Countdown to The Last Jedi: The Force Awakens Retrospective

[godisawesome]

In preparation for a podcast next week, my buddy and I are going to be rewatching The Force Awakens in preparation. About half our stuff will just be evaluation of TFA on its own, while the other half will either be predictions or challenges we see going forward in one week.

So, if you feel like rewatching the film or simply dredging up your own judgements, what do you guys think of these elements?

The Ensemble of Characters

This one is pretty simple. Did the new characters succeed with you? Did they use the older characters well? For me, Finn, Rey, and Kylo were all excellent new additions, though I felt Boyega as Finn had the clear advantage, with a new character type and intriguing reversal of an expected archetype as the good Stormtrooper. Han Solo being the film's Obi-Wan worked excellently for irony and as an economic decision, since Harrison Ford is easily the most marketable of the Big 3. And while Leia had a good role here, Luke being held for later was a great move on their part to keep up the hype of his appearance and allow Hamill to slip into Ford's structural place in the storyline upon Han's death.

The Mix of Old and New Themes
By and large, JJ Abrams found the perfect atmosphere and emotional level for the film... But at times he fell too far into repitition. The little twists and turns all worked well, even in their simplicity; Rey reversing Luke's wanderlust into a devotion to staying put in Jakku, Finn going from background mook to main Hero at first out of self preservation but eventually altruism instead, all that works great. But there's this feeling of regression in other scenes. Especially when we see the New Republic for all of 5 seconds before Abrams wipes it out. I get that we want the heroes to be underdogs, but it was a crude way to sweep things back to the OT status quo, and was arguably more perfunctory and emotionally cold than Alderaan's destruction way back when; at least then we got to watch Leia react to something close to her.

Your best moment, and your worst

Both of mine occur roughly at the same time: the climax of the film on Starkiller Base. The best moment? The Finn and Rey vs Kylo Ren duel. We've just had the perfect crescendo to the rising action with Han's death at Kylo's hands, we've got a desperate situation for all parties, since Kylo is already nursing a wound from Chewbacca. And we've got near perfect "booking," to use a wrestling phrase, for the actual fight breakdown. Kylo spends the fight showing how his patricide has not made himself stronger, Finn completes his journey from hesitant objection to murderous orders and fear of reprisal to hero of the hopeless fight on the planet he returned to for his friend, and Rey finally awakens her true potential as a force user and becomes out trilogy protagonist (as opposed to film protagonist Finn.)

But at the same time, we keep cutting away to Trench Run 3.0 on Death Star 3.0, and it breaks up the flow of a fresh and new scene for a battle we literally have seen one almost half of the other films. It's the only part of the film that doesn't even feel like a remix; it's just straight copy chatting A New Hope.

What aspect carrying over from TFA you hope to continue/the aspect you hope is repaired
By and large, I'm looking forward to the ensemble cast continue to grow, and for Hamill to show his chops as aged Luke Skywalker. I hope that Johnson manages to portray the Galaxy as different enough from the OT to make for a different status quo.

So, what about you guys?

[David Walton]

Great analysis! I agree with most of what you've said here, especially the way the final lightsaber duel ties up several thematic elements (and the trench run adds very little to the film and breaks up the action).

And the Kylo vs. Finn and Rey duel is one of the most beautiful action sequences in the entire franchise, perhaps matched only by the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel in ROTS. Though I'm inclined to say ROTS' duel has more emotional impact, but TFA's is more visually striking (and that's saying something).

[godisawesome]

Here's the podcast, if anyone's interested. And like nay self-respecting Star Wars podcasters, we're going to have a reaction to The Last Jedi by next week. Also, we've got a Who is rey podcast on the same site. https://www.buzzsprout.com/132209/60...-retrospective