I am starting this off by saying The Force Awakens is a better film than Rogue One, there is no question about it, one is superior as both a film and a Star Wars film. It was around May 2016 when people started to turn on The Force Awakens, so many click bait articles and YouTube videos telling us how the Force Awakens was not a good movie. I am here to prove that not only is The Force Awakens a good movie but also to extinguish the idea that Rogue One is.
The Force Awakens needed to be a good film - not just financially but commercially Disney knew that in order to make Star Wars great again they needed to come out of the gates with a solid film. What we got was exactly that, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but a solid reintroduction to the franchise and just a fun film with good film making behind it. So why did everyone turn on this film?
I think it was the promise of Rogue One that made people turn on The Force Awakens, people wanted a dark film with the visuals of the original trilogy and that was what Rogue One promised. The Force Awakens was trying to push the franchise forward in the best way it could whilst appealing to the fans. The irony is that the people who love Rogue One for having the iconography of the original trilogy would be the same people that bash TFA for following the same basic structure of A New Hope. So not only do you have people starting to pick apart a Star Wars film in order to get clicks, we also have a new Star Wars film that is promising the feel of the original trilogy. This was when the hate for The Force Awakens started.
So what are the problems with The Force Awakens? There are problems with TFA and some of them are purely a result of the modern concept of franchise movie making, this being references and winks to the audience and the other being some of the dialogue and character choices. Films have to stop obviously referencing other films, it is starting to get stale and takes the audience right out of the film and The Force Awakens commits this crime so many times but the overall quality of the film outweighs it. The Force Awakens is no Jurassic World, (which clearly turns to the audience and says that you cannot beat the original) whereas, TFA never lets on that it's a film, it keeps it purely in the context of the universe with subtle winks at the audience. The other problem I have with TFA is some of the dialogue does not fit with the universe and Han Solo has some questionable lines. These problems are nowhere near as offensive and blatant as Rogue One which has to stop the film to tell you how much we all love Star Wars.
Comparing TFA to A New Hope is fair and was always going to happen, but I feel people took it too far by saying that it's a rip-off or a clone. It is not, to quote Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor "the French have a word for it, its called an Homage." The film does follow the basic beats of A New Hope and I feel that it needed to, there had to be that connection to the original trilogy on a thematic level as apposed to all of the fan pleasing. Now if The Last Jedi follows the beats of Empire then we can start to question what Disney are doing but for now I felt it necessary to have TFA resemble A New Hope.
JJ Abrams has a proven track record for reigniting franchises, he did it with both Mission Impossible and Star Trek, both turned out great with Star Trek being his best film in my opinion. Even the two films of his that people dislike, Star Trek Into Darkness and Super 8, are amazing on a technical level and his films do have this sense of cinematic scope that most directors don't. So if we were to compare the openings to both Rogue One and TFA we can see a stark difference in the quality of film making, TFA has a dynamic contrast in the image, it's vibrant and we are thrust into this film with pace with the camera being cinematic, tracking and gliding either via stedicam or crane. Rogue One, on the flip side, has a ship landing on a planet with a washed out image devoid of colour and film student shots of death troopers with the camera bouncing as if it were at sea. I't not bashing Gareth Edwards but I feel as if he dropped the ball when making Rogue One, so many niggling and major film making problems, whereas JJ has it down, he understands how to shoot a movie, like I said - vibrancy and energy.
Is story the problem? Well, no, the story is fine, weaker than the original trilogy, and it does a good job at setting up the other two films in this trilogy. Rian Johnson has been given a blank slate to build upon and hopefully deliver us a modern Star Wars movie that can be taken as its own film. This story was clearly a focal point for the movie from the get go, fully committing to the ideal of story over special effects. Rogue One however feels very rushed and poorly thought out, especially in the way the story jumps very quickly at the start, resembling the big problem of Suicide Squad (blog to follow). The death of Han Solo worked for the film and perfectly established Kylo Ren as a villain, the cliffhanger of Rey and Luke perfectly leads into a sequel and overall the film had a decent story, nothing mind blowing but a good jumping off point for The Last Jedi. No the story can't be the problem.
The characters certainly are out of the question, they can be seen as the same types of characters as before but I beg to differ and I feel as though these new characters could evolve massively as the saga goes on. Apposed to the one dimensional characters shown in Rogue One and even that is stretching it because I could argue that they had barely any character and were defined by traits, almost like the Prequels. Finn is especially an interesting character because he can be used as a way of interpreting the threat of the First Order from his first hand experience and watching him grow could be an interesting arc. The mystery surrounding Rey is also an interesting dynamic which could have a massive payoff if treated right. Kylo being the best character from the film, the amount of depth that is displayed and the misdirection is perfect, he starts out as a credible threat, then shown as an emotional teenager which then develops into something far bigger and could result in a good arc.
The performances were okay, nothing so shocking that could condemn this film. As previously stated it is the dialogue more than the acting that provides the less than great character moments such as Finn saying "boyfriend, cute boyfriend" and Han Solo saying "Women always find out the truth". These are problems with the script and not with the actors. Overall the acting is fine, in fact perfect for a Star Wars film and Adam Driver portraying how Anakin should have been shown in the Prequels.
It certainly was not the soundtrack which was a notch above the prequels overall although not having a track of Duel of the Fates caliber. The music was bombastic and immediately reintroduced us to this universe, and Rey's Theme is particularly good bringing a Harry Potter sounding track that perfectly emoted wonder and discovery.
I personally think that this film needs to be reevaluated by many people and compared to Rogue One in order for people to start to enjoy this film again. It is apparent to me that the hate for this film was the result of a perfect storm of internet critics and video makers realizing the potential in click-bait titles and arguments coupled with the promise of a return to the original trilogy with Rogue One. With Rogue One being a massive disappointment, I am amazed at how much i still enjoy Force Awakens, it should be the benchmark for reviving a franchise.
So where do we go from here? The Last Jedi has to be the blockbuster that changes the way films are made, no question about it, we need to break away from the references and winks and start to create films that stand on their own. Rian Johnson could be the man to do this, Kathleen Kennedy and Disney need to realize that in order for this investment to truly pay off they need to break the mold and go for it. Let Johnson make a revolutionary film or just a very good Star Wars film but in order for that to happen, the studio needs to have faith in the directors they hire.
With the next standalone being the Han Solo movie, The Last Jedi has to be a good film and needs to be superior to The Force Awakens in every way, there are no excuses this time. As a side note, give it until the first trailer to drop and then we shall see if Rogue One garners the same negativity as The Force Awakens did.
In conclusion, The Force Awakens is a very good reboot to a franchise that needed a safe but decent film to kick-start its revival. With Rogue One being a failure in my eyes, The Force Awakens is a very good movie and does not deserve the hate it has been getting. I am hoping that Last Jedi can fully renew my faith in Hollywood.
Good luck Rian, you're gonna need it.
8.5/10
My Client will return.
Written By
Ashley Harvey
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