Movie Analysis - "Star Wars - Episode VII - The Force Awakens" - Go Into The Story

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Movie Analysis: Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens

January 25th, 2016 by Scott
Official Screenwriting Blog of the Black List
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Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5
years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post
about the importance of watching movies:
To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a
potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to
scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when
discussing stories you write; its a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.
But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to get how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in
the world of film, its like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story
structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.
Let me add this: Its important to see movies as they get released so that you stay on top of the business. Decisions get made in
Hollywood in large part depending upon how movies perform, so watching movies as they come out puts you in the same head
space as reps, producers, execs, and buyers.
This weeks movie: Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael
Arndt, based on characters by George Lucas.
R E C E NT P O S T S
Character Archetype Analysis: Good
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Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 26
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Movie Analysis: Star Wars: Episode
VII The Force Awakens Plot
Screenwriting 101: Catherine Turney
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A R T I C L E S B Y TA G
S E A R C H GIT S
Our schedule for discussion this week:
C O NNE C T
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Monday: General Comments

Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways
For those of you who have not seen the movie, do not click MORE as we will be trafficking in major spoilers. If you have seen
Creed, I invite you to join me in breaking down and analyzing the movie.
To help steer the discussion, here is an extensive plot summary from IMDb:
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Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire
and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia
Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace
and justice to the galaxy. Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has
discovered a clue to Lukes whereabouts.
The First Order, led by the evil Kylo Ren, is landing stormtroopers to attack a small village, as Poe Dameron meets
with Lor San Tekka in a hut. He is given a small bag containing the map to Luke Skywalker. Kylo Ren orders the
stormtroopers to destroy Lor San Tekkas entire village and takes Poe captive. Captain Phasma, a stormtrooper
wearing chrome-plated armor, leads the attack. Kylo Ren wears a black mask and uses a red, fiery lightsaber. Poes
X-Wing is damaged so that he cannot escape, so the pilot puts the map in a rolling droid unit called BB-8. He fires at
Kylo Ren, who uses the Force to block a blaster bolt. As Dameron is captured, the troopers massacre the prisoners,
but one stormtrooper FN-2187, refuses to fire. Meanwhile BB-8 rolls away across the sands, narrowly escaping
capture. The droid runs into Rey, a young scavenger who is barely surviving on Jakku. Rey scavenges parts from old
wrecks of Star Destroyers on the sands of Jakku, and exchanges them for food at Unkar Plutts scrap yard. The
marks on the walls of her hut indicate shes been on Jakku for a very long time. She rescues BB-8 from a Teedo
scavenger. She can understand his beeps and whistles, and offers him shelter for the night.
On the First Order destroyer, Poe is unsuccessfully interrogated by the First Order. Kylo Ren is called in to use his
Force powers to extract information from Poe about the whereabouts of the map. Poe resists, but ultimately
divulges that the map is still on Jakku in his BB-8 unit.
Meanwhile Captain Phasma confronts FN-2187 about his behavior on Jakku. She orders him to take his unused
blaster in for inspection and report to her division and ultimately reconditioning. Instead FN-2187 decides to run
away. He needs a pilot to escape the star destroyer, so he rescues Poe, and the two board a black First Order TIE
fighter and escape. Poe renames FN-2187 as Finn, and expertly pilots to an escape while Finn fires the ships
blasters. The fighter is hit by lasers from the destroyer and crash lands on Jakku. Finn has ejected but it appears Poe
has gone down with the ship leaving only his jacket.
Finn wanders across the desert discarding his stormtrooper armor. Eventually, he arrives in Niima Outpost, the town
where Rey trades scrap for food. While Finn is looking for water in the town, he sees Rey being accosted by two of
Unkar Plutts henchmen who are trying to make off with BB-8. He begins to rush to her aid, but before he gets far,
Rey handily fights off her attackers using her staff. Clearly, she can handle herself. BB-8 spots Finn looking their way,
and tells Rey that he is wearing Poes jacket which they assume is stolen. Rey chases Finn down, knocks him to the
ground and confronts Finn about the jacket. Finn tells them that Poe was captured by the First Order and that he
helped him escape, but Poe was unfortunately killed. BB-8 is saddened and rolls off , but Rey is excited and
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impressed, and assumes Finn is a resistance fighter. Finn lies, telling her he is
indeed with the resistance. Rey excitedly tells Finn that BB-8 is on a secret
mission. Finn tells her BB-8 is carrying a map to Luke Skywalker and Rey is even
more impressed, declaring that she thought Skywalker was a myth.
