Love and Star Wars
It’s been long enough since the release of The Force Awakens that I feel it’s fair to write a post with a big fat spoiler about the movie and post it somewhere where viewers wouldn’t necessarily be on their guard. Still, if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to be spoiled, then sweet holy Moses, leave right now. (Which, by the way, is also my recommendation for the movie.)
Yep. I hated The Force Awakens. I hated it so much that I’d rather watch the prequels. The prequels were so laughably, outrageously bad that I can watch them without them affecting my love of the Star Wars universe. The Force Awakens was just well-made enough that my brain takes it seriously, which makes the utter betrayal of the violence, culminating in Han Solo’s murder, extraordinarily difficult to write out of my brain.
Star Wars (by which I mean the original trilogy) was grounded in love – friendly, fraternal, parental, and romantic. The plots of each film, and the fate of the galaxy, depends not on who has the most Force power and the best aim, but on who has the closest friends and the strongest relationships.The real cheering, fist-pump moment of Star Wars is not the destruction of the Death Star, but the swooping arrival of Han Solo 
and his conscience in the Millennium Falcon. The first threat in The Empire Strikes Back isn’t the Empire, but cold weather, and once again, there’s Han, taking on an impossible rescue of his closest human friend. Luke pays Han back when he abandons his training on Dagobah, a moment in which we see him choose serving humanity as he is over earning greater Force ability through hermitical monasticism (a message entirely fumbled in The Force Awakens). Lando, pulled into the rebellion by friendship. Luke and Leia, putting the fate of the galaxy on hold to get Han out of Jabba’s palace. Vader, realizing at the very end that he values his son over his master, his power, and his own life. And of course, Han and Leia, whose story I will get into in more depth later.
Love among the new cast in The Force Awakens is lucky. It’s merely superficial, so rushed it might end up in hyperspace. This is much more pleasant than what the writers do to love of longer, deeper standing, and relationships viewers have invested in for decades. This love is tortured. Relationships are estranged, shipped off to live in isolation, and of course, stabbed in the goddamn chest.
Because If you haven’t seen it, the spoiler of the move is this: Han and Leia split up because their son goes over to the Dark Side and murders all of the other Jedi training with Luke. Then murders Han, stabbing him in cold blood. Yes. Then throws him off off a bridge. Which is over a reactor, which is blown up. Then the planet that the reactor is on is blown up. You know, just in case we had any hope whatsoever.
Can you tell I’m pissed?
Han and Leia’s romantic relationship was my first adult love story, and in many ways, it set the tone for what I expect and value. I want equals: Han can be part of the team that rescues Leia, but later, she’s going to be on the team that rescues him. I want snappy dialogue and sexy conversations. I want a couple that complements each other. Leia gives closet idealist Han a cause and the courage to stand for something greater than survival and a fast buck; Han gives the politician-rebel-princess a personal and emotional life. I want a relationship that isn’t confined by gender conventions. Strong, ideological Leia withstands torture by Darth Vader and delays evacuating a collapsing base so she can coordinate a rearguard action. She kills Jabba the Hutt with her bare hands and her own slave chain. Han, by contrast, is all heart. When Han is being lowered into carbon freeze and Leia blurts out, “I love you,” his iconic “I know” response is perhaps the most perfect, romantic understatement in film history.
The Force Awakens took that love, and stabbed it in the chest. And threw it off the bridge, and into the reactor, and so forth.
Kylo Ren, the son of Han and Leia, ruins this movie with his violent murder of a character I’ve loved for so many years that I almost see him as a friend. But even worse, the existence of such a son perverts Han and Leia’s love story in the previous films. I don’t require parenthood as part of my happily-ever-after, but if an author does take me into the future and give the characters children, I sure as hell don’t want them to be murderous psychos. If we accept The Force Awakens as the definitive canon timeline, then cheering Han and Leia back in the originals becomes a bit like pulling for Mr. and Mrs. Manson. Perhaps they had a delightful courtship, but you can’t help thinking that everybody would have been better off if those two hadn’t gotten together.
