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[Contains spoilers]
In a certain sense, the prequel trilogy movies were more honest than this new episode, uglier but more ambitious. Let's not dramatize: the new Star Wars is a pleasant and on the whole well-made film, but really, Abrams and Disney wanted to almost make a remake of the first Star Wars. There's a moment when a large part of the audience must have found themselves embarrassed: when, after many similarities, it is revealed that there is a new Death Star much larger than the others. That's when I turned up my nose a bit: it's fine to restore the Empire and the Resistance, it's fine to include the "son of" who becomes Sith and the "daughter of" who will become a Jedi, it's fine to have the sand planet and all, but a new deadly weapon in the shape of a planet that fires a destructive beam is too much.
In this sense, it's better to talk about The Force Remake; behind the ironic veil, there's an actual critique. It's understandable that the director and the production company wanted to minimize risks, crafting a film that is really a calling card for the other five, but it's really hard to find even a single element of innovation, not so much in the plot which is simple but solid, but rather in the new galaxy that is presented to us. It's here that one reconsiders the prequels: ugly, very ugly, but with many ideas and inventions, from spaceships to robots, to planets and much more.
The Force Awakens introduces with great care, in a surgical way, three new protagonists in a universe that however is exactly the same as the original trilogy: it took Luke and company three films to defeat the Empire, but it has come back stronger than before. It could have been done differently, but Disney must have thought that this situation maximizes the appeal of galactic events. And they're right. There’s too much money at stake to risk a film that doesn't satisfy the majority of fans (the less angry ones) and the mass audience. If even critics welcome the film with applause, then everything seems to be going smoothly.
For the rest, the narration works well, thanks to the constant emphasis on the objective of the moment: find the droid, escape, destroy the Death Star. On this solid structure, Abrams builds a well-calibrated rhythm of action, which is one of the strengths of his direction. Another advantage is a mise-en-scène that is always very compact, visually appealing, dynamic but without becoming chaotic. The dialogues are equally measured to never exceed in epicness and instead present some moments of irony and meta-cinematic insights.
The three main characters work, in different ways. Kylo Ren is the best thing about the film, especially from the moment he takes off his mask and reveals his personality, between aspirations and insecurities. He is the most human version of Darth Vader. Adam Driver's face is what was needed for Anakin in the II and III. Rey is the new destined Jedi who can use the lightsaber better than a Sith lord. Here too, to not exceed in telegraphed triumphs, a character has been chosen who is the opposite of the clichés about heroes. A skinny girl, exploited, dressed in rags. The thing would have worked better if Anakin and Luke hadn’t already existed; but choosing a woman is a winning move to keep cards hidden. Many indeed will have thought that the destined one is Finn: I still have to figure him out, he is a protagonist whose origins and future developments are not well understood. While Rey's are clear, despite the disguises: she is the daughter of Leia or Luke, sister or cousin of Kylo. There's no doubt about it.
A very interesting note concerns the irony and different diegetic levels. There are moments when Abrams pushes the envelope to create an alienation effect. When Poe asks Kylo, "Do I talk or do you talk?", or in some moments on the Millennium Falcon when the comedy becomes almost hyperbolic (the search for duct tape). But the real moments of alienation concern the relationship with the past and the films of the original trilogy: the characters talk about myths like Anakin and the Jedi in a way that has much of the meta-cinematic. Kylo could be a fan of Star Wars more than Vader's grandson (he fetishistically keeps the mask), just as Rey and Finn have Solo confirm the existence of the Jedi. The new narrative universe is very similar to the previous one, but at the same time it is irreparably different, distant. It represents a manneristic modulation of it. Abrams knows this, and that's why he plays on diegetic planes: no point in disguising the blatant homage, better to treat it within the film and attribute to the characters the desire to emulate the heroes of the past, rather than to the director. It’s a very fine and sly strategy. The final objective is to reach Luke, but alongside a diegetic reading there is a metadiegetic one: reaching the last Jedi means rebuilding a universe, rekindling a common sentiment that had been dormant.
6.5/10
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