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SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS EPISODE VII : THE FORCE AWAKENS FOLLOW

The film starts answering questions right in the opening crawl. The reason why Luke has yet to appear in a trailer is that he’s gone missing. In fact, Star Wars: The Search for Luke might have been a better title than the one they went with. The plot focuses around a mission to complete a map showing the location of Luke Skywalker – where he went into hiding after a student (implied to be Kylo Ren) turned to the Dark Side.

I’m going to frame my look at Kylo Ren and Rei in light of the speculation that they are alternate universe versions of Jacen and Jaina Solo – the children of Leia and Han. While it’s unclear if Han and Leia are married or not (Leia is known as “General Organa”), Kylo Ren is clearly established as their son Ben (perhaps a middle-ground name, acknowledging the name of Luke’s son in the original canon but without requiring any explanation?). Rei, on the other hand, is very much a mystery. There seems to be a connection between her and Kylo Ren (based on his reaction when he was told that a girl was helping BB-8) and the Falcon (a flashback indicates that when she was left on Jakku, the Falcon was flying away from her), yet not only do Han and Leia never say anything about a second child, they both meet her and neither indicate any knowledge of who she is. This is clearly a story that is intended to be examined in more detail in Episode VIII, but for now we do seem to be getting some interesting mixed signals.

Our next group of characters to look at are two of the first that appear on-screen. Poe Damaron is the new Wedge Antilles/Han Solo/Starlord character, and one who could have had some interesting scenes with Wedge had Denis Lawson returned. Finn is the character that all of the marketing has been doing its best to convince us is going to become a Jedi. Sadly, both of these characters have a tendency to be a bit too jokey in dramatic moments. This is primarily during their early scenes – just enough to give us a bad early impression. There is some very interesting visual work done with Finn, though, that merits a mention. Finn’s path to the Light actually begins when one of his colleagues, killed by Poe, leaves a bloody handprint across his helmet. The dirty, multicolored world of the Resistance (a military organization aligned with yet separate from the Republic) intrudes on the pristine white of the Stormtrooper. After this, he disobeys an order, returns to the drop-ship…and is the only Stormtrooper with dirt and sand on his uniform. This feels rather awkward and out of place to me, but I can definitely see where Abrams is going with this. The Empire (and now, the First Order) can always be visually identified by their pristine white, black, and now chrome uniforms and settings, which are always very distinct from the dingy, often underground locations reserved for the Underground and the Rebellion/Resistance. This one dirty set of armor speaks volumes about where his character is going and the switch that has clicked inside his mind…even if there is no realistic reason why he would be the only dirty Stormtrooper. It’s not hard to tell where his path is going to go from there.

Han, Chewie, and Leia are the next group to discuss. Han and Chewbacca are the first to arrive on scene, and their first lines are the ones from the trailer. They’ve returned to smuggling after the loss of Han’s son to the Dark Side, but Han is having even worse luck than he was working for Jabba. It’s this, plus the prospect of finding Luke, and a few circumstances completely out of Han’s control that put him back face to face with the Resistance, where he reconciles with Leia. Both believe that Kylo Ren can be redeemed to the Light – probably based on Vader’s example – and this is their goal throughout the remainder of the movie. All three perform their roles perfectly, and there are several heartbreaking scenes made all the more powerful by the presence of the actors we grew up with.

Sadly, See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo do not fare as well. Artoo lies dormant throughout much of the film, and seems to awaken only based on plot convenience (he awakens and reveals vital information only after the film’s climax). Threepio, on the other hand, has some rather unfortunate dialogue. The protocol droid begins by using Leia’s former title – Princess – rather than General. Almost as if this droid, who is crafted and programmed to get matters of etiquette such as titles perfect, can’t take this former princess seriously as a General. He later reacts to a command that Leia gives to Han with the off-hand “Princesses”. While one can ask why he doesn’t say “Generals”, his tone makes it perfectly clear: this is a “Women” joke, poorly disguised. This coming from a genderless droid in a futuristic setting makes this all the more jarring, and makes it feel as if the writers went out of their way to force the joke into the movie. Tee hee, we’re letting more women into the movie (one-third of the new heroes, one-fourth of the new villains, and one-third of the returning non-droid characters, although this number is skewed further if you actually look at the amount of dialogue those ten characters have, and the fact that the film just barely passes the Bechdel test in no way negates that), but we don’t have to like them!

While we’re on the topic of gender, it’s worth taking a look at the plot of Act III. Kylo Ren takes Rei prisoner, Finn becomes adamant about rescuing her, and eventually he, Han, and Chewbacca embark on a mission to do so. During the process, Rei begins to free herself, and eventually takes over the rescue. The parallels between this and A New Hope become even more obvious when I spell it out that way. Still, the conundrum lies…is this still a Damsel in Distress situation? In some ways, no. Like Leia, Rei (speaking of parallels that become more obvious when you write them out) maintains her agency during this sequence. This seems to have become a trope of its own, where the party in need of rescue begins to free themselves just in time to meet up with the party doing the rescuing. On the other hand, despite Rei’s frequently asserting her independence (“Stop taking my hand!”), in the end, he is the one choosing to rescue her, and her being overwhelmed with gratitude. In the end, I don’t know what to say about it, and it really doesn’t matter what I have to say about it…I just wish we as a society can get creative enough that we don’t constantly need to have one party or the other captured and somebody trying to rescue them.

I suppose, just in case quotes from me end up in any sort of controversial discussion about this, I should also mention that Finn’s Call to Action is his decision to rescue Poe Damaron from a similar (yet simpler) situation.

I’m surely going to add a “Part 4” to this review later, however I am tired enough that my brain is stuck in 1st gear right now so I just want to post this. Please, ask any questions you have in the comments (please be respectful to those who are avoiding spoilers!) and I’ll try to address them on the final page.