Turning Han Solo and Princess Leia into disastrously failed parents also guts our faith in their relationship. Darth Vader, with no father at all, could be redeemed from the Dark Side to save his son, but Kylo Ren, with two loving parents, could stab his father in cold blood? Shall we blame Leia, trotting out the old standbys of refrigerator mothers and career women? Do Kylo Ren’s hangups about weakness come from seeing his dad be Mr. Leia Organa, a loser without the Force who probably doesn’t make as much money as his political powerhouse wife? Shall we say that a couple which subverted gender expectations can’t successfully raise a child?
There are tragic, tragic interviews with parents of ISIS fighters, school shooters, and the like, which highlight the terrifying parenting possibility that you can’t truly control if your child grows up to be good human being. Perhaps The Force Awakens intended this narrative, rather than one of parent blaming (although, given the emphasis on Han in Kylo Ren’s rants, it seems unlikely). Imagine that it does. This is a gut-wrenching conflict. Give it more time and dialogue. If Han and Leia are going to be estranged by it, that’s something we viewers care about. The first trilogy took personal and emotional storylines seriously, as when the entire first third of Return of the Jedi was spent bringing Han and Leia back together. What a waste to take a relationship we’ve followed and cared about for decades, destroy it off-camera, and give it a minute of public reunion – less time than was spent chasing tentacle monsters around Han’s smuggling ship.
If you do decide that this is the right conflict for a Star Wars movie, then give it a happy ending. Have the courage to defy the obvious route to critical praise and the cheap and easy plot device, and be true to the trait that made you a beloved story for forty years. Because Star Wars means happy endings. It built its reputation and won its fans by being a universe that is safe for the people it encourages you to love. If you haven’t watched the original trilogy in a while, the gentleness will amaze you. These are the films to show children outgrowing kid’s movies who are still too young for the sex and violence of Bond-type adult action films. Alderaan is destroyed facelessly, from a distance (not with the gasping, horrified screams of doomed crowds in The Force Awakens). Leia is tortured so gently that her hair and dress are immaculate afterwards and she feels good enough to wisecrack about Luke’s height and lead an escape down a garbage chute. Obi-wan, Yoda, and Anakin die willingly and with meaning, and they don’t even have to miss the big party.
After watching The Force Awakens, I tried to convert my brain back to the alternate timeline of Star Wars novels. I couldn’t read them without picturing the movies and hurting all over again. I haven’t had the nerve to try watching the original trilogy, and I hope against hope that it hasn’t been stolen from me as well.
But for those of you fortunate enough not to have seen The Force Awakens, here are the novels which give Han and Leia a future to believe in. This alternate timeline seems now to be marketed as Star Wars Legends, so look for that tagging to see books which don’t follow The Force Awakens.
Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy (first book Heir to the Empire): the first major novel release after the original films, and still considered the best of the extended universe books. It’s the one we all really wanted to see made into a film, but that didn’t mesh with the actor’s new ages. A brilliant strategist named Grand Admiral Thrawn takes over the remnants of the retreating Empire and launches an attack on the New Republic, while Han, Leia, and Luke struggle to counter his moves with diplomatic, military, and Force strategies. Han and Leia welcome their twins, neither of which, thankfully, is named after anybody dead. Luke meets Mara Jade, who served the Emperor and despises him. Clearly she becomes his alternate timeline love interest, and is one of the few new characters introduced by any author to be so compelling that they turn up in books by other authors (although not everyone does her justice). The trilogy as a whole is a definite A read.
The Courtship of Princess Leia, by Dave Wolverton. Set before the Thrawn trilogy, Courtship is really… not that great. It reads a lot like someone who doesn’t quite understand romance novels trying to write one using stereotypes (“How about a rival prince? Hostility? Kidnapping!”). Leia is being pushed to marry the heir to a significant network of planets as a political alliance, so Han kidnaps her and takes her to a planet he won in a card game that turns out to be ruled by Force-wielding Amazons (because the Godwin’s Law of men writing science fiction is that eventually you will come to a planet of Amazons, and they will all want to have sex with you). There is some fun to be had, as Wolverton manages to capture the charming-yet-disaster-prone side of Han’s personality, and some of the Amazons come back as better characters in books by other authors.
Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning: I have never read this book, and I’m so excited to learn that it exists! It has the best reputation of all Han and Leia stories around the Internet. Apparently the two of them are on their honeymoon trying to buy an artwork that contains an important code in it, which takes them to Tatooine and forces Leia to confront the history of the Skywalker family there. Apparently Denning did some cleanup of plot hole logic from other books, including courtship and the prequels (why did they try to hide Luke on his father’s home planet under the same last name?). I’m definitely ordering this one right now.
What about you guys? Do you love Han and Leia like I do? Did you hate The Force Awakens like I did? Why or why not?
Caroline Russomanno
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
I forwarded this blog to my lifelong Star Wars fan son. Below are his thoughts. It seems her main complaint is that Han dies, and that it’s not the original trilogy. She’s also upset that they didn’t just continue the expanded universe timeline. There are A LOT of people out there who claim to boycott Episode VII because they love the expanded universe so much. FYI, the Expanded Universe is all the books that took place AFTER Jedi. I’ll be the first to say, it would be AWESOME to bring the Expanded Universe into movies. I would watch every one of those. BUT… if you did that, you would either need a time machine, or you would have to re-cast every character, because they all take place like… 5 years after Jedi. Maybe 10 at the outside, but it’s still not many. And even IF Lucas or someone else had managed to make more of these back in the 90s, I guarantee that it wouldn’t have been to her (Caroline’s) liking, because Han still would have died. Harrison Ford isn’t going to make Star Wars movies the rest of his life. Even Mark Hamill was tired of playing Luke by the end. She brings up great points about the original trilogy- all valid items, but I think her interpretation of Ep VII is just wrong. I will say again that the actual story is a little on the weak side. It’s really just a light re-telling of the first movie, with some notable twists. In reading the book, I’ve noticed how weak the actual story is, and I do wish that they could have come up with something with a little more substance to it. That being said, I’m pretty sure their main goal for this movie was to establish firmly that Episodes VII- to the future are NOT the prequels, and that George Lucas isn’t involved. So if the story is subpar, then why did I see it six times? Because of the characters! The characters and the acting make this movie. Every character just rules the screen. And there is a ton of love there. Finn and Poe are best friends from the second they meet each other. Finn and Rey have a great bond too. Han and Chewie are still besties. Even Han and Leia still love each other. Rey and Han also have a great relationship. Han and Leia both love Kylo Ren too! I think her number one biggest problem is she’s watching Episode VII as Star Wars: The Force Awakens- The Stand Alone Movie. This is NOT a stand alone movie. Imagine if you watched Empire Strikes Back, but in all the press leading up to it, Lucas said that he had no intention of ever making another Star Wars movie? How would you feel? Would you feel angry that you invested all this time into these characters? You just rooted for Han and Leia to fall in love all movie, and then he presumably dies at the end?! Ok, he’s frozen, but Boba Fett took him to Jabba the Hutt! You can’t just stop reading a book after the end of the first chapter. Yes, I know that my Empire analogy is a little off, since that was the MIDDLE chapter, but the ONLY reason why A New Hope (the first SW movie) ended with a happy ending was because the movie was expected to tank at the box office, and Lucas didn’t know he was going to get to make any more. Which is why he was able to end Empire the way he did. Two more points- She also seems really upset that they decided to try ANYTHING different from the original trilogy. I’m all for nostalgia and reliving the past, but I can watch the original trilogy any day of the week. I personally would like to see something that’s not a 100% rehash of the original. Especially since it’s 30 years later, and we CAN’T just have Han, Luke & Leia all running around getting into shenanigans again. As I said earlier, I kind of wish they had managed to distance themselves FURTHER from the original trilogy. Oh, let’s make it 3 more points (one of which I just said). Here’s point 2- Episode VII is NOT dark. It’s just not. Maybe she was writing about Episode III, and got her numbering confused? Seriously, I’m actually VERY surprised that this movie got a PG-13. I think Disney greased some… Read more »
I liked the film. I especially liked Daisy Ridley. There are a lot of things in the film that just don’t work though and in my opinion it was the casting Finn and Kylo Ren. Both actors were wrong for their parts IMHO. I also saw a lot of repetition in the plot and locations of earlier installments. The other thing that didn’t work for me was there wasn’t enough of Poe….the actor that played him stole every scene he was in and I wanted more! Not a five star movie, but it was fun watching with my family the first week it was out.
