Star Wars Speculation: The Poetry of the Star Wars Saga

Welcome readers to another installment of Star Wars Speculation!! I took a break to bring you my first "In Defense Of" entry, In Defense Of: 'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice' (The "Martha Scene), but today I'm back to dive deep into Star Wars again in the mere weeks leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This week's topic I'll be tackling is "The Poetry of the Star Wars Saga" and I'll be using that as the basis of my argument that The Force Awakens isn't a rehash of A New Hope. Also, keep in mind that I'm writing this with the base assumption that you'll have at least seen A New Hope and The Force Awakens so there could be somethings you may consider spoilers if you haven't seen either for whatever reason... Although, I suspect you would not be here if that were the case. 

The Poetry of the Star Wars Saga

So I'm sure many of you are wondering what the heck poetry has to do with Star Wars, and the answer to that comes from the Saga's creator himself, George Lucas.

Back in 2002, Lucas told Entertainment Weekly "I create themes, and I repeat those themes, in different chords and different arrangements" regarding how the Prequel Trilogy mirrors the Original Trilogy. Within the Skywalker Saga, there are many moments that reverberate and are echoed across the Saga. Lucas explained it like this, "It's like poetry. Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one." There are quite a few story beats that carry thematic significance within the Saga, and these are absolutely integral to the DNA of Star Wars. Naturally, these aforementioned segments resurface as a means of strengthening the overall narrative.

Evidence of Lucas' comments can be found all throughout the Star Wars saga, but I've embedded a link to a brief Vimeo video from Pablo Fernández Eyre that keys in on some of the prominent examples below:

Now that you've hopefully watched the video and have some idea of what I'm talking about, let's dig in.

Lucas' approach refers back to the ancient style of poetry commonly found in The Old Testament of the Bible that is often called parallelism.

Now you may have noticed in the video that the Prequel Trilogy and Original Trilogy relate to each other in this way with The Phantom Menace correlating with A New Hope, Attack Of The Clones with The Empire Strikes Back, and Revenge Of The Sith with Return Of The Jedi.

How does this apply to Star Wars now?

I suspect the ongoing sequel trilogy will fit into this pattern as well. The Force Awakens has already broken into the cycle by mirroring A New Hope, and subsequently The Phantom Menace, but it remains to be seen how much The Last Jedi will evoke The Empire Strikes Back or Attack of the Clones. Based on the trailers though, it seems that there will at least be a few similarities so I suspect it's very possible it will jump in while also differentiating itself.

The brilliance of this technique though is how it permits wiggle-room for the storytellers to deviate the pre-established path and simultaneously incorporate the integral elements of the franchise. I think people get hung up on the idea that just because a film homages something, it automatically means that it ripped the other one off. However, Star Wars is a franchise that has always stayed true to itself in the face of exploring such an expansive galaxy.

Why 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' isn't a remake of 'A New Hope'

I remember when The Force Awakens first came out, just about everyone loved it. It wasn't until a few weeks afterwards that someone on the Internet pointed out some similarities harkening back to A New Hope.

Of course, this spread like wildfire and people turned on the film saying things like "OMG, J.J. AbRaM5 rU1N3d St4R W4r5!" or "tH3 f0Rc3 4W4k3n5 5ux 4ND T0R3 Ap4Rt MY CH1LdH00D!!" Yes, the fandom whined. Like they always do. Now, I'm not here to refute that there are some similar story beats to A New Hope. That much is crystal clear, and I can see the reasons why the parallelism was implemented.

First of all, people need to take into account the state of the franchise at this point. Star Wars was not as commercially viable as it once was. The Prequels had soured the general moviegoer's appetite for anymore Star Wars. Sure, there were The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, comics, novels, and video games, but there hadn't been a live action Star Wars film since Revenge of the Sith... There was a lot riding on the success of The Force Awakens, and fortunately it decimated the box office, but Disney was taking a gamble buying Lucasfilm. What if they were unable to create something that would appeal to both old and new fans? That's where the parallelism comes in.

