies will launch new adventures.
I automatically assumed that Rey is Luke’s daughter. However, she could also be the daughter of Luke’s student(s). Your idea of her being Han and Leia’s daughter has some merit though. Except that I just can’t see Luke abandoning any relative of his to grow up without family. That would be cruel and Luke already knows what it’s like.
Except of course if Luke has turned to the dark side and *he* is the evil mastermind!
Speculating is so much fun! 🙂
Given that it happened with Leia…she didn’t grow up with family…it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch for Luke, Han or Leia to leave their kid with someone. Wouldn’t have to have been family, but certainly Rey was left with someone. I’ll be very curious if we find out who in the next film.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she was Luke’s kid, although they are going to have to give us some good back story to make it work.
Still, I would consider it a likely possibility if only so that Abrams could use the “Rey, I am your father!” line. Seems like a very Star Wars kind of thing to do, lol.
It would be quite the twist if Luke is actually the bad guy. I’d be disappointed by that, and yet it would go against type with these films and so I couldn’t complain after wanting Abrams to branch out and do some things against type.
I’m with you in hoping for the new adventures. I’m excited you’ve been able to see it twice now. I hope to see it again soon.
Speculating is indeed fun. And we are going to have a LOOONG time to do it.
You’re right: Leia did grow up in a happy foster family so Rey could have been left with a person or people Luke trusted and then something happened.
Or maybe Rey is related to Obi-Wan or Qui-con? We don’t really know if they had siblings who had kids.
“Still, I would consider it a likely possibility if only so that Abrams could use the “Rey, I am your father!” line.”
True!
“It would be quite the twist if Luke is actually the bad guy.”
🙂 Indeed. But I don’t really believe that because it would go against his whole character arc so far.
However, it seems that he has struggled with the Dark Side after Ben Solo turned and there is “Dark Empire” comic where Luke fell to the Dark side so it’s not completely unheard of.
But we do know that he didn’t finish teaching any of his students because he’s the Last Jedi. Given how much time has passed that’s a bit strange to me.
I hope and pray Luke doesn’t turn out to be bad in any way. That would be a great disappointment for me.
More and more I’m being convinced that there were a lot of signs there that Rey is Luke’s daughter, but your mention of Obi-wan reminds me that Stephen sent me this link and the fourth theory, about her being a grand daughter of Obi-wan, is very interesting:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/12/21/let-s-talk-about-that-one-character-s-family-in-the-force-awakens-spoilers.aspx?utm_content=buffer4f18d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Thanks for the link! Very interesting.
Carl, I strongly agree with your disappointment in Han and Leia’s relationship. That seemed like the biggest fan service to me. They were able to do so little with Leia’s character, and since she and Han don’t have any substantial relationship building in the film, she’s just there to make people happy. Not sure if that’s a result of poor writing (probably) or Fisher being out of practice, but I was severely disappointed. Feisty, intelligent Leia has been reduced to a kindly grandmother (even if she doesn’t have grandchildren, that’s the vibe her character has).
Here’s to hoping they’ve done all the fan service they needed to make everyone happy and now they’ll do some really interesting stuff with the series.
Also hoping they’ll surprise me. And since the other commenters have taken up wishes:
I want Rey not to be related to Luke and Leia at all. (It’s just too obvious. And some new blood would be nice.)
I want Rey and Finn not to get together (not because I have anything against it, but because it would be so nice to see a platonic friendship between male/female main characters).
I want Kylo Ren not to be fully redeemed. He can be completely bad, or struggle with his feelings about his family, but I don’t want a full & heartwarming redemption story.
However, if they could successfully pull off a Rey/Ren love story, I would want to see it, because that would be the screenwriting award of the century, I think.
And I would love to see Leia go totally badass as General of the Resistance forces, but I don’t really expect them to do that….
I hope the redemption story we get is one of Luke being able to successfully train a powerful Light side Jedi…Rey…and perhaps Finn as well…and not Kylo Ren.
You describe accurately the way I feel about how they wrote Han and Leia’s relationship. I’m more annoyed by it the farther I get away from the film. Frustrates the heck out of me. Even if Fisher’s acting was suspect, they still could have written a part where she had something, even something minor, to do.
I won’t mind her being related to Luke or Leia, but if she isn’t then I at least hope they take a little time to give us a believable back story when we do find out. I like some of the other theories thrown out in these comments.
I totally get your disappointments with the film, although the didn’t bother me. I don’t think Star Wars is the sort of film to really get into a relationship in-depth. And I think that there would be a huge backlash from fans if it did.
I also liked the way Leia and Han, although physically apart, never really separated. You see that in the reunion scene.
I’ve been twice and I’d agree with Mervi, “Ben” was how Han referred to his son. At one stage Snouk (sp? The Supreme Leader) calls Kylo the “Master of the Knights of Ren”, I’m assuming that Kylo may mean something like master, of maybe just that all the Nights of Ren put Ren after their assumed names.
All in all I loved The Force Awakens. Such great fun, and a real return to the classic Star Wars feel. Yes, it did echo a lot of the very first film, but it did enough of its own thing to have its own identity as a film. And I loved Rey. Loved Finn too, but Rey was just perfect.
Rey really was fantastic, wasn’t she. And Finn too.
Your point about Han and Leia still obviously being connected makes the story line about them parting from one another all the more lame, in my opinion. It is very obvious that they wanted Han and Chewie to be together without Leia to set up all those scenes, but that could have been done with some other explanation than that they were separated because they couldn’t deal with their grief and actually communicate like mature adults. It is lazy story telling.