BB-8 returns and alerts Finn and Rey that they are in trouble. First Order
stormtroopers are now looking for Finn and the BB-8 droid. Stormtroopers chase
Finn, Rey and BB-8 through Niima Outpost and TIE fighters are called in and
begin to bomb and strafe the town. To make their escape, they steal a garbage
vehicle to escape the First Order. It is the Millennium Falcon. Rey takes the pilots
seat while Finn mans the guns. Neither is confident in their abilities, and their lift
off is rough, destroying a substantial portion of the town as they try to get off of
the ground. Finn is able to shoot down a pursuing fighter, but the guns are hit and
locked in a position that prevents him from taking out the remaining fighter. Rey
flies through the wrecked ships in the desert of Jakku, occasionally scraping
through the sands as they try to keep low to confuse the TIE fighters tracking.
Rey takes the Falcon into one of the Star Destroyers and just as the pursuing
fighter locks onto their ship, she turns the Falcon out into the open, and performs
a flip which allows Finn to fire successfully at the remaining fighter, taking it down.
They head off, away from Jakku, and on toward the wider galaxy. Not having
flown in years, the Falcon is not in good repair, and almost immediately requires
an emergency patch. Rey begins repairing the ship while Finn admits to BB-8 he
is not part of the resistance, but is still able to convince BB-8 to tell them where
the Resistance base is.
The Falcon is then captured and pulled into a larger ship. Finn is afraid they have
been recaptured by the First Order. As the Falcon is boarded, he and Rey hide in
a secret compartment, but the boarding party is actually Han Solo and
Chewbacca.
Rey knows the history of the ship, and how to repair and fly it. Han is impressed,
but the ship is then boarded by two more smuggler parties. Han is trying his hand
at smuggling again, this time by carrying some menacing Rathtars. Han tries to
talk his way out of his debts with the two smuggling groups while Rey and Finn
escape. Rey tries to close blast doors to save Han, but instead opens the doors
to the Rathtar containers. The Rathtars attack and eat the smugglers and almost
get Finn, but Rey saves him by closing a door on the creatures tentacles,
severing them. The heros escape in the Millennium Falcon and leave their
attackers behind. The new-found allies travel to the green planet of Takodana to
seek help from Maz Kanata, an orange skinned alien. There they are spotted in
the cantina by both First Order and Resistance spies. Kylo Ren sends forces to
re-capture the map. Finn, still fearful of being recaptured by the First Order, admits
that he is not part of the Resistance and decides to run by joining a crew heading
for the outer rim.
Meanwhile Rey is drawn to the lower floor of the cantina by the sound of a girl
crying and opens a box to discover Luke Skywalkers lightsaber lost at Cloud City.
When she touches the lightsaber she experiences a frightening vision. The dream
has the voices of old Jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. It flashes by quickly.
She sees the hallways of Cloud City, a vision of Skywalker and R2-D2, a vision of
Kylo Ren surrounded by bodies, thrusting his saber through the chest of a
mysterious figure, a vision of herself being abandoned as a child on Jakku and
finally she sees Ren pursing her in a snowy forest.
On Starkiller Base, a snowy, mountainous planet, General Hux addresses legions
of First Order stormtroopers. He angrily declares the death of the Republic. The
planet has a massive trench around the equator, and a continent-sized aperture.
The base fires a massive red beam from the center of the planet, traveling across
space, and splitting into four separate beams which destroy individual planets. We
see crowds of people on populated planets look up into the sky to witness the
conflagration as their planet is destroyed.
Rey is frightened by her vision and refuses Lukes lightsaber, running out into the
forest of Takodana. Finn and the others look to the sky as the red beams can be
seen destroying the other Republic planets. The First Order begin landing troops,
including Kylo Rens V-winged ship. Maz gives the lightsaber to Finn. As the
stormtroopers attack Finn uses the lightsaber to fight back, but is knocked down
by another stormtrooper (unnamed, but popularly referred to as TR-8R). The
stormtroopers capture Han, Chewbacca and Finn.
