My Force Awakened.

By now, you’ve either seen it or heard about it. Maybe you’ve even read someone’s review of it. I feel that I need to say a few things. I won’t spoil it for you if you happen to be one of the few people who hasn’t seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens but I will tell you about how I feel about this movie and it’s importance of Finn.

There are tons of things that happen in this movie. I will not spoil anything major but there is one minor spoiler about Finn I will mention towards the end. So, if you haven’t seen it and want to know nothing about anything, then come back when you’ve viewed the flick.

First, I loved this movie on the first viewing. I plan on seeing it again tonight and highly doubt my attitude about it will change. One thing is for sure, this is not your father’s Star Wars. This is also not the Millennial Star Wars either. What we are witnessing a true re-branding of a franchise — a passing of the torch in many respects.

The three heroes are Finn, Rey, and Poe Dameron. They represent the diversity of this cast that is far cry from either trilogy. While black women are still virtually invisible, we finally see an Asian cast member (Ken Leung as Admiral Statura). BB8 represents the improved technology in the galaxy as well as in film making. But more importantly, J J Abrams represents a step forward in direction.

Let’s talk about the obvious, this movie is leaps and bounds better than anything we’ve seen before in terms of cinematography. The angles and shots are completely new. I just imagine myself watching all 7 episodes (which technically I did because I saw all 6 over the weekend) and noticing the stark contrast of visuals. Not to mention that the storm troopers have better aim (they actually hit someone).

The villains were OK. I really wished I got to see more of Captain Phasma. I really wanted to see her lay waste to anyone actually. Kylo Ren is not bad but came across as a Sith child that needs more training and discipline. However, he does some pretty unique things with the force that I love. I’m not sold on Supreme Leader Snoke. I will just hope that the next film lends more to their character development because, after all, this episode was designed to introduce us to the heroes.

As far as our heroes…

Rey is a bad ass. I love her character and her inquisitiveness. She is very talented and knows way around mechanics. Poe Dameran is the best pilot in the galaxy, period. Then there is Finn (minor spoiler time) who is storm trooper who fights against his programming to become something else. The problem that I’ve heard people say is that since he was assigned to the sanitation unit before his first mission he is nothing more than a glorified janitor and that we’ve all been fooled to believe he was going our black Star Wars hero.

Let me address this. There is nothing wrong with being a janitor. There is nothing wrong with working in sanitation. They are honest blue collar jobs that people take pride in and often times get paid decently well. Many of us grew up in a household where our parents had a blue collar jobs. Do we look at them any less because of it?

Finn’s role is important. He is a storm trooper fighting against his programming. Why does that resonate with me? I think that we as people of color fight against programming every day with standards of beauty telling us we are not attractive, or white supremacy telling us we are less then what we are, or patriarchy telling us men are better than women. We fight our programming everyday and yes, most times are first instinct is to run. Finn may not be a Jedi but he is still human.

The Force Awakens is a welcome addition to the Star Wars lore. It may not be better than the Empire Strikes Back but it certain better than the rest.