I was so shocked at the murder of Han Solo I cried out loud in the theater “”OH NO””. A stunning betrayal for sure. Han Solo is so iconic as a scoundrel, hero and a lover….just so very sad, but Harrison Ford is old and he looks old. I heard through the grapevine that Disney is creating a series/films based on Han and Chewy’s earlier career as smugglers. We shall see.
I say go see the film at the cinema, don’t wait for DVD. It’s one of those films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Signs and The Avengers that is soooo much better on the big screen for the first viewing.
I’m for free speech…..there has been some raucous back and forth comments in the years past and I learned a lot about myself and others during those posts. I say bring it on!
:)
I was disappointed in this movie, too. I felt that we were manipulated by JJ Abrams’ desire to do something shocking by trying to make Kylo worse than Darth Vader. Since it would be difficult for any villain to follow in Darth Vader’s shoes, the powers that be thought it would make Kylo more fearsome than Vader to have Kylo Ren kill Han. The only problem is that Kylo comes off as psychotic and whiny, not menacing like Darth Vader.
I also had a problem with the way they killed off Han. He deserved to be sent off in a blaze of glory, not stabbed and thrown off a bridge. If they had to kill off the character, it just doesn’t seem like it should have been in the first of the new trilogy. Shouldn’t they have built up the confrontation between father and son and have it occur in the next movie?
Finally, I read Timothy Zahn’s book, so I had no idea that later books separated Han and Leia. Even this aspect wasn’t handled well. No backstory is given to their marriage and there’s no mention as to whether Han, Leia or Luke ever tried to rescue Kylo from Snopes. He was a child. Are we suppose to believe Luke abandoned his sister and nephew and that Han & Leia never mounted a rescue? I’m sure they probably did, but it wasn’t mentioned in the movie. The Force Awakens was just overall disappointing.
Excellent points.
The Zahn books exist in an entirely alternate timeline. The boy who grows up to be Kylo doesn’t exist in the Legends book universe.
Where I mentioned rescuing Kylo, I shifted to the movie. I didn’t transition, however, so it sounded like I was still talking about the book. Sorry for any confusion.
AAR has been boasting about “”brand”” new site it’s going to launch this June (?-sorry forget the actually month this is to take place) and I had been looking forward to see what is planned. If personal attacks (with, imo, is the express purpose to bully and intimidate someone off-line) to going to become a “”thing”” here at AAR’s blog then I will be disappointed. Actually I am disappointed right now, for AAR (a moderator) has not spoken up as of yet this morning, to say this kind of netiquette is not allowed here at our site. By remaining silent AAR is, imo, a willing participant in on-line bullying tactics that I abhor.
We will launch a new site in June.
I am reading this thread with interest. I’ve not yet seen a post I think requires deletion or moderation. It’s true my values err on the side of freedom of speech, however.
We do want everyone to feel comfortable posting here. I don’t think there’s an easy solution to this problem and it is one I continue to mull over.
I beg to differ with you, Dabney. Having differing opinions and disagreeing with someone’s opinion is free-speech. Calling someone a troll for having/voicing an opinion about the content of blog is, imo, down-right bullying, and resembles a certain romance site I avoid like the plague.
Like I said, there’s no answer here that will work for everyone. I will continue to look for feedback from our readers on this issue.
Well, I am not fine with a flippant “”can’t please all of them”” response. And where do you (and AAR) then draw the line? Because by your words and how you feel about free speech, racial slurs would be allowed–Extreme example, but you have opened Pandora’s Box, imo. I won’t be back this weekend, but have a nice one.
