By Preston Wilder
“The golden warbler (petechia group; 17 subspecies) is generally resident in the mangrove swamps of the West Indies. Local seasonal migrations may occur. On the Cayman Islands for example, D. p. eoa was found to be ‘decidedly scarce’ on Grand Cayman and apparently absent from Cayman Brac in November 1979, while it had been a ‘very common’ breeder in the group some 10 years before, and not frequently seen in the winters of 1972/1973.”
Pity the film reviewer who knows his review is pointless (or even more pointless than usual). Star Wars is critic-proof. I could fill this whole page with facts about golden warblers, and it wouldn’t make any difference. Some critics face this conundrum by self-consciously taking the high road, feigning ignorance of the Star Wars universe and those who inhabit it. (Are Darth Maul and Darth Vader brothers?) It’s a useful ploy, but also risks backfiring and making the critic look silly; Star Wars is more than a franchise, it’s a cultural touchstone. Unsurprisingly, most reviewers take the opposite route, gushing about every plot twist and in-jokey reference – but this too is risky because, no matter how much you gush, you can never match the memorabilia-owning, Comic Con-attending fanboy with the T-shirt reading ‘Han Shot First’. There’s no easy way out.
What can I say? Only this. The Force Awakens is here (a week later than in most of the world), it’s really good and – for better or worse – it’s Star Wars. Never mind the hype: if the previous films didn’t do it for you, this one won’t either. On the other hand, even non-fans must admit that it moves well for such a long movie, and the acting and dialogue are snappier than they’ve been in years – certainly snappier than in Parts I-III, the much-derided trilogy made in the early 00s. George Lucas, an innovative filmmaker at the time of Star Wars (a.k.a. A New Hope) in 1977, had patently lost his mojo by the time he directed those; in fact, this may be the first time that the franchise has a world-class director at the helm – J.J. Abrams, with his lucid visual mind and crack comic timing.
The big news here is ‘diversity’, our heroes more heterogeneous than the white-bread cast of the early instalments. Finn (John Boyega) is a black man – ‘African-American’ doesn’t really exist in a galaxy far, far away – and a former Stormtrooper besides. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is a woman – but a woman who can fight, unlike the somewhat decorative Princess Leia, and a Jedi Knight though she doesn’t (yet) know it. Then there’s Han Solo, an unusual action hero in being a 73-year-old man, or at least played by a 73-year-old man. I didn’t realise the extent of Harrison Ford’s involvement in the movie – I thought he might just turn up for a cameo or something – and was pleasantly shocked when Han and Chewbacca unexpectedly appeared at the door of the ‘Millennium Falcon’, looking fit and ready for battle. “Chewie … We’re home,” says Han – the film’s most touching moment, narrowly pipping C-3PO’s fond greeting to R2-D2: “My dear friend, how I missed you!”.
To be fair, making the last three films (Parts VII-IX) must be easier than making the first three, because you can keep all the old characters while adding new ones – but Force Awakens still impresses, giving a sense of fresh minds thinking outside the box to rejuvenate the rather simplistic old franchise. Why should all Stormtroopers be evil? What if one of them had feelings? Why should droids hop around like R2-D2 when they can roll like new addition BB-8? Admittedly, it looks like the toy department had a hand in that too – but what can you do, this is Star Wars.
The Force, as they say, is strong in this one. “We’ll use the Force,” says Finn cheerfully, tasked with blowing up the solar oscillator (or whatever). “That’s not how the Force works!” replies Han Solo grumpily – but it’s too late, the Force and Luke Skywalker and indeed Han himself are legends now, revered in the movie (which is set three decades after Return of the Jedi) as they are among the millions of Star Wars fanatics. Force Awakens isn’t really a film, it’s a religious experience. Parents use it to bond with their children, which is ironic given that bad parenting is such a motif in the franchise: the latest example is Han, whose son – neglected as a child – has now become a Dark Lord, laying waste to entire populations.
“The crazy thing is, it’s true,” muses spry Mr. Ford, as the old John Williams theme swells in the background. “The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It’s all true.” This is an expertly-made, sometimes stirring movie, and you can’t really blame it for the fact that every would-be blockbuster and sci-fi tentpole now operates on the Star Wars template. What seemed fresh 40 years ago is now part of the culture; miss it at your peril. “The Cuban golden warbler (D. p. gundlachi) barely reaches the Florida Keys, where it was first noted in 1941, and by the mid-20th century a breeding population was resident.”
DIRECTED BY J.J. Abrams
STARRING Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford
US 2015 135 mins.
