Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Theatrical Review

I finally made it, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  Now, how to review it?  I suppose I could put spoiler alerts, or I could be vague, or I could just skip recapping the film entirely and just relay my feelings about it.  By this point seeing as I’m almost a whole month late seeing Star Wars The Force Awakens, spoilers really shouldn’t be that much of a concern, but to me they still are.  That’s why I’ve been intentionally and effectively offline for the last month.  I’ve posted no reviews, very few tweets, and have been feeling rather out of touch.  But I was able to go into tonight’s film armed only with my knowledge of the original films, and that allowed me the privilege of enjoying every moment, and every scene as it unfolded before me.

Taking place some thirty years after Return of the Jedi, the baton (or lightsaber) is set to be passed from the old cast to a new generation of heroes in that galaxy far far away.  Okay, a small spoiler, but it’s revealed in the opening crawl: Luke Skywalker is missing, and it seems everyone is trying to find him.  The First Order, a military splinter group who have risen up in place of the fallen Empire, and the Resistance are trying to find the last Jedi.  It’s not made entirely clear as to how the Resistance are different from the New Republic who were formed by the former Rebel Alliance, but the Republic does support their actions.  Since there were such negative reactions to the trade negotiations and political debates in the prequels maybe it’s best that The Force Awakens kind of glosses over facts like these and puts most of the focus on the characters and their own personal adventures.  Back to those adventures; General Leia has sent Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on a mission to retrieve information that may lead them to Luke’s whereabouts.  Along the journey we’re introduced to Finn (John Boyega) a deserting First Order Stormtrooper and Rey (Daisy Ridley) a scrap scavenger on the planet Jakku who obtain the Death Star plans map to Skywalker’s location that is stored inside Poe’s droid BB-8.  Finn and Rey set out to return the map to the Resistance and meet some familiar original trilogy faces along the way.

There were a ton of parallels and references to the original trilogy, especially A New Hope.  Some may say that it is lazy writing to borrow so many elements from the prior films, but there’s an old saying that reminds us “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  The plot though was admittedly quite simple, but for me, it didn’t need to be overly complicated and I think that may be where the prequels fell apart.  They got away from the simple idea of a quest storyline; that  fantastical and mythical journey that the world fell in love with in 1977 and instead tried to give us a story that was incredibly complex, to the point of being convoluted.  If they were trying to be intellectually stimulating, they failed.  With The Force Awakens the writers shifted the emphasis back to a fantasy film, and made it less of a science fiction film like the prequels tried to be.

The Force Awakens goes back to basics, possibly to apologize for the prequels, but also because the storyline works.  They need to get the information from the droid back to the good guys so they have a chance to find their friend who might help them beat the bad guys.  And the bad guys motivation?  They want to take over and rule the universe, and if you don’t agree with them, their super weapon will destroy your planetary system.  Good thing the heroes have found a way to stop the “Starkiller Base” because it’s recharging and aiming right at them, but can they rescue their friend who has been taken prisoner on the planet before they have to blow it up?  Will they even be able to destroy this planet sized weapon?  It’s not as simple as firing a torpedo down a thermal exhaust port…

There were an incredible number of parallels and role reversals between Episodes VII and IV which all played out quite nicely.  Rey was a strong and intelligent character, but in a much different way than Leia was in the original films.  Finn was initially not a super confident protagonist.  Kylo Ren was an impressive villain, who was trying to live up to the legend of Darth Vader (both the character on screen and the character as he was written).  There was humour, there was action and excitement, and there were emotional moments and surprise revelations too.  I personally loved the dogfights and spaceship scenes (though it looked as though the Resistance’s big attack on the Starkiller Base was comprised of only about twenty X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon).  I’m now even more excited for the spinoff film Rogue One.  I loved the inclusion of the classic characters and their interactions with the new ones.  Sure there were times that I could predict what the dialogue was going to be, but that’s because we know these characters, and we know this universe, and we know not just what they’re going to say, but what they should say.

Great special effects, as you would expect.  Very strong acting; I particularly enjoyed Daisy Ridley. A good story that left enough threads dangling that I’m eagerly anticipating the next chapter.  I actually didn’t want the film to end.  I saw it in 3D which I normally avoid, but the 3D was well done and while it was not really a distraction from the film, it wasn’t overly necessary either.  I think I loved just about everything in the film, but perhaps what I loved the most was that an old friend asked me to join her in watching it.