I loved the blog today, but then I love analysis of all art, even popular forms. Movies, books, etc. engage with so many important ideas in our society, and audiences (hopefully) react to and think about the ideas. I’m bemused by the notion that thinking and assessing ideas is “”overthinking.”” To me it’s just “”thinking,”” and I wonder why thinking has become a bad thing and something to be avoided. If anything, I would argue that people need to do more of it rather than less! After I see _The Force Awakens_, I’ll come back and reread this blog and think about these ideas even more.
I haven’t seen it yet either Blackjack. Have been waiting for Netflix or Amazon Prime. Now I may let my husband preview it before watching. ;0)
Awwww- that was cute how you did that
Dabney, I AGREE WITH EVERY SINGLE WORD you wrote! EVERY SINGLE ONE.
My husband and I saw all the films in this series. Enjoyed them all. After watching this in the theater we sat there stunned. Not just for Hans death but that the whole film was terrible. There wasn’t one actor/actress that had any charisma nor did the script. The single highlight was when Hans/Harrison came into it. Even a 7 ft. hairy comic teddy bearish character that doesn’t speak in a known language had more. Sad. Just Sad.
I didn’t write this–I just posted it! This is written by Caroline Russomanno.
It’s a great piece, isn’t it?
Oh is my face red. But, yes, it’s a great piece and obviously I agreed.
Thank you!
I had heard it (the movie) has received mixed reviews. While I was a fan of the original SW’s movies, I am not that “”die-hard”” of a fan (probably because I am no longer 20, lol) so I’ll wait for the DVD release. If I am going to be disappointed, or semi-entertained, I’d rather spend $5.99 as opposed $20.
I have to agree with your rant. I read that Harrison Ford wanted to be killed off, but they could have at least had him die heroically. Plus, they didn’t have to kill the romance as well. Han and Leia are an iconic romantic couple, and it wasn’t right to have them end the way they did. Another thing that I didn’t like was how lifeless the older Leia is. What happened to that feisty girl from the original movies?
Harrison Ford only agreed to do the movie if his character Han Solo is killed off. Truth.
Coming from the opposite side of the aisle, I loved The Force Awakens and appreciated that from a character perspective life went on for these people in realistic ways. Han and Leia’s romance in the films is wonderful on the surface; however they come from two completely different worlds in their morals, beliefs and the path their lives are taking before the events of A New Hope through Return of the Jedi. The films don’t have the extended universe to fall back on to show how Han or Leia would transition into a domestic life together, but it can be assumed that Leia would have A LOT of work to do as probably the highest ranking diplomat within the rebellion. Han wasn’t the type of man to involve himself in politics while his wife was busy recreating an intergalactic government, so right away I can believe that their marriage had problems. To then throw in a very Emo son into that dynamic and it has all the trappings of the worst dysfunctional family. One could argue that Leia sent Ben Solo away not just for Force training but to shield him from the problems in his parents marriage, but that in turn led to Ben needing some stability in his young life and Snoke (whoever he really is) provided that support.
It’s mentioned in the blog that it’s hard to see Ben change into Kyo even having two loving parents but that’s assuming that Han and Leia showed that love to their son. There are many clues in the dialog that both parents were very wrapped up in their own lives that I wonder how much time they really made for a boy confused about his place in this powerful but challenged Skywalker pantheon.
Unfortunately the author is ignoring the fact that the Star Wars saga begins with a tragic love story, and love is not always the great redeemer or salvation for the characters. Anakin and Padme’s love was built under similar circumstances of two desperately different people falling in love and fighting to be together while creating a peaceful world. But that same love drove one of them mad and a broken heart killed the other.
I do try and elide the three prequels. Anikin and Padme make me cringe. But you are right in that their love affair very believably created a monster.
I saw Star Wars, the first movie (temporally) and fell hard for Leia and Han. Leia, I realize I’d hoped, would be a woman who could have it all: Love, professional success, children, and a crackling wit. I loved The Force Awakens but it saddened me to see that my teenage hopes for Leia’s HEA hadn’t come true.