J.J. Abrams was brought on to direct and also had a huge hand in the script alongside Star Wars scribe Lawrence Kasdan and Pixar writer Michael Arndt. The thing is... Abrams is a fan of Star Wars himself, in addition to being a fantastic filmmaker. As a part of the Star Wars fandom, he knew what they would respond well to and so naturally he knew what would click with audiences and what wouldn't. He shot on film, used practical effects/locations, the cast of the Original Trilogy was brought back, and incorporated as many references as possible.

Abrams and Lucasfilm understood that the structure of this new Star Wars had to resemble something audiences were already familiar with if it were to be accepted and jettison a new era of Star Wars, so naturally they pulled from Lucas' pattern itself and echoed some beats from the Original Trilogy. This mirroring technique has already been implemented in Star Wars, yet fans feel the need to complain for whatever reason. They act as though most other film franchises don't do this in order to keep the franchise DNA intact.

Just look at Jurassic World and Creed. The plot of both films are essentially the same base premise of the original film in the subsequent franchise (Jurassic Park and Rocky). Both films also feature pivotal moments homaging back to the original with the same sense of nostalgia utilized by The Force Awakens.

Both films were released in 2015, the same year as The Force Awakens, yet I hardly have ever seen anyone call out either for "copying the original." I've never seen anyone complain about the Prequel's use of parallelism and mirroring either... Although, that could be due to the multitude of problems present in the Prequels...

If someone still wants to complain that The Force Awakens is a remake of A New Hope after reading all of my informed arguments, I ask them to please elaborate on how The Force Awakens blatantly rips off A New Hope. 

Sure, you can tell me that something pivotal to the plot is put inside a droid, there's a desert planet, on that planet is our protagonist who longs for more, there's a super space weapon capable of destroying planets, the antagonist is masked and wears dark clothing, there's a cantina, and the heroes' mentor is killed by the antagonist on the Death Star/Starkiller Base, BUT those are the familiar elements of The Force Awakens I mentioned earlier. I've constantly found that in the internet's insistence to force these two films to fit the same framework, they have to describe the plots with incredibly vague terminology. The further you narrow in on the films, the more different they become. The Force Awakens tells the same story in broad strokes, but the specificity is drastically different.

Also, the whole complaint about The First Order building another Death Star seems sorta stupid to me. Realistically, if you were an evil organization and knew there was a weapon that had previously been built with the capability to destroy entire planets, wouldn't you have a desire to reconstruct it with major modifications to cause even more destruction? Just a thought... Sure, the last two were taken out, but that just shows there's room for improvement. With that being said, I'd still rather not see a fourth iteration of a planet-sized weapon in either The Last Jedi or Episode IX.

So yes, I can agree with the sentiment that Lucasfilm played it safe, but Lucasfilm needed something that could be conceived as commercially safe in order to take some secluded risks. Just take a look at the film's cast... The sequel trilogy's leads are diverse both ethnically and in terms of gender. Rey was the saga's first female protagonist who turned out to be the TRUE protagonist as the force user many had already dismissed the possibility of thanks to marketing showing Finn holding the saber. Finn was the first African American protagonist in Star Wars (sure you could make a case for Lando I guess... but he's more of a side supporting character in my eyes), who was positioned as a turncoat stormtrooper. Lastly, Poe Dameron was the first Latin protagonist.

**Spoiler Warning for Star Wars: The Force Awakens**

Kylo Ren's STILL rather controversial (but I'll dig more into that in my next post), and I don't think the fact he killed Han Solo did him any favors in that regard... Much less, make him a safe choice as an antagonist.

