Star Wars: The Force Awakens is cheesy fun

First things first: yes, it’s better than the prequels. Much better.

Admittedly, that’s a pretty low bar to clear. But fans could be forgiven for their cautious sense of optimism in the leadup to J.J. Abrams’ much-anticipated reboot of the series. We’ve been hurt before — the previews of The Phantom Menace looked promising, too, and the early reviews were similarly positive. Paying to see another Star Wars sequel is a bit like going on vacation after surviving a plane crash, or eating at a restaurant where you got food poisoning: it takes a whole lot of trust.

Director J.J. Abrams has proven himself capable of helming a series reboot before, appeasing a famously capricious fanbase with his laudable Star Trek remake. (Well, the first one, anyway.)

Happily, this film continues his winning streak. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is, for better and for worse, exactly what fans have been asking for: a cheesy, fast-paced spectacle in the spirit of George Lucas’ original trilogy.

Even the smallest details seem tailor-made to appease diehard fans of the original series — it’s clear that Abrams and his team did their homework, and much of The Force Awakens feels like a labour of love, the handiwork of a fan who’s tried his best to do a beloved series proud.

The Force Awakens is a good movie that plays it safe, and misses out on greatness because of it.

This painstaking effort both to pay homage to the original series and to course-correct away from Lucas’ awful prequel trilogy makes for a film that is sure to satisfy fans of the series — however, its heavy reliance on the tropes and rhythms of the original flicks may leave the uninitiated struggling to keep up.

Little effort is made to establish an emotional connection with the series’ returning characters, whereas the time we do spend with Harrison Ford’s roguish Han Solo and Carrie Fisher’s stoic Princess cum General Leia detracts from the screentime of the series’ new characters, who end up feeling a bit short shifted.

This isn’t to say that the new characters are forgettable. In fact, I found myself annoyed we didn’t spend more time with them. Newcomers John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver all fit surprisingly well into the series’ universe, and there’s plenty of chemistry between them.

While the returning characters never feel out of place, their screentime borders on overkill. Much as I love Han Solo — I mean, come on, it’s Han Solo — the film seems burdened by the obligation of filling the screen with Harrison Ford as much as humanly possible.

It’s as though Abrams didn’t trust us to fall in love with the newbies on our own: an establishing moment for the film’s ostensible protagonist, Rey (Ridley), comes when Solo offers her a job on the Millennium Falcon. “Chewie likes you,” he deadpans. I liked her, too, before I had to be assured she had the approval of the old guard.

I guess I can’t fault the film for pandering to an audience wanting desperately to relive the excitement and fervor of the first Star Wars. But where The Force Awakens builds on the original trilogy’s strengths, it also co-opts many of its weaknesses: groan-worthy lines abound, including old chestnuts like, “It would take a miracle to save us now!” and my personal favourite, “We’ve got company.” There’s also plenty of as-if moments, such as a fissure that perfectly separates two lightsaber duellers, a chance encounter between old characters and new, and a literal deus ex machina involving an obligatory R2-D2 cameo.

In another film, I would call these flaws, but in The Force Awakens they feel more like stylistic choices meant to preserve a link with the original series. Yes, the first films are also flawed: the pacing is weird, the dialogue is stilted, the characters are thinly drawn. The Force Awakens makes little effort to correct these faults, instead trusting the audience to forgive them as they forgave the originals. Same star war, different day.

Ultimately, I can’t help but feel The Force Awakens is a good movie that plays it safe, and misses out on greatness because of it. Very little about the film feels original, challenging, or in any way different than what we’re used to.
To be fair, the prequels tried something different, and it failed spectacularly — perhaps Abrams was right to stick to the tried and true. The movie is a ton of fun because of it. But I desperately hope this film’s sequel, much like The Empire Strikes Back before it, builds on the film’s new characters in more emotionally complex and satisfying ways. Until then, this will have to do.