True, but perhaps that’s a testament to how well the film series is aging. As young women we swear we’ll do it all: Career, Family, etc. Yet the reality is that we have to sacrifice to get a slice of all three pies and we daily question the choices we make. As we get older we see the culmination of those sacrifices and wonder where we went off course from those teenage dreams. Leia in TFA reflects those teenagers like you and me now grown up.
I completely agree. The 55 year old me just hopes she doesn’t have too many regrets over having to have made the choices reality foists upon us all.
If you’re interested in how Han handles himself as the spouse of a high-ranking politician, do check out the Timothy Zahn trilogy. He addresses that issue.
And darn tootin’ I’m ignoring the Anakin and Padme story. I ignore everything from that stupid prequel trilogy.
LOL! I normally ignore the Prequels too but at their heart is that love story gone wrong. At least the Sequels seem to be returning to the love you spoke of like fraternal love (Finn/Poe) or platonic love (Rey/Finn) or hopefully redeeming love (Kylo/???).
Hmmm…. You think Rey/Finn will be platonic?
For now. I’ll wait to see if they turn it romantic
Oh, wow (*checks to see if today is the first of April*). I don’t think I’ll be seeing this.
All the kiddies on Tumblr are all over the younger characters, and there’re Star Wars posts everywhere, but I never saw a single reference to this.
I agree. Apart from shock value, I don’t know what the point was in destroying characters who have been iconic for decades.
I agree with what LeeF said. I really enjoyed the movie, as did my adult son who has seen it three times now–and he has read all the books, btw. I think I also take books and movies for what they offer and don’t often try to re-write the plot. IOW, it is what it is.
What I didn’t care much for was this blog which I stopped reading about half way through. I guess I’m worn down by the heightened political rhetoric going on these days, so when I saw “”sweet, Holy Moses”” over a movie (or it could have been a book), I was “”on alert,”” read half and then skipped to the end after having read “”Can you tell I’m pissed?”” A blog writer is entitled to say whatever she wants, of course, but it felt kind of like a rant to me, and I guess emotional rhetoric just isn’t working for me now. But that could be just me.
Well, as my grandmother said, you can’t please everyone all of the time… and who would want to?
I wholeheartedly embrace the characterization of this blog post as a “”rant.”” I wrote it as therapy.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been overly involved with the lives of fictional characters. I’ve missed meals and sleep over bad things happening to beloved fictional friends. I appreciate Dabney agreeing to run it as a piece that might be of interest to other people who viewed Star Wars through the lens of relationships and romance, but I wrote it for myself.
I loved this blog post and I think most of us need to rant when the lives of our beloved characters – in film, TV or books – go down a path we feel is ‘out of character’, or just plain upsetting.
I remember being totally devastated when a whole season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer had ‘Riley’ as the love interest after Angel left….*sniff* still hurts :)
And see, I think Riley was the best consort for Buffy. This is why I love these sorts of columns. It’s so fun to air our cultural loves and hates!
Not so much a comment on The Force Awakens as I haven’t seen it since I heard about “”The Secret”” but I SO understand about becoming too invested in fictional characters either in books or TV/movies. I do it all the time, know I shouldn’t, yet do it anyway. And that’s why when I heard what happens to Hans I decided against seeing it. I ever so much prefer my HEA *grin*
It’s just you.
Long time lurker, and I generally try not to fee the trolls, but I finally have to speak up.
Eliza, on February 1, 2016, you posted:
“”I said some time ago that I thought things were going downhill here, about the time Dabney became moderator…I’ll end by apologizing for commenting at all on this thread. I really will try not visit here again.””
So…you don’t like the posts that are posted on this website – you don’t read them but declare them to be rants that are beneath you. You very often disagree with reviews and are rude and snarky to the reviewers in your comments. You don’t like how the site is run, you don’t approve of the variety of books that are reviewed, and in fact, you feel that reviews as a whole are ridiculous. As far as I can tell based on the numerous negative comments you make, you really find nothing of value here. So why are you back?
I would ask, simply, if you don’t like what I post, why do you read them? Seems like you’ve made quite a study here. Odd, that. Particularly going back a couple of months to find a quote?