**End of Spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens**

In conclusion, The Force Awakens had a difficult task ahead of it in introducing new characters, bringing back revered, classic characters, continuing the story left off in Return of the Jedi, and making Star Wars commercially viable again, but I think it did all of that beautifully and I still appreciate the film as one of my favorites in the franchise! I'd still even consider the first time I saw The Force Awakens to be one of the greatest experiences I've ever had in a movie theater because it's simply something I longed for most of my life and it delivered everything I possibly could have imagined. For all of those reasons and even more that I won't get into for the sake of length, I absolutely adore Star Wars The Force Awakens and it's use of parallelism to accomplish the daunting task of revitalizing Star Wars.

-As always, may the force be with you!!

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith'

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released this December and since the Star Wars films are among my favorites I thought I should go back and review all six. I decided to review them in the order they chronologically take place because it seemed odd to start with the Original Trilogy then do the prequels then The Force Awakens. This week I will be releasing my reviews for both Episode II and Episode III because I was unable to review Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones last week Be forewarned as this review will contain spoilers since the film came out in 2005 so it has been out for a decade. If you have yet to read my review of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace or Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones you can view them by clicking on the corresponding hyperlink Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Next week I will take a break from the Star Wars reviews to review the more recent James Bond films in preparation for Spectre. 

'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith' Review 

Nominated For: Best Makeup.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is the final film in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, and in my opinion is the best of the three by far with much better writing, storytelling, visuals, action, and performances. The film's story primarily features Anakin's full turn to the dark side and the transformation to Darth Vader.

I must say that this piece of the story is handled perfectly. It allows Hayden Christensen to really delve into the darker part of Anakin that was the best part of his performance in Attack Of The Clones and really provides the actor with an oppurtunity to shine in some moments.

One, in particular, is when Anakin makes the decision to join Palpatine and cuts off Mace Windu's hand allowing Palpatine to kill him. Lucas crafts this part of the film quite well with believable motivation for Anakin and allows Anakin to become a much more compelling character. This is really also explored quite well in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series which is considered canon (meaning all of the events that take place are a part of the Star Wars mythos and impact the later over arching story as a whole).

In Anakin's fall, there is a terrific scene between Christensen's Anakin and Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine where he begins to tempt Anakin with the promisee of joining the dark side and possibility of saving people from death. All of the scenes that the two shared together were quite incredible to behold with both actors at heir best.

The film also really incorporates more elements from the Original Trilogy including some characters such as Chewbacca, and obviously the characters that have been a part of the story thus far. The film allows for proper setup for placing the characters where we find them all in A New Hope, which is somewhat amusing and brings the story full circle.

Revenge Of The Sith also contains the best visuals of the Prequels with more lifelike creatures and beautiful landscapes for new planets introduced in this film, Mustafar in particular. Despite the previous two installments of the Prequel Trilogy being very dialogue heavy, the final installment hits the ground running with a fascinating space battle and the film doesn't let up.

The film contains one incredible action sequence after another from a fun space battle to a lightsaber fight between Obi Wan and Anakin against Count Dooku to a fight scene of the bridge of the ship all at the beginning. To the center of the film including grand large scale battles on Kashyyyk (the homeward of Chewbacca and his native species Wookies), and Utapau.

Then the film also has some thrilling lightsaber battles from the fight between Obi Wan and Anakin against Count Dooku to the fight/chase sequence between Obi Wan and General Grievous, to the final fights between Yoda and Darth Sidious and Anakin and Obi Wan, the emotional pinnacle of the film.

One lightsaber fight that was very odd to me is when the Jedi confront Palpatine as Palpatine's fighting style just looks ridiculous. Aside from this, all of the lightsaber fights are a spectacle to behold and among the best of the entire saga.

As I mentioned earlier this film even has the best performances of the Prequel Trilogy as the acting on display here feels as though much more emotion is being expressed and the writing allows for some outstanding performances from the cast. First of all, as I mentioned earlier Hayden Christensen really is allowed to come into the role of Anakin Skywalker and show what the character should have been all along while exploring the complexity of Anakin.