Bottom Line:  Well, now that I’ve finally seen it, when can I go see it again?

Review – Solomon Kane

Before Robert Howard created Conan the Barbarian, he had a similar, but different hero in mind.  Written first in prose, Solomon Kane was the epitome of a redemptive hero, going from murderous rogue to puritan warrior.  Though Howard never wrote a definitive origin story for Kane, the filmmakers cared about the character so much that they gave him that origin, basing it on as much of the Howard material as possible.  And the film they created was a whole lot of fun.  My first love is a good story, and Solomon Kane had one, but it mixed in a lot of other things I like: sword fights, sorcery and demons, redemption and revenge.  All together it made for one heck of an enjoyable view.

James Purefoy plays Solomon Kane , a brutal mercenary who renounces violence after learning that his soul is bound for hell.  This revelation scares him.  He joins monasteries, tattoos himself with Christian symbols, and refuses to raise a fist, all in order to avoid detection by the Devil and live out a peaceful life, hopefully now redeemed enough to go to Heaven.  (Note – my facts may be a little off here, because it has been about 3 weeks since I watched Solomon Kane; I’ve just had a ridiculously hard time writing anything of late.)  Solomon tries to live a pious life, but is asked to leave the monastery because the monks believe he will bring evil upon them.  Heading out on the road, after refusing to fight a group of robbers, he is found by a family of Pilgrims who are heading to Plymouth to embark on a voyage to America.  The father (William Crowthorn played by Pete Postlethwaite) rescues the injured Kane who now reluctantly joins them on their journey as the family help nurse him back to health.  Soon the family is attacked by a murderous cult lead by a mysterious sorcerer.  The family is killed except for their teenage daughter Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood) who is kidnapped and used as bait to trap Kane by the sorcerer who has ties not only to the Devil that wants his soul, but in a clever bit of plotting, is also linked back to Kane’s own childhood and his family (with his own father being played marvellously by Max Von Sydow). With his dying breaths Crowthorn tells Kane that his soul would be redeemed and he would indeed get to Heaven if he saved his daughter, and he could save him by any means necessary.  The brutality of his fighting past may have been wrong, but if now, he fights those who are evil, those who are in the sway of the sorcerer, he will be fighting a noble fight, and be redeeming himself.  And with that, the doors are opened, and Kane fights.  Oh, does he fight.

The quality of the acting was not surprising given the quality of the casting.  I must say though that I was surprised Postlethwaite and Von Sydow were even in Solomon Kane.  I’m not used to seeing actors of their age and calibre agreeing to be in a B+ level sword and sorcery flick.  I have to say though that I’m glad they did.  Both writer-director Michael Bassett and star James Purefoy spoke of this hopefully being the first chapter in a trilogy of Solomon Kane films, and by starting out with “bankable”, or at least well known and critically acclaimed actors, they put themselves on the right path.  A path I hope they get to travel down, because I certainly would like to see more of Solomon Kane.  Of course before that, I do plan on picking up some of the Robert Howard stories and putting them somewhere on that ever growing “to read” list I mentioned the other day…

Purefoy did an excellent job as the lead, and I enjoyed his every scene.  His Kane not only looked the part, with the flat hat and dark cloak, but he had the personality and mannerisms to match.  At one point, Kane meets a member of his former crew who calls him the “most lethal swordsman who ever lived” and watching the brilliant fight choreography of the film that really comes across.  Everything moved at a quick pace that perfectly fit the mood of the story.  It was a pace that didn’t rush the action, but actually allowed Solomon Kane to really develop as a character.  Purefoy did a lot of the sword fighting stunts himself and given the excellence of the final result, he probably enjoyed every minute of it.  Rachel Hurd-Wood was quite enjoyable as the key to Kane’s search for redemption and worked well with the story that teased a slight romantic interest between Kane and Meredith.  Fortunately, the writers knew that Kane was too old for her, and that given the way he has changed the way he lives his life, Solomon would see himself as more of a protecting, father figure to her.  It would have been easy to have scripted them falling in love, but that wouldn’t have felt right for anyone, and not doing that really shows how much everyone cared for the characters.  I was a little surprised that most of the effects were achieved practically and not through CGI, which really gave the film a great feel.

Great effects (for the budget), great action, a great story, and great writers that really cared about the product place Solomon Kane very high on my list of recommendations.