You called me a troll, rude and snarky, and in effect asked me to leave. Are you doing what you have accused me of?
Blah blah blah. Just calling you out on your hypocrisy, although you clearly lack the self-awareness to recognize it. If you’re ridiculous enough to waste your time trolling a site you supposedly hate, your problem, not mine.
Very nice. You have a good day too.
I enjoyed “”The Force Awakens”” better than Episodes 1,2 and 3 but not as much as the original trilogy. I thought it was a return in part to the original movie style and I liked the main female protagonist and meeting Han Solo and Leia again. Unfortunately Luke was very much missing in action as a contributor to the story. I was disappointed Leia and Han Solo were no longer together and there didn’t seem to be any real legitimate reason for them to be estranged. I thought it was a made up plot device to try and give some basis for their son turning to the dark side. As a villain, Kylo Ren was very much Darth Vader lite. He came across as a sulky boy ( to paraphrase a quote from “”Life of Brian””: ‘ He’s not Darth Vader, he’s just a naughty boy’ ). I couldn’t understand what possible justification there was for his behaviour and actions. His psycho behaviour all seemed a bit staged. I suppose it is too much to hope they kill him off in the next movie and get a more believable villain. I do hope they don’t try to redeem him. What is definitely lacking is a young male to fill the Han Solo “” hero role””. Oscar Isaacs is always good but overall, though the young males were OK, none of them showed the charisma Harrison Ford brought to the Han Solo role. IMO the movie was ok. There was plenty of action but the lack of explanation regarding beloved characters let it down. I haven’t read any of the books but it doesn’t sound as they would make the characters’ actions in this story any clearer. I’m wondering if, because we have waited so long for a new Star Wars movie, our expectations of this film were unrealistically high?
I’d argue that Rey is Han Solo for this generation. Which I love.
Rey is much more of a Luke than a Han. I agree that Oscar Isaacs as Poe came closest, and I truly wish they’d had the nerve to make him Han and Leia’s son: a Skywalker who’s a gifted pilot but completely lacking the Force? What a fabulous plot opportunity!
Yes a Skywalker who lacks the force and has to rely on superior piloting skills and cunning would have been a great plot twist. Is it too late to postulate that Kylo Ren and Poe are actually twins, separated soon after birth and raised at different ends of the Universe? Oh wait, SW has already done that plot line. Still, it worked once, why not twice?
“”I’m wondering if, because we have waited so long for a new Star Wars movie, our expectations of this film were unrealistically high?””
My experience as of late is that I’m usually disappointed, whenever there is so much hype and high expectations surrounding the latest “”whatever”” be that it a book or a movie or new T.V. show. Yet the shows (programs) on television that I like are cancelled after 1 or 2 seasons
“”Yet the shows(programs) I like are cancelled after 1 or 2 seasons.””
Because shows I like disappear so often at the end of the season never to be continued I thought it was only me whose taste in TV shows must be out of sync with the majority of the viewing public. I am almost nervous to start watching a new series in case I jinx its continued existence. I am hoping the new world of TV with players like Netflix in competition with the traditional networks may lead to program makers deciding that it is worth picking up and continuing some of these abandoned stories. I am sure we could all make some suggestions of series they could resurrect.
Part of the reason I have enjoyed the Star Wars movies over the years, including The Force Awakens, is I didn’t over-think or over-analyze them. Just accepted the stories for what they are: old time Saturday morning serialized space adventures.
But I agree with you: they were old-time Saturday morning serialized space adventures. And patricide is really a rare think in old-time broadcast TV, hence my argument that taking that route is a whiplash departure from our expectations of Star Wars.
I understand your feelings. I simply did not expect the Star Wars franchise to anticipate or justify mine.
Oh no!! I have not seen The Force Awakens and did not know any of this. I don’t though mind spoilers at all. But still, how horrible. You’re right that Han and Leia have been iconic lovers over decades, and it’s tragic that they raised a murderous child and that Han himself dies at his son’s hand. I want to see the movie but am glad to know what’s coming my way.