Disney’s Star Wars: Characters and Effects

Disney’s Star Wars. It just feels wrong to write that.

Anyway, we saw last time that Disney’s Star Wars plots ranged from familiar to fresh, and the themes included self-doubt and moral relativism. But what did you think about the characters and effects of the new movies? I’ll tell you what I thought, starting with the inclusion of your favorite heroes—Luke, Leia, and Han.

CHARACTERS

Casting

Disney hopped on the Star Wars film train with enough time to rope in the Big Three: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. But honestly, I felt sorry for Fisher and Ford. Carrie felt the pressure of looking unaged, despite the fact that she was now nearly 60 instead of 19, and if Harrison looked a little extra rugged, it’s because he was 72! Mark, 65 when The Last Jedi was released, seemed to hold up just fine despite the car accident that beat up his face in 1977. Since Return of the Jedi, much of his work in Hollywood has been voice acting or TV show cameos, so I wonder if he, at least, was excited to resume the role of Luke Skywalker.

Regardless, Disney made a smart choice in incorporating these three into their films for one reason: it was sure to draw in the faithful fans of the originals, even if we were begrudging and skeptical about it. But Disney also featured plenty of new actors, most of them previously unknown, and I think that was smart. Had they tried to take, say, Brad Pitt or Anne Hathaway and turn them into Star Wars characters, it would have stretched viewers beyond credulity. New faces gave new fans a chance to get interested in the new Star Wars.

Relatable Motives

As with the originals, all of the characters are on some sort of personal quest amidst the grand scheme of the overall story. In Episodes VII-VIII, we see Finn’s determination to escape the empire, Rey’s hope of discovering her parents, Kylo Ren’s desire to live up to Vader’s legacy, Han and Leia’s attempt at salvaging their son, and Luke’s efforts to avoid responsibility. Overarching these quests is the greater plot: find the map, blow up the planet killer, enlist Luke’s help, avoid the First Order, and stay alive. All the sub-plots and personal journeys keep the story moving even if the “Death Star III” storyline is a bit hackneyed.

Rogue One and Solo depict selfish and two-faced villains as well as jaded and reluctant heroes—a fact we discussed last time. In Rogue One Cassian and his friends wanted to justify their gritty work for the Rebellion, and Jyn Erso wanted to clear her father’s name. I found their lack of enthusiasm believable, although they both end up caring about the greater cause eventually. In Solo, a much more lighthearted film, we see Han Solo’s backstory. He is betrayed again and again, but surprisingly he doesn’t seem very fazed by it. If they wanted to show how Han became the mercenary we see in A New Hope, I feel like they missed the mark. He was still hopeful, helpful, and almost altruistic at the end of Solo. Maybe they’re saving the story of his selfishness for the next film, Solo and Jaba: An Unlikely Friendship. (That’s a joke. I hope.)

Clear and Confusing Motives

I think the most important aspect of character motivation in Solo is at the very end when Han and Beckett are at a face-off. At last, we are given a definitive answer to the question, “Who shot first?” Han did. Han shot first. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

However, of all the motivations in these newer films, I think I’m most confused by Snoke and Kylo’s idolization of Darth Vader. I mean, sure, he was good at being bad for almost three movies, but in the end, the guy was a sellout! He killed his master (a classic Sith move) in order to destroy the Empire and aid the Rebellion (not a classic Sith move). If Snoke wanted Kylo Ren to channel his inner Vader, I guess he got what he asked for. He should have pushed him to be more like Darth Sidious. At least that dude was bad to the bone.

And, as a side note, I’m also confused about Disney’s motives in including so much more cursing in these movies. I mean, I don’t enjoy that in movies at all, much less in movies touted to be child-friendly. But even from the standpoint of universe coherence, it doesn’t make sense for them to be using Earth-based curse words. While the six original films included a few cuss words here and there, they relied more on in-universe curses like “Nerf herder,” “Bantha fodder” or “Bantha poodoo.” That communicates the same thing without breaking the story’s spell and jarring the viewers out of their temporary belief in a galaxy far, far away.

TECHNICAL STUFF

Visual Effects

As I mentioned before, there was never any doubt that Disney would make some beautiful movies. After all, Amazon owns one half of the world, and Disney owns the other half; therefore, Mickey and his cohorts should be able to pull off some stunning effects. And they didn’t disappoint: the drifting snow and falling sparks during Rey and Kylo’s duels, the ancient Jedi island, the light speed destruction of the First Order’s ship, and the red salt planet are just a few examples of visually captivating scenes. Lucas started the movies the right way by choosing vastly different settings for each film, and Disney has followed in his footsteps.

Lucas also began by using loads of puppets, masks, and costumes to create his creatures, but he ended by using CGI for several of them, including Yoda. Many fans (including yours truly) preferred the “real” Yoda to the more high-tech one, so the director of The Last Jedi created a copy of the original puppet. Sadly, Yoda still looked weird to me, but it was a nice gesture. I did love all the physical costuming in Maz Kanata’s castle because they looked as real and grubby as the cantina in Mos Eisley. In my opinion, the CG General Tarkin also looked fantastic (at least on lower-resolution theater screens), but the young Princess Leia was all wrong. She scared me. But all in all, Disney’s visual effects were impressive.

Musical Scores

You know I’ve had lots (possibly too much) to say about John Williams’ work for Episodes I-VI, but I don’t have nearly as much to say about the newer scores. In fact, you could have told me that any other composer wrote the scores for Episodes VII-VIII, and I’d almost have believed you. Don’t get me wrong—the music is still beautiful, but mainly because it incorporates so many of the old themes.

So while I have nothing to complain about with the new scores, I also have to say that they weren’t spectacular. None of the new themes stood out to me. Nothing felt iconic. But I don’t blame the composer for that; in fact, if I were John Williams, I’d purposely write a good score instead of a great one just to emphasize that you can only build on the same franchise for so long before you’re just beating a dead Gungan. (Does any particular Gungan come to mind?) All that to say, even if the recent Star Wars films don’t showcase it fully, John Williams is still the king of composers.

IN CONCLUSION

Overall, I’ve enjoyed Disney’s Star Wars films as regular movies—even as space fantasy movies. They’re well done, and they appeal to a wide audience. But despite this, I’m not sure I’m ready to accept them into the official Star Wars canon alongside Lucas’s works. In my mind, there’s more to making a Star Wars movie than simply handing someone a light saber—whether it’s Mickey Mouse or Kylo Ren. A true Star Wars movie needs a little magic (or maybe the Force), and I’m not sure we’ll find that in Disney.

Today’s Question: What would you have changed about any of Disney’s Star Wars movies?

Check out the next post here!