“The Force Awakens” Spoiler Discussion

It’s obvious I rarely make posts about spoilers of a big movie or show or game, and you know when I do? It means serious discussions were ignited. The Force Awakens was so rich in characters and themes that even if I didn’t want to make this, there are parts I can’t avoid talking about. That is an official spoiler warning; if you’ve not seen Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens yet…WHY??? Consider yourself warned. The opening crawl addresses everyone’s question by saying Luke Skywalker has gone missing. The opening scene has the best Resistance fighter pilot, Poe Dameron, picking up the portion of a map that leads to Luke, which is the scene involving Max Von Sydow’s character. I feel that his opening line, “This will begin to make things right,” was Disney saying they’ll make up for fans’ disappointment with the prequels. One of many things I liked was how they updated the Force, as Kylo Ren is able to stop a laser bolt mid-air when Poe tries to shoot him. After Poe makes a joke and Captain Phasma and Kylo slaughter the villagers, it set the tone for the entire film. And you get the idea it would be similar to the original Star Wars. Later on, FN-2187, later going by the name Finn, rescues Poe from the First Order to get away from their cruelty. They crash land on Jakku, but Finn goes to a market where he meets Rey and BB-8 for the first time. After meeting, Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters swoop in to kill them. When they’re running, she refuses to fly a ship, saying “That ship’s garbage!” Don’t call the Millennium Falcon garbage, Rey. During the chase sequence, when she flips the ship over to destroy the TIE fighter, I started to wonder if she and Finn were Force-Sensitive. And right when she had the vision when touching Luke’s old lightsaber, I thought to myself “Hold on. So far, there has been no evidence that Finn is with the Force at all. Our girl here is the Jedi.” Another point I didn’t want to tell you in my spoiler-free review so that you could find out yourself is that Kylo Ren actually surprised me in The Force Awakens. In fact, some moments, I empathized with his character. He may be the one who wiped out all of Luke’s potential Jedi and formed the Knights of Ren, but he also feels very conflicted with the Force, wanting to please Supreme Leader Snoke and his grandfather. When he’s having a mental Force battle with Rey, she tells him “You’re just afraid that you won’t live up to Darth Vader!” He was bluffing the entire time because he just looks and sounds like an average guy. You see, Luke vanished because he was ashamed; he couldn’t look his friends in the eye without feeling he had failed their son and tore their family apart. I was disappointed at first with Snoke’s appearance, but I was glad to see it was just a hologram of him. Then the biggest tragedy in the franchise’s history…the Han Solo scene. After he plants charges inside a Starkiller Base outpost, he confronts his son Kylo Ren, or simply Ben. The minute he walked onto the catwalk, I thought, “This isn’t going to end well.” They’ve a great conversation, because Kylo Ren took off his helmet and teared up as he was talking to his father face-to-face for the first time in God knows how long. Adam Driver and Harrison Ford did great with their relationship, even when Kylo Ren impales Han with his lightsaber and Han strokes Kylo’s face because he’s still his son. What truly made it tragic was Chewbacca’s scream, because he reacts like he witnessed his best friend murdered in front of him. Chewie leaves on his own while Finn and Rey have to fight Ben in the forest with lightsabers. As I said in my review, the duel isn’t highly choreographed. It’s really dirty. The entire time, because Chewie shot him, Kylo Ren he pounds it to intensify the pain because that’s what keeps him going. He defeats Finn, and I thought he was dead. Then came a moment where I teared up because it was simple and powerful. Luke’s lightsaber is in the snow, and Kylo Ren is trying to pull it towards him, but it flies right past him and is caught by Rey. They go at it, and when they clash he says, “You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force!” She calms her mind, she beats Kylo Ren. I’m not lying, I thought Kylo Ren would be a one-and-done villain and Snoke would find another apprentice. But before Starkiller is destroyed, he tells General Hux “Bring Kylo Ren to me. It’s time to complete his training.” I’m glad they’re carrying some characters over into the next installment rather than cycling them out for more action figures. But in the end, Rey does travel to Luke’s planet, supposedly the first Jedi Temple. She holds out the lightsaber for him from a distance, and then the film ends. I know many fans weren’t happy with Luke’s final scene, but I was completely satisfied. It was filled with overt metaphors, and was open to interpretation. I love this movie, and loved it even more the second time I saw it. It’s a great character study, an emotional family tragedy, and Star Wars is back.