Ewan McGregor finally is given a chance to provide much more refreshing new aspects to the character of Obi Wan in his more emotional scenes, especially those during the fight between him and Anakin in the film's third act. Not that Ewan McGregor hasn't done this before but prior to this film a majority of his performance tended to resemble how Alec Guinness handled the character (which is good because it allows for consistency) but generally he wasn't given scenes with a lot of emotion and so he somewhat relied on ensuring he conveyed the Obi Wan persona introduced by Alec Guinness. If the rumors that one of the new Star Wars spinoffs will focus on Obi Wan are indeed true, I would love to see Ewan McGregor return to the role.

One small moment that I loved was when Obi Wan kills General Grievous with a blaster and throws it to the ground proclaiming "So uncivilized." which was a great moment that reflects from something said by Obi Wan in A New Hope where he says "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon... for a more civilized age."I liked to see this belief carried over to be shown in Obi Wan's character.

Natalie Portman does a much better job this time around of expressing believable chemistry with Christensen as opposed to the awkward chemistry between the two in Attack Of The Clones. Portman like the rest of the cast is also given a chance to explore more emotional scenes towards the end of the film and her death is probably one of the most tragic moments of the entire saga. Samuel L. Jackson provides a serviceable performance as he once again has a smaller supporting role that has increased significance compared to his roles in the other Prequel installments.

But truly the greatest performances of the film is, without a doubt, Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine. His performance really does a terrific job supporting Christensen's and allows both to truly shine as they both become villains.

Frank Oz does a terrific job voicing Yoda, as usual. I think Yoda is brought to life with the best animation for the character by far and as always is a joy to be included in any Star Wars film.

Once again both droid companions C3PO and R2D2 are given a role in the film, being one of the few characters to be present in every Star Wars film.

One new character introduced in the film is General Grievous, who is an awesome character both in appearance and the characterization as a whole especially since he collects lightsabers from the Jedi he kills making him a menacing presence. Unfortunately he was killed in the film but he has more depth that is explored in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is probably one of the best animated series I have ever watched.

This film has many great scene but probably the most powerful scene is the sequence when Order 66 is carried out and all of the Jedi are killed. That scene is very emotional the film's score lends itself well to the scene.

Another great scene is where Padme is dying while giving birth to the twins and Anakin is transformed into Darth Vader. I like that the sequence cuts between the two mirroring that Anakin dies as Padme does, and Luke and Leia are born and Darth Vader is created. I like the parallels can be drawn between these two events and how they juxtapose each other.

Overall, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is a solid Star Wars film almost at the same quality of the Original Trilogy in my opinion and as a whole is a fantastic very enjoyable film that bridges the Prequel and Original Trilogies quite effectively.

Film Assessment: B- B+

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones'

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released this December, and since the Star Wars films are among my favorites, I thought I should go back and review all six. I decided to review them in the order they chronologically take place because it seemed odd to start with the Original Trilogy then do the prequels then The Force Awakens. This week I will be releasing my reviews for both Episode II and Episode III because I was unable to review Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones last week as I didn't have time to rewatch the film and I would have preferred to have a clearer perspective on my thoughts on the film as opposed to what I remembered. Be forewarned as this review will contain spoilers since the film came out in 2002 so it has been out for 13 years. If you have yet to read my review of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace you can view it by clicking this hyperlink Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. And you won't have to wait for my review on Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith as I am also uploading that review today. Next week I will take a break from the Star Wars reviews to review the more recent James Bond films in preparation for Spectre. 

'Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is amongst the prequels, which as I discussed in my Phantom Menace review are regarded as the worst Star Wars films and I have a somewhat mixed perspective on this one, as there are some aspects I love that I feel really deepen the Star Wars mythos and there are some things that somewhat taint the saga.

The film opens with some breathtaking visuals, which I consider to be the best part of this film. The visual effects in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones are top notch and I have yet to completely understand fans complaints regarding the use of CGI in the film. I think that this film has among the best visuals of the saga, and honestly I think the CGI was utilized quite effectively.