If the plan is for this story to be told in a trilogy, I’m very curious about how they will go about doing so. There seems to be a lot of story still to get set up. I suspect part of the next film will echo Empire Strikes Back, with Rey and Luke doing something similar to Luke and Yoda in regards to having a training period. I’m still hoping that the writers do something to move it a little farther away from trying to mirror Empire, though.
I told really enjoyed the movie. I loved all the new characters. Rey, Finn, Poe and even BB-8. I was sick of the advertising seemingly shoving BB-8 at me in all the trailers but I sure did fall in love with him in the movie. Rey is just the kind of strong female role model I want for my daughter. Finn was developed as more than just the goofy sidekick and I can see Poe filling in Han Solo’s shoes in the next film. I wasn’t happy with the actors they choose for the Dark side then I suspect I wasn’t to like them anyway. Kylo Ren was pretty cool until he took his mask off. They should have saved that reveal until the next movie perhaps. The General Hux character was terrible and don’t even get me started on how cheesy the Supreme Leader Snopes character came of in this film. Poor Andy Serkis.
As for the old guard. I really enjoyed Han and Chewie. In fact I was pleasantly surprised with how much screen time Chewie got. As for Liea. All I can say is that I hope Carrie Fisher’s role is reduced in future films. I would love to see more R2D2 and C-3PO in the next two films as well. In fact we should see more R2D2 in the Rogue Squadron movie next year.
It’s nice to say SW is really back. I know I can’t wait to see it again. I enjoyed the film so much I even picked up one of the new SW books on kindle last night (Lost Stars).
If Carrie Fisher’s role isn’t reduced, I hope they give her something meaningful to do. If she was actually providing some solid leadership and direction to people it would be something. All she seemed to do here was stand around, and that is very disappointing given that she too had some strong moments in the original trilogy. Though she had her moments where she was in need of rescue, she was obviously not just there as eye-candy, she was a character with some purpose.
I think it would be fantastic if she was Wedge’s daughter, that would be a nice nod to the previous series. Or if Poe Dameron was somehow related to him as they are both great X-wing pilots.
I would have liked the reveal of Kylo’s face to be later too, although it was a more powerful scene with the death of Han to have his son do it to him face to face.
I loved Han and Chewie in these movies. I ache about Han’s death the more that time passes since seeing this, although I fully expected it to happen and don’t feel it was a cheap death like Wash’s in Serenity.
I hope to get out and see this one again between Christmas and New Years. It’s going to be crazy busy still this week and weekend, I expect.
One more thing. How about Rey being Wedge’s daughter. Wedge had to be strong in the force to survive all the 3 original movies. Maybe she’s related to Biggs who they cut out of the New Hope movie.
My thought is she is Han and Leia’s child so Carrie Fisher can utter the line” Rey!!! I’m your mother..” 😉
I am loving this post, Carl, as well as all of the comments! It seems that everyone had the exact same questions coming out of the movie as I did. The biggest one being “Who is Rey??”. Like Stephen said, if they are basing it all off of the books, Han and Leia have twins, a boy (Jacen) and a girl (Jaina). Both went thru Jedi training with their uncle, Luke Skywalker, when they were young…however Jacen ended up turning to the Dark Side. So…this leads me to think that perhaps Ben and Rey are Han and Leia’s twins, who will inevitably fight it out in upcoming battles. Although, in the books, Luke Skywalker also has children of his own (just one boy) with a woman named Mara Jade. So there’s reason to believe that perhaps Rey will end up being revealed as Luke’s daughter, although I’m leaning towards the Han/Leia theory. Either way, the family conflict would of course be in-line with all of the other Star Wars episodes, however I’d be totally okay with Rey not being a Skywalker descendent as well. And I agree that these movies do not need a romantic aspect to be successful, either. It’d actually be nice, for once, if they left that out. But since I – III had the Anakin/Padme thing, and IV – VI had the Han/Leia thing…I guarantee that Rey will end up with somebody!
I loved, loved, loved The Force Awakens! It brought back the same old “feel” as Episodes IV – VI. The characters were interesting, charismatic, and fun to watch…and just downright likeable (especially Rey!). There was the perfect amount of action and plot development throughout the movie, and kept me on the edge of my seat wondering where the story would lead us. The humor was spot on. The cutesy one-liners from Han, Finn, Rey, and Leia…as well as the fun banter involving BB-8 and Chewbacca…were equivalent to what we experienced in A New Hope.
My disappointments – the entire First Order. Kylo Ren wasn’t all that intimidating even with his mask on, let alone when he took the mask off. Once he took it off and revealed himself, my initial thought was “This isn’t a villain. This is a pimply-faced high school computer geek who works weekends at HobbyTown USA.” As I was also disappointed in the supreme leader, Snoke, who reminded me of nothing more than a giant holographic version of Gollum, only with better teeth. Nothing about these two characters struck any sort of fear into me, nor did I walk out of the theater feeling any sort of hatred for either of them. Mostly, I just want them gone so that we can get some better antagonists in these films.
You are a true geek, Jamie. We are definitely related. 🙂
We do need some more formidable bad guys in the next film, that is for certain. Perhaps when we see the actual Snokes character he will be better, but I’m having my doubts. I guess if we see him in person, rather than a holographic, and he does a few heinous things, we’ll feel better about him. Kylo seemed a bit more like a villain when he killed Han, but not enough to take away what you pointed out which is that he is really just a confused kid at this point, or at least looks like one. I like my villains a little more old and grizzled.
I’m not sure how much they will follow the books given that they seem pretty determined to make that part of the EU obsolete, but it still wouldn’t surprise me if they pulled elements in, like they have already done, to please the fans.
If you didn’t see it, check out the reply I left a few comments above with the link to the game informer site. The discussion of the four theories of who Rey is are very fascinating to read.