Rey tries to use the blaster given to her by Han Solo, but inexperienced and
frightened she fumbles with the safety and fires wild shots giving away her
position. Overwhelmed she runs deeper into the forest. BB-8 follows, and she tells
him to go further on while she tries to fight off their pursuers. Kylo Ren tracks
down Rey in the woods. He chases her through the forest easily fending off her
desperate attempts to fire on him with the blaster. She backs away, but he stops
her, using the Force to hold her still. Ren uses the Force to read her mind and
discovers that she has seen the map to Luke Skywalkers location. He decides he
no longer needs BB-8, so he knocks her out and carries her off in his ship, as Finn
watches.
The Resistance X-wing fighters arrive, finishing off the last troops. A troop ship
lands carrying General Leia Organa and C-3P0. Han and Leia are reunited, but
their relations are tense. It is revealed that Kylo Ren is actually their son. The
heroes return to the Resistance Base, where Finn is reunited with Poe Dameron,
who was not killed by the crash on Jakku. BB-8 is reunited with R2-D2 and C-3P0,
but R2-D2 has been in shut down since Luke left many years before.
The Resistance fighters begin to plan an attack on the Starkiller Base to avoid
being wiped out. Finn wants to rescue Rey, and claims he once worked at
Starkiller Base and knows how to knock out the shields. Han and Leia say their
goodbyes as the X-wings led by Poe Dameron prepare to attack a weak point on
the base. As they part Leia asks Han to bring their son home if he sees him.
On Starkiller Base, Rey wakes to find her self locked in an interrogation chair like
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the one we have seen earlier in Poes interrogation scene. Kylo Ren and she
converse, and he removes his mask, revealing his face to her; he is a young and
handsome man. Ren uses the Force to read Reys mind. He senses her lonely life
on Jakku, her dreams of a far away island and the closeness she feels towards
Han Solo. She reacts with hostility but seems unable to keep him from reading her
thoughts.
When he tries to extract the information about the map from her mind, however,
he runs up against an unexpected barrier. Rey is not only able to resist his further
probing, but pushes back into Rens mind, and tells him that he is afraid that he will
never be as strong as Darth Vader. Ren is shaken by this and by her obvious
strength with the Force, and he runs away to meet with Snoke in search of
guidance on how to proceed.
Kylo Ren and General Hux are scolded for not retrieving the droid, and Rens
inability to crack Reys mind, by the Supreme Leader, who is only revealed as a
massive hologram of an old and scarred man seated on a throne towering over
them.
Rey now understands that she has some Force talent, and uses the mind-trick
power to escape from the stormtrooper guarding her cell. She sneaks through the
Starkiller Base to the hanger to escape. Meanwhile, Han and Chewie come out of
hyperspace on the planet in order to evade the shields, and crash land in the
snowy forest. Finn reveals he does not know how to disable the shields; he only
came back to rescue Rey. They capture Captain Phasma and force her to lower
the shields.
Finn, Han and Chewbacca head off to find Rey, but quickly discover that she has
freed herself when they spot her scaling a wall of the base. They rush to meet her.
She is surprised that they would come back for her, and embraces Finn when she
learns from Chewbacca that it was Finns idea that they come to the base to save
her.
Poe and the X-Wing fighters arrive and begin to land torpedos on the weak point,
but it is not enough. Han and Chewbacca improvise a plan to plant explosives to
blow it up instead. They split up to lay explosives in separate locations. Kylo Ren
finds that Rey has escaped and is very angry. He searches the base for Rey. He
stalks off onto a catwalk where Han spots him. Han approaches him on the
catwalk, calling him Ben. He asks his son to return with him, and Ren offers his
lightsaber, but then activates it and kills his father, pushing him off into the pit.
Chewbacca, having watched the entire conversation, fires on Ren, hitting him in
the side, and then detonates the explosives.
Kylo Ren confronts Finn and Rey in the snowy forest. Ren is bleeding from his
wound, but ignites his red fiery saber to fight. Rey raises her blaster to fire on
Ren, but he throws her against a tree with a Force push and she lies unconscious
in the snow. Finn rushes to her aid and then uses the blue lightsaber to fight Ren.
