Star Wars: The Force Awakens Movie Comments [with spoilers]

Keywords: sci-fi, space opera, war

Audience: PG

Violent content: lots of fights (mild visualization)

Sexual content: none 

Star Wars is another old franchise with a long-awaited new movie released this year. In short, I think The Force Awakens (TFA) wouldn't disappoint the fandom, but it's not impressive either.

Before I proceed, I must tell you that I'm not a big fan of Star Wars (I like it, but I don't even remember much about the previous movies) and I'm not a Trekkie (I'm a Potterhead). If Rey didn't seem to be the next Jedi, I wouldn't have seen TFA this early.

You can call this post my comments of TFA instead of my review. It's just that random.

MODERATE SPOILERS AHEAD

So here's pretty much the conflict of TFA: Everyone needed to find Luke Skywalker--the legendary Jedi. The First Order wanted to rule the universe and used Starkiller (a much bigger Death Star) to destroy resisting planets. The Resistance fought their way to sabotage Starkiller. This is Star Wars, so family drama is strong in this movie.

I was one minute late, so I was thrown into Kylo Ren and friends attacking a village and kidnapping a member of Resistance (Poe Dameron). They wanted Poe because he had a map of Luke Skywalker's hideout. Kylo Ren left with an order: kill them all. They did kill them all, but I honestly think this scene was meant to be cruel but it's not. Real-life "troops" did worse things to innocent villagers. This is not the only time I thought Kylo Ren did not act evil enough to be the archenemy of this new trilogy, but I eventually understood why and this is what makes TFA interesting.

Poe Dameron was "tortured" kindly by Kylo Ren. Oh yes, he used the Force to torture Poe, but really, dude, you should've cut his limbs piece by piece until he begged to die! What's that lightsaber for? This leniency led to Poe's escape. See? He's a top-notch pilot, you should've cut his hands! (I'm so evil, I know, but my friend is a writer who tortures his characters so bad, so I can't help myself to complain.) Well, Poe was helped by a Stormtrooper (Finn). They escaped, and of course there was a short yet intense space chase until they crashed in an arid planet called Jakku.

Finn was still wearing his Stormtrooper armor, so it made sense that he survived and Poe didn't. Finn motivation was just to run as far as possible from the First Order (that's Kylo Ren and friends, don't expect me to give a lenghty information, just Google it). He didn't mean to complete Poe's quest when he found BB-8 (that's the droid who had Map of Luke) and Rey.

Rey was a girl who had lived in Jakku for years. She'd been abandoned there by her family. I still don't know who she is. That would be a surprise for the next installment of this trilogy, I suppose. Rey was a more important character than Finn. You'll see why in the end of TFA. She's an adept pilot and she could fight with her cane. I love how they didn't make her saved by other characters. She's strong and smart enough to find her way out. 

In short, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 hijacked Millennium Falcon and escaped some more Stormtroopers. I told you Finn just wanted to save his ass, so he told Rey that he was a member of the Resistance. Off they went to send BB-8 back home and they were caught by none other than Han Solo.

This is where you'll see Kanjiklub. Han Solo borrowed money from too many gangs in the galaxy, and two of them ambushed him in this movie. I remember nothing about the other group, but Kanjiklub is the one with Indonesian actors in it. Don't expect much, they only spoke and shot a little, and then they were eaten by Han's monsters. Oh, dear, I know J.J. Abrams had warned us, but I expected a simple fighting scene.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Rey is a badass. Girls will love her. Feminists won't complain about her. She cried once or twice (but, hey, Kylo Ren cried too) but she always saved herself before others got to her side. She solved problems with her skills. For example, when she saved Finn from a monster, they didn't make her fight with some impossible luck--she used her wit. We can say the Force is very strong in her. As expected, in the end of TFA she went to Luke Skywalker to be his apprentice. And don't forget that she's an adept pilot (just like Luke!). Even when she's with Han, she impressed him with her knowledge. I had a wild thought that Rey is Kylo Ren's twin sister, but Leia would have discovered it if that's true.

Finn had the most character development in TFA. He was always a righteous man, but he feared for himself. With Rey (and all the conflicts around them), he grew up into a brave man. And he had some Force, though not too strong. I just wondered how come he didn’t feel guilty targeting his ex-fellow Stormtroopers? Despite this lack of empathy, I think he's the one we can relate to the most in TFA.

Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Leia (Ben), thus he is Darth Vader's grandson. Luke trained him to be a Jedi, but he turned to the Dark Side instead. He looked up to his late grandpa, but he feared that he was too weak to follow his step (can't blame him, Anakin was a gifted child). All his leniency mentioned before was, I think, because he still had kindness in him (oh, Leia said so as well). Probably he also once left early to avoid killing Han Solo. And he cried "help me" when Han Solo confronted him. It was heartbreaking... until he killed his father. I want to believe that he hesitated and it did hurt him to eventually kill his father. Oh, if you see his face, he seemed very fragile. I'm glad I didn't see Kylo Ren without his mask before watching TFA.

Han Solo and Leia is that couple who lost each other after they had lost their child. They both resorted to their old ways, just like when you found them in Episode 4, as the older and wiser versions of them. Leia asked Han to bring their son back, but you know what happened. I LOVE IT when Han called him in the way a father scold his son. I knew that evil son would kill him, but I really wish it wouldn't happen.

I can't tell anything more about Luke. He didn't say a word in this movie and we just see him a few seconds. They said he felt guilty when Kylo Ren became the next Darth Vader, so he isolated himself in a planet far far away. Leia wanted Ben to complete his training with Luke, but Ben was taken by Snoke (the Yoda of the Dark Side?).

For Star Wars fans, you'll find your old non-human friends: Chewbacca, R2D2, CP3O. Chewbacca had the most screen time among them. He went berserk after Han was killed. He shot Kylo Ren in the side of the stomach. If Kylo Ren wasn't injured by Chewie, Rey and Finn wouldn't have a chance against him.

FINAL THOUGHT

Disney made the movie more diverse, yet too soft. I like TFA, but to be honest, if they didn't make Rey that good, I wouldn't mind not seeing the next installments.