Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Are you crying tears of joy?

Featuring

Daisy Ridley as Rey

John Boyega as Finn

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren

Harrison Ford as Han Solo

Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata

and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron

It took Disney’s control to make a modern Star Wars movie that is good. No more crappy, hammy dialogue penned by George Lucas. No more stupid Jar Jar Binks. This is Star Wars back to its roots. With the original cast members returning to their roles, The Force Awakens is exactly what us oldies seeking a little bit of childhood nostalgia wanted. But was there just a teensy bit too much nostalgia?

I don’t think I need to say too much about the storyline. You can read all about it online…or by the opening crawl that is traditional in Star Wars. Suffice to say the war that was thought to have been won in Return of the Jedi has continued to rage across the galaxy for thirty years.

In many ways, The Force Awakens feels a lot like the original trilogy. Let’s have a look at the similarities (mild spoiler warnings follow):

• Starts on a desert planet
• A new Force prodigy
• Old war heroes in exile
• Jedi largely forgotten
• Petulent teenage angst
• Supersized superweapon (with even more questionable physics)
• Trench run
• Being lost in an imposing military facility
• Unexpected familial relationships
• People falling into exhaust vents
• Cute robot companions
• X-WINGS!!!
• TIE Fighters!
• MILLENIUM FALCON!!!!

Yes. All of those things appeared in the original trilogy. At least this time, there weren’t any really anoying aliens designed to lure children into the merchandising. There’s enough desire for children’s toys during Christmas as it is.

In fact, as I expected, J. J. Abrams would draw some inspiration from the Star Wars books that followed on from Return of the Jedi, chronicling the adventures of our favourite Rebels turned Republic leaders. I can think of two major Extended Universe storylines that have sort of been melded into this movie.

The further into this movie I went, the more The Force Awakens felt like Star Trek Into Darkness. Another nostalgia trip directed by Abrams, that rehashed (even more unashamedly) a much loved Star Trek storyline. That realisation, that The Force Awakens is pretty much just A New Hope with a new generation of heroes and better CGI, meant that I still loved the movie, knowing its faults, of which there are some.

• The first is the music, which felt a little flat. I don’t know why, perhaps the occasion of a new Star Wars movie just wasn’t quite matched by the score. It was good, mind, beats going to a Taylor Swift concert and listening to her whine about her exboyfriends, but not as good as it could have been.
• And that stupid superweapon and its stupid physics. Why?
• Captain Phasma, or, as I like to call her, Brienne of Chrome, was the biggest letdown of the movie. What’s with the hype for a character with literally five lines?
• And how in hell does Rey…well…do what she does? To quote Qui-Gon, her midichlorians must be off the chart of charts.
• The actual main villain, (not Kylo Ren) looks like the cross between Voldemort and a ghoul from Fallout 4
• Also, why the hell is the main villain’s name Snoke? This is not Harry Frickin’ Potter. Might as well have called him Darryl.

Still, you can’t help but love the movie. Its sense of humour, supplied by an old Han Solo, BB-8 and the awkward timing of C-3PO, powers the movie along. Also, the new lightsaber fights are fantastic, bringing weight and power to a proper sword fight, not like the over the top ballet choreography in the prequels. The (new) main characters themselves are very well done, and you just want to find out more about them.

The Force Awakens is basically what the doctor ordered for Star Wars. Plenty of nostalgia, references to the originals and in jokes. It attempts to reset the agenda after the commercially successful but dead prequel movies, which had awsome actors, but sh!te scripts. What could have been… If you’re a Star Wars fan, you will enjoy this. If you’re a child, you’ll enjoy this. Just don’t get on the Abrams Hype Train, and you won’t be disappointed.

Rating

Abrams locked his S-Foils in attack position and went for a successful trench run.

Watch this if you…

Too many reasons to watch this, not enough time to type them all out.

Skip this if you…

Prefer the prequels. So that would be one person, ever.

Ender’s Game

A good foundation wasted.

Featuring

Asa Butterfield as Andrew “Ender” Wiggin

Abigaile Breslin as Valentine Wiggin

Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Gruff

Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham

Viola Davis as Major Gwen Anderson

Hailee Steinfeld as Petra Arkanian

with lots of other kids with character names you might recognise but are inconsequential

Ender’s Game is a great book. It’s a book about mental strength, survival and growing up in a dark and difficult life with a situation that is so morally grey that only fear of the unknown and desperation n the face of a worst case scenario can explain the actions and events in the story.

The movie adaptation, unfortunately, doesn’t live up to the grandeur of the book. It has everything to do with the question “how do we fit everything in?”. Firstly, the movie depicts Ender as already a teenager on the verge of a monumental break in his voice. This alteration, where Ender is made older and more mature breaks with the original dramatically, which gives us a defining account of ten year’s of Ender’s childhood from the age of six until his final destruction of the Formics. I wouldn’t say that it’s a terrible choice at first glance, but the main issue here is believability. We, as the audience, see at some point that the assault fleet sent by Earth is about a month away from their destination using faster than light travel. This limits the time frame of Ender’s training to a couple of months at most, which is preposterously unrealistic.

Once that’s established, it becomes the root cause of most of the problems with the movie. It wants to build up this fantastic tactical genius from his start as a scrub until his most decisive and final victory against the enemy. The problem is that you see none of the growth that is needed, none of the blood, sweat and tears that he has to put in because, at the start of the story, he already IS a tactical genius. This bad pacing leads the movie to basically only reinforce his ability without actually showing where and how it came about. You see him training a bit, nearly kill a guy who’s a jerk and knock off all the other teams because he’s ace, but not all the steps he takes to get there.

One thing I thought was good about the movie though, is the depiction of Ender by Asa Butterfield. He’s tough when he needs to be (read: brings the fury), yet vulnerable and appearing to be physically weaker than everyone else. The strength of the character in truth lies in the mental capacity and fortitude of Ender, not in his ability to actually go out there and fight. He can, but he’s not a grunt and will never win a battle of pure physical strength.

If I’m honest, this is the movie adaptation of a story that deserves to be told in two parts. There’s more than enough in the story to have split it up. I suppose they thought that if they did it that way, to give the character more room to breath, they ran the risk of people not wanting to come back for the second one. Whatever the case may be, Ender’s Game the movie is poorer for it and a mere shadow of the source material. It’s a passable action movie, most likely aimed at first timers. However, if you’ve read the book, and you want to experience the story again, you’re better off doing some more reading.

Rating

If you haven’t read the book, you might think it’s pretty good. If you have read the book, you’ll think it’s merely in Ender’s Shadow.

Should I watch this?

Depends if you’re an Ender fan. It doesn’t quite live up to the original work’s message of strength and growing up with an open mind, but then again, neither does Orson Scott Card.