Finn quickly finds himself outmatched. He manages to touch Ren with the saber,
but this only enrages him.
Rey is revived by the sound of Finns screams as he is burned by Rens saber.
Ren easily disarms Finn, tossing the saber off into the snow. He then uses the
Force to pull the lightsaber to himself. It hurtles towards him but then flies past.
Ren turns to discover the saber in Reys hands. They begin to fight. Rey initially
fights unsuccessfully and desperately, and begins to run from Ren. He pursues her
and pins her against the edge of a cliff. Ren offers to teach her the Force, but this
only ends up reminding her to tap into its power. She closes her eyes for a
moment of meditation and then attacks Ren with a new vigor and power. She
rapidly gains the upper hand, extinguishes Rens saber and cuts him on the arm
and across the face.
Meanwhile Poe Dameron and the X-Wing pilots fly into the Star Killer base trench,
destroying the rest of the base. The planet begins to collapse and explode. A
chasm opens between Ren and Rey as the planet continues to fall apart.
Chewbacca arrives in the Millennium Falcon to pick up both Finn and Rey. The
Falcon and X-Wings escape as the Starkiller Base explodes. Back at the
Resistance base, Leia and Rey embrace in sadness, standing apart from the
celebration of the rest of the Resistance base.
Back at the Resistance Base, R2-D2 awakens and reveals the missing part of the
map to Lukes location. Finn is still unconscious, and Rey tells him goodbye while
he rests. Rey and Chewbacca leave in the Falcon, Rey taking the pilots seat.
They fly to the planet indicated by the map, where Rey carefully climbs a rocky
island. When she reaches the top, she finds an old cloaked and bearded Jedi with
a metal hand. It is Luke Skywalker. Rey wordlessly offers him the lightsaber.
Here are some links to background articles and analysis about the movie:
Review: Hollywood Reporter
Review: Los Angeles Times
Review: New York Times
Review: The Wrap
Review: Variety
Star Wars and the New Economics of Movie Making
Star Wars: The Feminism Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Why Reys Hypercompetence Is a Feature, Not a Bug
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Doesnt Have a Mary Sue Problem Its Critics Do
Star Wars Writer Explains Why The Force Awakens Leaves So Many Questions Unanswered
A Closer Look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens Character Mystery
The Force Awakens Gives Us a Strong, Capable & Competent Female Character in Rey
What is a Mary Sue, and does Star Wars: The Force Awakens have one
With Star Wars Rey, weve reached Peak Strong Female Character
To date, SW:TFA has generated $1.94B in box office revenues worldwide.
If you have found interesting features about the movie, please post in comments and I will add
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them to this list.

What are your general reactions to and thoughts about the movie? Did you like it? If so, why?
If not, why not?
I hope to see you in comments to start our week-long conversation about what I think is a
terrific science fiction thriller.
See you in comments!
Posted in watch movies | Tagged Tags: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens | 7
Replies
7 thoughts on Movie Analysis: Star Wars: Episode VII The

Force Awakens
1. Kenny Crowe says:
January 25, 2016 at 2:02 PM
Just a FYI I love when you do these movie analysis pieces I have a great excuse to
see the movie again
For me it was great it was a star wars movie, it followed the same formula that the
original trilogy did so well (much like the indiana jones trilogy follows its own formula).
What made this stand out (for me) was that in a movie with Leia, Han, Chewie and Luke,
I cared more about Rey, Finn, Poe, BB etc. This has got some GREAT character work.
I especially love Kylo (Ben). This is a bad guy I can totally get behind. He is a rebelling
teenager, he is a white kid trying to be gangster. He would be pathetic, were it not for his
access to the Force. The tantrums, and especially the reaction of the other First Order
members to those tantrums, spoke volumes about his character. (for me anyway).
Yes it has bad points (the whole starkiller base bit was pointless, and Poes ressurection
was a total deus ex machina) which seemed lazy to me, but for the most part this held
together, and made me feel like a 5yo again
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2. PaulG says:
There were some ADT (about-damn-time) improvements to the franchise. Like a more
colorful cast. And a female protagonist.
