WARNING: SPOILERS – Please only read if you have already seen the new Star Wars or if you’re not planning on seeing it at all.
I want to start off by saying that I’ve only seen the new Star Wars movie once and that I am actually dying to see it again. From a sheer entertainment point of view, it was incredible. It seemed an impossible task to weave a new story with the proper amount of nostalgia, but somehow they did it.
However, I do have problems with this movie, too – the recycled plotlines are somewhat annoying. When three of the seven movies in the series end with the destruction of a planet-destroying “Death Star,” things start to feel a bit repetitive and unoriginal. How do they keep building these things right under everyone’s nose without anyone realizing until it’s too late?
This one in particular – it harvests its' energy from the sun and when the sun goes out, it then blows up the planet. I say, if you find a way to steal all the energy from the sun, what’s the sense of using it to blow up a planet? Without a sun, wouldn’t the planet and its’ inhabitants die out anyway? And then you can use that energy for other things – like maybe to defer the heat bill now that you’ve blown out the sun.?.?
“Stop ruining it with logic,” my girlfriend says.
And that’s actually the truth because if you strip away the recycled plotlines and the logic, it’s such a great movie. I hear George Lucas is whining about it, but let me tell you, George – JJ Abrams just saved the entire series after the horror that was Star Wars 1, 2, and 3. Somehow George Lucas took great actors like Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor and made them seem like robots. Let’s not even discuss Jar Jar Binks. And really, anyone playing Anakin Skywalker should be ashamed of themselves… yes, I’m talking to you Hayden Christensen, and no, I’m not just angry because you got to cozy up with Natalie Portman (ok, maybe I am a little).
But my only real problem with the new Star Wars, and how I’ll stretch here to translate it to running (because after all, this is a running blog), is towards the end. There’s a climactic scene with three of the main characters fighting it out in the snowy woods: Kylo Ren, Fin, and Rey. One bad guy, two good guys, but there are only two light sabers. The bad guy presumably has undergone a lot of Jedi training, some under the tutelage of Luke Skywalker himself. The other two… not so much.
Fin is a former Stormtrooper, but how much light saber training has he had? I would guess there’s a reason why you see most Stormtroopers carrying blasters and not light sabers – and it ain’t because they’re trying to give their adversary a fighting chance. I’m surprised the guy even knew how to turn the thing on (although I guess there’s likely just one button, so maybe it’s not too difficult.) Yet there he is – holding his own against Kylo Ren, a well-trained Jedi who seems to have an incredible grasp on the force and even has his own customized light saber with extra light saber laser-thingies that stick out the side.
And Fin hangs in there for quite some time. This is akin to me picking a fight with Mike Tyson… and lasting ten rounds. Never in a million years. Kylo Ren should have disposed of Fin in about five seconds.
Then Kylo Ren fights Rey, who has even less training than Fin but who has untapped potential with the force that she’s just scratching the surface in discovering. Again, this fight should have lasted five seconds – maybe ten if you want to believe the force somehow controlled Rey’s actions. Remember back to the original Star Wars when Luke began training with the light saber on the Millennium Falcon and he looked like a total goofball? This is where Rey is at with her training, yet she can somehow hold her own against a guy who has been training and dedicating himself all his life, learning from the best of the best?
I’m not buying it. And, in fact, I think it’s a horrible lesson. My friend MaryAnne explained it by saying, “Well, she’s using the force.” But Kylo Ren uses the force too. And if using the force is a total wash, then what’s the sense in all that training?
What a lesson in laziness. Some people are born with skill and talent and others are not. So what’s the point in getting up off my ass and doing anything with my life? Us runners know that’s crap. For me, there is a direct linkage between my race results and training. What I put in, is what I get out. And that’s the way it should be – the force be damned.
Otherwise, it’s a great movie, and yes, I can’t wait to see it again.
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