Star Wars: Five Things ‘The Force Awakens’ Did Perfectly

Let’s take a look at some amazing parts of the Force Awakens.

A few weeks ago we took a look at some of the mistakes the Force Awakens made. However, the movie has plenty of great parts to go along with the mistakes. Today let’s take a look at some things the movie nails.

Jakku

I would argue that the first 3rd of the movie is pretty close to perfect. Basically, everything on Jakku hits well, and a large part of that is Jakku itself. The visuals here are just stunning. A whole society that lives in the literal ruins of The Empire. It’s not only evocative but it’s a great bit of visual storytelling. The Empire is dead and we know that we’ve moved well beyond it.  It also serves as a contrast with the First Order who is clearly aping the Empire. On top of all that, it’s a clear callback to Tatooine while at the same time being its own thing.

Rey’s Introduction 

Plenty of people have issues with Rey as a character, and some of these are no doubt well-founded. However, I think the way she is introduced is just amazing. We are given this quiet, slow introduction to her, a rare event in Star Wars. Through this, we get this amazing look at a strong, self-sufficient young woman, who clearly dreams of something more. All of this is done without heavy exposition and just looks amazing. It is an amazing look at an average life that also draws parallels with both Luke and Anakin’s introductions. It sets her up as an archetypical Star Wars hero and it works so well.

Kylo Ren

Overall Kylo Ren is one of the best things to come out of the squeal trilogy. He’s certainly not perfect, but at least in the first two movies, he’s one of the deepest villains, or just plain characters we get at all. This guy is conflicted, and dark, and angsty. I know this doesn’t work for everyone, but for me, the idea that he’s just this lost man-child desperately trying to cling to these things that he thinks are “cool” is a very interesting idea. I dunno, a lot has been said about Ren in other places, and I don’t have a ton to add other than to say in this movie it worked.

Snoke

While ultimately everything about Snoke ended up being disappointing and lame, I feel that in the Force Awakens he is pretty great. They do just enough with him to make him a really sinister “secret” big bad.  He’s weird and big and strange. We get a lot of tantalizing hints, he corrupted Ben, has some history with Luke, and controls the First Order. But there are some great unanswered questions about him. Is he human? Is he some old Sith? Just what is this evil dude’s deal? Yeah, it’s all meaningless in the end, but in TFA he is a great addition and a great setup for a trilogy villain.

The Visuals 

Look, there is no denying that this movie looks amazing. It’s got some stunning shots in it and just blows you away. Sure some of them don’t make much logical sense (the whole galaxy seeing Starkiller base fire), but man does it look great. Even more, it looks very much like Star Wars. It avoids a lot of the weird clutter, clutter,  and goofiness’ of the later movies. Truly the movie ends up with some great and iconic shots that scream Star Wars.

Let us know what parts of the moive you liked, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.