But seriously, folks, they aka: males couldnt find one qualified female
screenwriter in all of Hollywood or in a galaxy far, far away to script Rey and her story
line?
Im not talking about quotas; Im talking about sensibility. Fey came across to me as
written like how men think women would act on the Heros Journey. Which, heretofore in
dramatic theory, psychology and mythology has been largely defined in terms of the
psychology of guys not gals.
Fey comes across as the male psyche in drag.
I hope the next episodes will have one or more women getting screenwriting credit
preferably top billing to bring a womans sensibility to Feys character growth and
journey.
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1. David Benjamin Breezeway says:
Just wanted to make sure you mean Rey. I read it once and thought maybe they
hired Tina Fey to punch up the dialogue (bad joke)
Rian Johnson is supposedly writing, as well as directing, the next one. Recent
news was that he was asked to cut introductions of two new characters to allow
for more character development for Finn and Rey. If so, I applaud that choice.
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1. PaulG says:
January 25, 2016 at 10:32 PM
Right: Rey.
Re: Rian Johnson. Another guy. And credited exclusively (so far) for the
script. (Sigh)
Enough said.
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3. David Benjamin Breezeway says:
In terms of visuals, it was outstanding. But it didnt fully feel like a SW movie. Why? To
me it lacked the understanding of Joseph Campbells work, which seems odd to say
because TFA uses a whole lot of plot points from ANH. It didnt feel as mythic.
In terms of story, one thing stood out for me even at first viewing is what I see as the
abuse of the MacGuffin. The movie starts immediately mentioning the secret map to
Luke thats stored on a droid. The protagonists and antagonists are both in search of
this information. But before long, that plot line all but disappears in favor of the Starkiller
Base objective. Luke felt like a plot bait-and-switch.
Im not sure what to make of the storyline and screenplay. A lot of the dialogue reminded
me more of JJs work, and less of Kasdans work in Empire.
I didnt think the story was up to the acting and visuals. Just admitting my bias up front.
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4. Scott says:
January 26, 2016 at 12:54 AM
Thanks for your comments. I wish I had time to respond to everyone. Later, not tonight,
too many things going on. I will say I liked the movie, didnt love it. Too familiar with not
enough in the way of surprises and twists, especially given the similarities to previous
plots and the reappearance of old friends such as Han Solo and Princess Leia.
I loved Rey and honestly, it was at least as much as the actress and how she inhabited
that role. Cannot imagine a more perfect choice in terms of casting.
Not the most imaginative writing at work, but I get what the goal was: Reignite the
franchise and dont screw it up. Abrams started out with this question: What do we want
the audience to feel? My guess is the answer was something about, Feel the old Star
Wars magic, and this movie, awash in nostalgia, did that.
Id have to rank my favorites in the series:
V, IV, VII, III, VI, II, I with a big gap between V and IV, and the rest of them.
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How about you: How would you rank the 7 SW movies?

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5. Rich Lunghino says:
January 26, 2016 at 9:56 AM
Overall I thought TFA was a return to form for the Star Wars franchise. It felt like Star
Wars on an aesthetic level, and it is the most gorgeous-looking out of all the films.
Kylo Ren was the most interesting character in the film by far, and I look forward to
seeing how his arc develops.
But I do have two major issues with the film.
As Scott said, the narrative was all too familiar to A New Hope. When creating the
prequels, George Lucas said that sequences and events from the prequels and the
original trilogy would rhyme with each other. In the case of this movie, it was closer to
an exact copy of certain plot beats rather than a rhyme. (Starkiller Base = Death Star, a
robot with secret information on a desert planet, a masked villain with a voice changing
apparatus, etc.)
The character of Rey is my biggest issue with the film, especially considering the
franchise is being built around her. Daisy Ridley did a good job, but her character is the
weakest in terms of feeling like a real person. Her Force sensitivity is off the charts, but
it is never explained why within the movie. Hopefully they explain this in future episodes,
but her character does not work within TFA itself and I never felt invested in her.
My rank of the movies from best to worst. IV, V, VII, VI, III, II, I.
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Movie Analysis - "Star Wars - Episode VII - The Force Awakens" - Go Into The Story

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Movie Analysis: Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens

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