REVIEW: Star Wars the Force Awakens Part 2 (SPOILERS!)
Now I am not going to go over every scene in the film. Instead, I am going to talk about some of the major moments in the film as well as some of my personal theories for the future installments.
Kylo Ren
The main focus of the film is that everybody is trying to find Luke in the movie because he has vanished. Why did he finish? It turns out that Leia and Han had a force-sensitive son named Ben and that when he was old enough, he was set to be trained by Luke as a Jedi as well as a few others. However, Ben was fixated by the legacy of Darth Vader and was angry that he joined the Light Side again. He was then lured to the Dark Side by Snoke and killed all of Luke's students. Feeling ashamed and guilty, Luke retreated to the first ever Jedi Temple, Han and Leia separated due to Han's grief, and Ben joined the Knights of Ren and the First Order as Kylo Ren.
I did not expect that in all honesty from Ren. He is basically Darth Caedus from the old expanded universe. However, I didn't say that was a bad thing either. I actually liked that a lot as he kept fighting himself on whether or not to go back to the Light Side or not. It definately made him feel more natural and human as a character. He also is very prone to anger outbursts as well.
Han Solo
Despite everything in the movie, this is the moment that has stuck with me the most. Han Solo dies in the movie. I should have seen it coming as Harrison Ford wanted Han to die for years now. Well, he got his wish. Han tries to convince his son to redeem himself. At first it seems to work, however, Ren stabs him in the chest with his saber and he falls into a reacter shaft but not before gently caressing his son one last time. The scene was very powerful and moving to me, oh, and, yeah, very shocking. However, what made it even more were the reactions. Rey, Finn, and Chewie saw the whole thing and Chewie's reaction made the scene even more powerful.
Leia is also able to sense his death as well across the galaxy. Their few scenes together in the movie were excellent and they still have the same chemistry together that they had all these years ago. It is hard to imagine that one of your childhood icons, one of the most-beloved characters in the franchise is gone, but he will always be with us in our memories.
Rey
I don't know if anybody else was fooled by the marketing, but I was. The roles of Finn and Rey are totally reversed. We were meant to believe that Finn would be the inspiring Jedi and Rey was the warrior-type. However, those are flipped. Rey is the one that is force-sensitive. That was another major surprise for the movie. Finn was simply given Luke's old lightsaber from Maz after Rey didn't want it. She has a scene in the movie where she has flashbacks to her being sent to Jakku away from parents at a young age. Maz, who is like Yoda in a way, says that the force is calling to her, or should I say...awaken. She displays her powers troughout the movie as well.
Anyway, Finn uses the lightsaber twice in the movie, once on an Imperial shock trooper and against Kylo Ren. However, against Ren, he is quickly outmatched and is seriously injured because he got sliced along his spine. However, at that moment, Rey picks up the lightsaber and duels and defeats Ren. A lot of people are mad because they feel that doesn't make sense for her to win. However, while I can see that, I believe that in all honesty, Snoke taught Ren jack shit and Luke wasn't able to teach him for long. Heck, at the end of the movie Snoke says it is time for him to complete his training. Overall, I liked the role reversal and I liked what the outcome of the duel was, especially since Ren doesn't die.
Theories and Characters
There are characters in this movie that do not have a lot of screen time. Luke is one of them but I will get to him later. Captain Phasma is barely in the film and she barely does anything or says anything...remind you or anyone? Yes, she is the Boba Fett of this movie. Poe Dameron is a really cool character and does have moments to shine although I wish he was in the film more. Hopefully he will have a bigger role in the sequels.
Now for my theories. Many are spectulating that Rey is either Luke's daugther or Han and Leia's daughter. I honesly feel it could go either way or even that her parents are not any of the original trilogy cast members. Now, for my theory that I believe is correct. I believe that Snoke is Darth Plagueis, Palpatine's former master. He looks like him in some ways. However, while many are going to say, well Palpatine told Anakin in Episode 3 he killed him, look at it this way, that was from his perspective. In his story, Palpatine already said that he had such a knowledge of the Dark Side that he was able to influence life. What was to stop him from faking his death and arising again after his apprentice, (who was probably more powerful than him) is gone? I could be wrong, but that is my hunch.
Familarities to A New Hope
Like I said, my biggest complaint with the film is that there are a lot of similar elements to A New Hope, and I mean a lot. The droid with secret plans with him, loner on the desert planet, the wise mentor figure, it goes on. However, the biggest offender is Starkiller Base in the film. It is basically a planet-sized Death Star. It's design is really cool as the planet itself is the weapon that gets its power from the planet's sun. It also destroys multiple planets at one time in the film. I wish Jar Jar was on one of them. However, it is still a Death Star and they have to destroy it, which they do. Did it bother me a lot, no, but did it bother me a little, yes.
Luke Skywalker
Finally, let's talk about Luke. He is only in the film in the last scene for about a minute and he doesn't have any lines. However, I didn't have a problem with that. They whole point of the film was finding him, the last of the Jedi and at the end of the film, Rey does. She climbs up a high cliff to find Luke at the First Jedi Temple and without saying a word, proceeds to offer Luke his former lightsaber. That is where the film ends. To me, that was a powerful final last shot. I have a feeling Luke will have a major role in Episode 8 as Rey's teacher. Now we know why Abrams did not show Luke at any of the trailers or posters. (Except for the above picture)
Now, like I mentioned before, The Force Awakens was a great film. However, I hope Episode VIII is its own film this time and not overly-similar to the Empire Strikes Back.
