We’re approaching a decade since Star Wars: The Force Awakens made its debut in theaters, reviving the franchise for the first time in ten years and kickstarting the Disney-era of Star Wars. The time since then has brought a significant expansion of the series in the form of more sequels, prequels, spinoffs, TV shows, and cartoons, but the crux of everything Star Wars for the last ten years is all rooted in one movie.
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At the time of its release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was well-received. The film has a 93% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest-rated Star Wars movie produced under Disney’s Lucasfilm and the third highest in the entire franchise. Even now, ten years later and with both major Marvel movies and Avatar sequels having been released since, The Force Awakens remains the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office with $936 million (Avengers: Endgame is the closest with $858 million). Despite the success of the movie, and how it continues to endure, there are still some things within the movie that have us scratching our heads and wondering: “what?”
10) The First Order Really Didn’t Have Any New Ideas, huh?
The first images of The Force Awakens introduce not the new heroes for the sequel, but the fresh crop of antagonists. The First Order descends in a drop shop with a platoon of troopers to carry out a mission, but if you blink, it would be easy to mistake what you’re seeing for just a collection of Stormtroopers from the era of the Original Trilogy. The weapons, troops, and ships that define The First Order’s military capabilities are just the Empire’s own with a fresh coat of paint and a slightly different look.
We all know the meta reason for this, as Star Wars’ entire franchise is built around similarities (and selling toys), but from the narrative perspective, it seems like The First Order really hit their head against the drawing board for what their armies would look like.
9) How Was There a Map to Luke Skywalker?
The entire plot of The Force Awakens kicks off because Poe Dameron has been sent to secure a map to help find the missing Jedi master, Luke Skywalker. When the film kicks off, Poe has gone to an isolated village on the desert planet of Jakku, where Lor San Tekka is in possession of that very map. How did a guy completely isolated on a planet that no one thinks twice about come into possession of one of the most important pieces of information in the entire galaxy? There’s almost certainly a comic book or short story that offers an explanation, but when we consider the big picture of The Force Awakens‘ narrative entirely on its own merits, this is an effect of plot convenience and not something that actually tracks logically.
8) How Does Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber Hilt Actually Work?
Another design element that is at least tangentially related to making sure toys can be sold, but Kylo Ren’s lightsaber with its two smaller blades on the side is an element of the movie that feels a little more exciting in practice than in execution. There’s no denying that this is cool on an aesthetic level, but functionally, these extra two pieces of the blade seldom have any kind of place in the battles that Kylo Ren finds himself engaged in. Looks cool? Yes. Makes sense? Not really.
7) Why Did the Empire Bring an AT-AT to Fight on Jakku?
Rey is introduced as a scavenger on Jakku, a desert planet that is littered with remnants of the Empire and its technology, which prove to be valuable as sources for her work. In her first scene, Rey makes her way through a downed Star Destroyer in one of the most compelling introductions of the film, and that ship having crashed onto the planet and gotten stuck in the sand, makes a lot of sense.
Later, though, Rey is seen taking a break in the shadow of a busted AT-AT. It’s a quick moment, and an evocative image about the place of the materials of the past in this current landscape, but it makes us wonder why the Empire thought that this giant walker would be effective at all in navigating the fickle sand dunes of the planet. This thing needs hard ground to be worth its place in a battle. The fact that it fell over and got stuck tracks at least, but being present at all is a weird one.
6) How Did Poe Escape?
After Finn and Poe escape the clutches of Kylo Ren, they crash together on Jakku, but at first it seems like Finn is the only survivor. By watching the movie through the prism of “We never saw a body,” it’s clear that Poe was able to crawl away even before the pair reunite on the Resistance base, but that doesn’t make the circumstances of his survival clear in the slightest. Considering the real lack of life on Jakku as a whole, it defies logic that Finn and Poe wouldn’t reunite on the planet itself. Once again, there’s a comic book somewhere that almost certainly attempts to explain this one.
5) Han and Chewie Haulin’ Rathtars
After Chewbacca and Han Solo find the Millennium Falcon, with Rey, Finn, and BB-8 onboard, they welcome the trio into the fold and agree to help them with their mission. That is, until the wrinkle of the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub arriving throws a wrench into their larger plans.
The inclusion of this scene, with warring factions that Solo has somehow wronged, is meant to paint a picture to the audience that he has returned to smuggling and being a scoundrel all across the Galaxy. What it ends up doing is making us realize that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has regressed one of the best character arcs of the original trilogy for the sake of familiarity and pushing the narrative further; plus, all of that is without mentioning how they even found the Falcon to begin with.
4) How Does Maz Kanata Have Anakin Skywalker’s Lightsaber?
While visiting planet Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana, Rey has a vision and is drawn to a surprising element in the basement, the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. It’s a full circle moment for The Force Awakens writ large, but when we consider this object in the grand scheme of Star Wars, it makes no sense in the slightest. Last we saw this weapon, it was still tucked into the clutches of Luke Skywalker’s severed hand as it tumbled down through the inside of Cloud City. How did anyone recover it and how did it make its way to a totally different planet? The movie doesn’t make it clear, and it’s the moment that maybe sticks out the most.
3) How Did Kylo Ren Recover Darth Vader’s Helmet From Endor?
Later in the film, after his parentage and backstory have been confirmed, we learn that Kylo Ren has built a shrine to his Sith grandfather, Darth Vader, where he speaks to his burned visage. As compelling an image as this is, it’s one that, like the lightsaber, immediately pulls the viewer out of the story as their thoughts begin to race over the logistics of it all. Last we saw Vader’s body, Luke was burning it on the forest moon of Endor, and those flames were licking the sky. It’s hard to imagine not only that the helmet was at least somewhat preserved after this but also that Kylo Ren was able to recover it (did he meet the Ewoks when he did that?).
2) Why Doesn’t the Rest of the Galaxy Immediately Join The Resistance?
It’s implied throughout The Force Awakens that the struggle between the First Order and the Resistance is one that the Galactic Republic at large perhaps doesn’t think about all that much. These fringe radicals may be a problem, but it’s one that General Organa and her troops have a blessing to squash rather than one the Republic itself is terminally committed to. Considering the apathy many have about politics in real life, it tracks.
This would make a lot of sense after the First Order turns on Starkiller Base and eliminates five planets in one go, among them the primary planet for the Republic itself, but even in the face of that tragedy, The Resistance wins. After Starkiller Base is blown up, it’s hard to believe that this wouldn’t radicalize the onlookers from joining the fray, it’s not like The First Order didn’t just suffer a major defeat.
1) R2D2’s Entire Deal
When he first appears in The Force Awakens, R2-D2 is in a sort of stasis, a droid-like coma, ever since the disappearance of Luke Skywalker. It’s not until the end of the movie, when the big victory has been had, and the set-up for the next movie is the only thing left to do, that everyone’s favorite astromech suddenly springs to life. The most likely explanation for this is that BB-8 and his piece of the map to Luke woke him up and allowed them to find the way to the Jedi master, the trouble of course is that BB-8 interacted with R2 much earlier in the movie, it’s a great example of lazy writing, because it has to happen now in the movie, and it can’t happen earlier.
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Courtesy of Netflix