In regards to the story, this film is slightly weaker than The Phantom Menace, as it has a large romantic subplot that really makes the film drag as the film is slightly unfocused at times.

However, there are some great action scenes in the film. These include a great chase scene, a fight between Obi Wan and Jango Fett (a space battle and physical confrontation), as well as all of the events that occur towards the end of the film on Geonosis.

The last act of the film that takes place on Geonosis is by far the best part of the film, and what always captivated me as a child. I've got to say the nostalgia for this portion of the film managed to hold up as I still enjoy the final act.

In particular I like the fight scene in the factory, the Genesis Arena fight scene that pits Anakin, Obi Wan, and Padme up against some ferocious creatures, the remainder of the action scenes on Genesis when the Jedi and Clones arrive to fight and the final lightsaber battle between Dooku against Yoda, Obi Wan, and Anakin. The film also includes a tidbit of humor mainly due to the inclusion of C3PO and R2D2 that I always find to be quite amusing.

One thing I have noticed that this film is constantly berated for is the performances, and I do agree that is the film's glaring weakness, but I don't think the performances are terrible as there are redeeming qualities to be found in each performance throughout the film. Most notably Hayden Christensen, who portrays an older Anakin Skywalker, is the one who receives the most criticism. I do agree that some of the criticism is justified as Christensen gives a somewhat wooden, non emotional performance for the first third of the film.

However, Christensen does something incredible and gives a very powerful performance in the sequence where he is searching for his mother who was kidnapped by Tusken Raiders. In this entire sequence, Christensen gives so much passion to the performance with a majority of this sequence having no dialogue allowing Christensen to communicate the emotional pain and suffering of Anakin through very passionate facial expressions. This translates into a terrific performance and the only sequence in the film that allowed me to believe that Anakin is indeed Darth Vader as he comes across as a menacing tortured individual which is exactly what Darth Vader is. Unfortunately he doesn't really maintain this for the remainder of the film and comes across as either whiney, sulky, or very wooden.

Ewan McGregor once again returns to the role of Obi Wan, but this time is allowed to play an wiser more experienced version of the character, and I feel that he excels in the role while honoring Sir Alec Guinness' performance.

Natalie Portman just gives a bland performance this time around as Padme Amadala.

Christopher Lee is allowed to be an interesting villain as Count Dooku with some great monologuing and the character Count Dooku is fun to watch in the final lightsaber battle, but interesting tidbit Lee did little to no of the choreography himself due to his age and I believe was CGI'd into the film.

Samuel L. Jackson gives a great performance as Mace Windu for the little screen time that is allotted for his character.

In regards to characters that I have yet to discuss (including the performances), Yoda is finally allowed to be seen in action, and it's quite enjoyable to watch him jump around in the lightsaber battle (Honestly that always makes me chuckle a little because of how ridiculous it looks) but it makes sense why Yoda is regarded to be the most powerful of the Jedi. I can't really discuss an actor for Yoda since he is only voiced by Frank Oz and primarily CGI, but as a character Yoda is always enjoyable onscreen.

Jango Fett is a great addition as he carries over a similar persona to that of his son in the Original Trilogy, which allows for an explanation of the origin of Boba Fett as well as the Clone Trooper army (that eventually becomes the foundation of the Stormtroopers).

I liked the inclusion of both R2D2 and C3PO once again as they didn't feel forced into the film and provided some entertaining scenes. So once again, I'm very glad they are a part of each of the films in the saga. Also Jar Jar Binks has a significantly reduced role for this film which is one significant improvement from The Phantom Menace.

George Lucas does manage to correct upon some mistakes made in The Phantom Menace, but is still unable to completely recapture the magic of the Original Trilogy. Although there are fleet glances at some moments that do recapture the magic. An enjoyable cinematic experience with breathtaking visuals and entertaining action but among the lower end of the spectrum amongst the Star Wars Saga.

Film Assessment: C+