Force Awakens spoilers ahead
The death of Han Solo either came as a total surprise or was something you knew the moment Ford was cast in The Force Awakens. As a fan of Abrams and his Star Trek sequel Into Darkness, which many criticize for going a route it “shouldn’t” have gone, I was excited to hear that TFA was a Star Wars “remake”, as I think STID‘s use of our “knowledge” of the events of Wrath of Khan was effective and relevant to both films (WOK is about legacy, reflecting on the past, STID is about potential, earning that legacy). I think TFA does something similar for the death of Solo; we (or at least some people) “knew” Han Solo was going to die, for reasons either related to the “mentor death” always happening in the first of each Star Wars trilogy or our knowledge of Ford’s own distaste for returning.
This is something I’ll get into in more detail another time; right now, I want to talk about a fairly famous and effective line that seems to have had an impact. That is Solo’s getting Kylo Ren’s attention by shouting his real name; Ben.
I think the moment is terrific, but something that leads up to the moment is less terrific. It’s not in the scene itself, but in a prior scene, and it relates to how he’s referred to in the entire film.
Throughout the majority of the film, he is referred to as Kylo Ren.
When we come across his Ma and Pa, though, he’s referred to differently; in the only scene between the two, he’s referred to as “our son”, and before they go their separate way, “our boy.”
That scene in question in question is, disappointingly, flat. I think Abrams has a talent for not letting his characters be tools to explain plot or not particularly fleshed out motivations. He lets them be people, something George Lucas never really grasped in the Prequel Trilogy and something Irvin Kirshner not only understood but actively sought after for The Empire Strikes Back, as you can see in an interview he has regarding the movie.
I would also recommend listening the commentary for ESB.
That talent is not on display in this scene between Leia and Han. They spend the scene discussing and explaining what happened between the two of them, of what happened to Kylo, how it affected them. We don’t feel the history between the two of them here, despite a good sum of us experiencing it firsthand in the Original Trilogy. There’s no genuine sense of emotional tension, concern, no real sense of longing between the two. Just a general sad tone that surrounds out but never defines it. It reminds me of Jurassic World, relying constantly on references, hoping we’ll appreciate them because we love the first Jurassic Park, but never really standing on its own. I think the rest of the film (mostly) does this terrifically (chess game sequence and R2’s introduction not included), as did STID, so that Abrams dropped the ball on a scene involving two pivotal, wonderful characters that we know and love is disappointing.
That said, the impact of how they refer to their son is notable, and helps flesh out the scene in which Solo and Ben come across each other, in particular, him saying “Ben!”
When Solo shouts, it’s a paternal, near scolding manner, and that this is the first we’ve heard his name gives the two a strong sense of history that we (or at least I) don’t feel really in Han and Leia’s encounter. Perhaps this is because Abrams assumed we would have inherently felt it because we knew these characters (a fuck-up I expect of Colin Trevorrow, who I hope develops some “creative differences” with Disney soon). Regardless, we’ve been kept relatively distant about Ben’s history. We know that Han is his father, Leia his mother, and that he was drawn to the dark side. But it’s in this scene, when Han is not talking about being his father but showing it, with his real name being revealed without any of us having prior knowledge about it, that his story feels complete. That the past he’s been running from, trying to bury, exists.
And I think the majority of the build up to it is great. Ben’s dynamic with Snokes, his not-so-thinly-veiled contempt for Han and even Rey…all wonderful. And that this is where we learn his real name is terrific.
I just wish the way Han and Leia referred to him prior was a bit…better.
devilsadvocritic 