It's time for Part 2 of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoiler Discussion! And as the title suggests, massive spoilers are ahead, so if you haven't seen the movie, what the heck have you been doing with your life!? Go watch it now! Now, let's talk some spoilers!
Starkiller Base
It's the Death Star, again, but bigger. As far as criticisms go, Starkiller base essentially being a bigger Death Star is the most valid, and honestly the only one with much weight behind the argument. Should the central McGuffin been something other than a giant weapon that destroys starsystems? Yeah, probably. Is it as big a deal as some are making it out to be? Nope, it's still different enough, and can you honestly think of something better?
With that said, using Starkiller Base to destroy basically all the politics in the Star Wars galaxy is rather brilliant. Now one of the worst parts of the Prequel Trilogy is completely out of the picture! As it turns out, there were some deleted scenes that take place about the Senate on the planets that were destroyed, which might have added some weight to the moment where they are destroyed, albeit at the cost of pacing. However, we will have to wait until the Blu-Ray to see if the scene would have been worth keeping in the film. But as a whole, Starkiller Base is the one plot point that is a bit too similar to the previous films.
Poe Dameron Sidelined and Originally Died?
Poe Dameron is hailed as one of the many highlights of The Force Awakens and for good reason. Oscar Isaac made the character instantly likable, and his chemistry with Finn made for an awesome Bromance in 5 minutes! However, according to sources, Poe was said to have died in the Tie-Fighter crash in the original script. Probably after seeing how great of a character the writers had, the script was changed and Poe merely went missing in the crash. Many reviews complained that Poe did not receive enough screen. While I agree to a point, his exclusion is one of the many brilliant decisions that the writers made to prevent the film from being cluttered and overstuffed, like many films are today. Of course, Poe should definitely play a major role in Episode VIII now that Han Solo has died.
Luke Skywalker
Thanks to the brilliant marketing, no knew that Luke Skywalker would have almost no screen time and zero lines of dialogue! And while some may be disappointed by his lack of screen time, nothing about the marketing alluded that Luke would have much of a role in the film. In fact, not including Luke is a brilliant decision by the creators. The Force Awakens benefits for the limited number of central characters and saving Luke for the next film should prove to be a great asset to the film. While not many people seem to disagree, Luke exclusion from the film was excellently executed.
Millennium Falcon: "The garbage will do"
Easily one of, if not, the best scene in the film is when Rey and Finn are running from the First Order to find a ship, Finn says, "What about that ship?" and Rey shouts, "That one's garbage." The quad-jumper ship that they are running towards explodes, and Rey shouts again, "The garbage will do," as the camera pans towards the Millennium Falcon! First time watching the movie, I literally gasped loud enough for my brother to hear two seats away. Just wow! That is how you introduce the Millennium Falcon! The scene makes the Millennium Falcon an integral part of the story and doesn't just stop everything to have a moment. The Millennium Falcon is shown, only the audience thinks of it as anything special, and the plot continues in possibly the best starfighter chase of the franchise, or at least since Return of the Jedi. Everything about the scene is perfectly executed. It highlights one of the many strengths of the film in that it doesn't dwell on the past to get the audience nostalgic. All of the aspects from the Original Trilogy are incorporated into the story organically.
Do you have any thoughts on these topics about Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Please comment below and check back soon for more spoiler discussions!
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I would have happily had more Poe. In fact, the newbies should have given more of the film with less of the old guard. As for the big Death Star? All that talent and we end up with a bigger space ball? Come on, these people have had decades to imagine something different! Agree that holding Luke back was a good move.
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts on the way the Falcon was introduced. I didn't think about it before, but I agree it worked really well that way!
ReplyDeleteI really really really wanted more Poe, but I see the sense behind not spending too much time on him. Just as long as he gets his due in ep 8, I'll be okay!
Same for Luke. It's very teasing of them, but hopefully it'll work out amazingly.
In my theater whenever an original trilogy character appeared the audience burst into
ReplyDeletecheers. But they also cheered when they saw the Millennium Falcon. That ship IS a character. I thought that Poe was great in his limited role. Adding more scenes for him might have unbalanced the film. I agree that knowing more about the New Republic would have been better, having them destroyed without knowing anything about them had very small emotional impact. I guess the tie-in books will tell more about them.