The only way to properly enjoy Star Wars is to be in a mindset with a precisely proportioned
combination of deep engaged reverence and light distracted escapism. It's both
the greatest of all modern myths, and, per Todd Hanson’s affectionate but sharp
assessment, "a big dumb movie about space wizards." Consider its
sources: The Hero with a Thousand Faces
and Flash Gordon; Akira Kurosawa samurai films and B-movie WWII pictures; epic
fantasy and Poverty Row Westerns. More than the sum of its parts, the magic of Star Wars is in its cohesive
combination. But if its high-low synthesis is responsible for this space
opera's wide-ranging popularity, its staying power is in the details. Creator
George Lucas is a great fantasy filmmaker: a sharp visual storyteller and a
nonchalant conjurer of fantabulous jargon, densely packing these films with
robots, aliens, planets, cultures, vehicles, weapons, and gadgets, suggesting a
world far beyond the frame. Put him on the shortlist with the likes of Baum,
Tolkien, Roddenberry, and Rowling, creators of popular fantasy worlds with
their own internal logic, striking design, and unshakable pull. Their creations
are lasting for their narratives, but even more for the places they allow us to
visit.
The famous opening text tells us Star Wars takes place in a galaxy far far away, and the images that
follow live up to its promised scope and history. Through six films, Lucas used
dazzling special effects, energetic action, quasi-mystical spirituality, and
sweeping pseudo-historical fantasy worldbuilding to inhabit massive striking
artificial vistas with, in the classic original trilogy (1977-1983), a
triumphant hero's journey, and, in the unfairly maligned prequels (1999-2005),
a tragedy of political machination and curdled idealism. His saga contained an
entire ecosystem of the imagination, rich soil on which fans and writers – from
little kids playing with action figures to sci-fi writers tapped for tie-in
novels – grew new stories.
Now Star Wars: Episode
VII - The Force Awakens is the first real test of whether this galaxy can
survive on the big screen beyond its creator's eccentric and brilliant vision.
The answer is a resounding “mostly.” Director J.J. Abrams (with Mission: Impossible III and two Star Treks, no stranger to franchise
caretaking) takes over from Lucas and creates an energetic entertainment. He’s
not inspired by the series’ inspirations, but by the series itself. Thus it
lacks the velocity in and personality of Lucas’s imaginative imagery and ideas
(identifiably his all the way), but creates a piece of skilled imitation, sure
to please the crowds. Abrams is an expert blockbuster craftsman, and here
proves himself a talented mimic as well, recreating the feeling and sensations
of Star Wars past while finding new
characters on which to focus.
From the opening blasts of John Williams’s score to the slow
pan to a distant planet stalked by a massive Star Destroyer, it’s clear we’re
back in a recognizable space. For those of us whose Proustian madeleines are
the snap-hiss of lightsabers, and for whom the Doppler-effect howls of TIE
fighters and X-Wings are guaranteed to instantly activate inner 9-year-olds, the
familiarity will be instantly transporting. It feels and swells and sounds like
Star Wars, a factor of Abrams’s hard work,
and the continuity represented by several series’ staples (like concept artists
Iain McCaig and Doug Chiang, sound designers Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom) in
the crew. Full of echoes to previous installments, we’re on a desert planet
where a young person (this time a resourceful scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley,
a newcomer in a star-making turn)) is about to be drawn into galactic-wide
conflict with a dramatic call to adventure.
Working with screenwriters Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) and Lawrence Kasdan (a
co-writer on Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), Abrams has a story set
30 years after Episode VI that recombines
ideas, lines, images, and plot points from previous entries. They’ve cannily
(and maybe a smidge calculatingly) positioned the movie precisely between crowd-pleasing
fan fiction and a rousing new heroes’ journey, both a loose remake of the
original set-up and an introduction to (commendably diverse) new people. Wisely
starting fresh before getting derivative, the movie opens with Rey, and others
in a set of dramatic original characters: a conflicted soldier (John Boyega); a scheming masked villain of the Dark
Side (Adam Driver); a brave fighter pilot (Oscar Isaac); and an instantly loveable ball-droid named BB-8. They fit in
with the matinee adventure spirit, and the convincingly lived-in world,
projecting happiness simply to be in one of these movies. Their awe is
contagious.
It’s the galaxy far far away as we know it, but a generation
removed from those stories, full of new people living lives we can be excited
to discover as we don’t leave their perspective. While the plot blasts along,
it picks up welcome characters, like Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and ships, like
his Millennium Falcon, bringing old
and new together in a race to prevent new bad guys from blowing up the galaxy. Abrams
creates instantly compelling fresh characters with a talented cast – Ridley,
Boyega, and Isaac are great likable heroes; Driver is a terrifically
complicated villain – while leaning on nostalgia for sights and sounds and
faces from earlier movies. Each classic character gets to make an impressive
re-entrance, none better than Leia (Carrie Fisher), as tough and charming as
ever. It’s nice to see them, even if the movie is occasionally too much like what we’ve seen before.
Abrams is clearly energized by moments that thrill him as a
fan, playing with uniquely Star Wars images
and ideas borrowed (reunions of long-lost icons, rhymes with other episodes) and
invented (a tiny ancient pirate (Lupita Nyong'o), a shadowy villain (Andy
Serkis), a stormtrooper with a flamethrower). It doesn’t always pop, a few
sequences erring on the side of choppiness or overfamiliar beats, the action on
the whole merely proficient, and the entire thing moving so quickly it can’t
linger on unusual details like Lucas did. But cinematographer Dan Mindel (John Carter) brings filmic widescreen
framing, finding some of the original trilogy’s visual flavor as he photographs
displays of evocative lights, picturesque landscapes, and massive explosions in
granular reality, bringing an unreal place to something like convincing life.
When the film is showing us original contributions – mild redesigns, unfamiliar
beasts, new-fangled weapons – its far more interesting and involving than when remaking
previous plot in new packaging. Even its surprises aren’t too surprising as it goes.
In some ways a rather cautious extension of the brand,
leaning on plot points and emotional beats we’ve seen before in this series –
and a few too many times those connections are heavily underlined (a line about
a trash compactor will irritate me for days) – The Force Awakens is nonetheless alive with possibility of new
storytelling in this galaxy. Allowing the fresh faces center stage while giving
returning characters supporting roles without feeling too much like a passing
of the torch, it sets the groundwork for future success. Call it The Fandom
Awakens, especially since it’s almost scientifically calibrated to tickle
acolyte’s pleasure centers while remaining open enough for a younger generation
of fans to fit right in, like an exuberant greatest hits remix from the best
cover band in the world.
It’s nakedly manipulative and terrifically exciting Hollywood
filmmaking of incredible competence. Platoons of talented artisans, animators,
and puppeteers create remarkably tactile locations, dogfights, laser battles,
and lightsaber clashes, swooping and stirring in all their fantastical glory.
It’s big, energized, and enjoyable, making most of its competition look like
Padawans. Without Lucas it’s removed from the spark of novelty it once had, but,
as an attempt to find fresh characters through which to make old stories new
again, it’s a fun admirable effort. Made with more love than cynicism, it’s
happy to start another cycle of galactic history repeating itself, The Force
forever seeking its balance. There’s nothing quite like Star Wars. It’s enough to have space wizards, interplanetary dive
bars, and ginormous superweapons for a new generation. Even if it has to over-deliver
on what it thinks old fans want, it's plenty entertaining for everyone.
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