The Force Awakens - Issue/Argument/Resolution - Part 2

Coming back from the holiday break at work makes me realized just how much of a geek I am known to be in my office.  First thing this morning, someone came over to my desk and stated, "So I finally got to see Star Wars" and then launched into their thoughts and a discussion of the movie.  It happened with another coworker maybe a couple of hours later, who shared their thoughts (and their spoiler out loud, which made me want to smack them a little).  And then at lunch time, a third coworker came over to discuss some podcasts they've recently listened to as well as their thoughts after their third viewing over the break.

So now that my office geek status has been firmly solidified in my head for 2016, I figured now would be a good time to continue on with our Issue/Argument/Resolution topic.

As a reminder, folks - you have been warned...

First Viewing Issue #2: Harrison Ford's portrayal of Han Solo and the character's progression throughout The Force Awakens.


First Viewing Argument #2: I came out of the movie feeling like Harrison had "lost touch" with the character.  He came off a bit too slapstick to me, and I was irritated that one of my favorite characters was resigned to cheap jokes and nonsense.

The entire scene on his smuggling ship really irked me once I had walked out of the theater.  I saw it as a poor introduction to a character who had truly grown and developed by the end of Return of the Jedi.  This was a man - who by the end of the original trilogy - had become a general in the Rebellion.  In the very beginning of our story, Han could have cared less about anyone but Chewie and himself.  That was all that mattered.  That was who he took orders from.  And he didn't really give orders to anyone at that point in the time.

By the time we get to Jedi, Han has developed as a character and grown in crazy kinds of ways.  The man is a leader, a true war hero, and a decorated soldier of the Alliance.  He's in love with Princess Leia, and he has the ability to be able to fully admit that to her and accept that he might be dismissed.  He stands up and apologizes when he realizes he's done wrong instead of just running away.

The Force Awakens shows me a man who had dismissed all of this character development.  Gone is the leader of men and women.  Gone is the true war hero.  Gone is the decorated solider of the Alliance.  Gone is the lover, willing to admit and to lose.  And gone is the man who apologizes and comes back versus doing what he's done here - run away.  Han runs back to his former life as a smuggler (and not a very good one at that).  We see evidence that he's kind of a swindler, which is a big throw-back to his A New Hope self, and again it's a huge step back for Return of the Jedi Han.  I personally have a hard time believing that any sort of tragedy would regress your character this far backward - especially after the number of years that have passed.  This was really hard for me to accept. 

Second Viewing Resolution #2: In regards to Harrison's portrayal of Han, I believe my vision was clouded over by "The Event" as I've come to call it (Han's death at Kylo Ren's hand).  Harrison only hammed it up as much as he did in the originals - which is to say that he just threw in that snark when needed, facial expressions that fit the moment (and his exasperation), and really, his performance was wonderful.  I give him full props for The Event scene with Kylo Ren.  I believe that it would not have affected me quite as much as it did has it not been done well.

I still have some issues seeing Han's character regress, however.  The incompetency and trickery we're shown on his smuggling ship still don't sit well with me because I believed we had been show he grew beyond his.  Yes, I understand that his family underwent a tragedy.  But this seems like a huge step backward to me.

However, I do see that he grows back into the person I thought he was at the end of Return of the Jedi.  By the end of The Force Awakens, Han has thrown his hand in with the Resistance, helping to lead an infiltration team on the Starkiller base.  His interactions with Leia feel very genuine to me, as does his confrontation with Kylo Ren.  There is love there.  And in the end, he confronts his son because he can't run anymore, and he realized what's gone wrong in the past and wants to make it right.  He's apologizing - right up to the very last moment when he reaches out and touches his son's face.


In conclusion, I'm unhappy with how far back we had to regress the character of Han Solo - only to bring him back to where he originally was at the end of Return of the Jedi.  Okay, that's probably not a completely accurate statement.  I believe he's more fully developed at the end of The Force Awakens, and these traits are solidified in him at the moment of The Event.  However, I still feel like we (and Han) got cheated a little bit in the beginning of the movie.