"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has made $1 billion at a light speed pace. Disney (DIS) said Sunday that its blockbuster broke the $1 billion mark around the world faster than any other film in history. Almost from the first frame, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan do their level best to gently lead the audience to the conclusion that Rey must be the daughter of Luke Skywalker. The reveal that Han Solo is Kylo Ren’s father and General Leia Organa is his mother — without any of the major players mentioning siblings (much less a twin) — seems straight forward. At some point, Han and Leia had a child and then everything went sideways. Ren went to the Dark Side and the First Order rose the from the ashes of Luke Skywalker’s failure.
But to paraphrase Yoda, what there was another? In the real world, there is almost a ten year age gap between Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley. Extrapolating that onto their characters, Rey could’ve been as young as four-ish when Ren went evil, as his demeanor definitely smacks of teen rebellion fueled by an agitator. That would fit the timeline in Rey’s Force memory*, with her young self being taken well in hand by none other than Unkar Plutt as her family flies away. But what happened? Again, Rey’s brush with Anakin’s lightsaber holds the key. Rey was there when Kylo Ren slaughtered a generation of padawans. The visions are not just visions, but the disjoined memories of a small child who saw a traumatic event.
Up until this point, Rey could still be Luke’s daughter. Upon subsequent re-watches, tiny details begin to stand out that point to the contrary. If there’s one thing the movies have taught audiences in recent years, it’s the obvious answer is seldom the right one these days. Red herrings…red herrings everywhere.
The most glaring is Chewbacca’s behavior at the end of “The Force Awakens.” His best friend — and the man he owed a life debt to — is dead. Yes, time passed between the end of the Starkiller Base battle and Rey leaving to find Luke, but still. What would cause the Wookiee to go with this scavenger? One answer would be the life debt transferred from father to daughter. There is also Han’s reaction to hearing Rey’s name for the first time, as if that was a name he hadn’t heard in a long time. Finally, there is Kylo Ren’s suspiciously violent reaction when a minion tells him girl helped Finn and BB-8 escape from Jakku.
Seen by SlashFilm, the Force Awakens screenplay was apparently sent to members of the Writers Guild of America. The script excludes any deleted scenes, showing only lines that were used in the film as well as improvisations.
The script reveals that Rey is left on Jukku with Unkar Plutt, the annoying dealer we meet at the beginning of the movie. It’s not clear who abandons her on the planet or why Plutt is chosen to be her guardian. SlashFilm says that one plausible theory is that Han Solo gives Plutt the Millenium Falcon in exchange for looking after the girl. If that’s the case, it’s possible Han Solo kept an eye on the ship for all these years, and only realizes Rey is his daughter when she tells him her name.
At the same time, this theory seems to be debunked by Rey in the movie, who says that Plutt stole the Falcon from the Irving Boys, who had stolen it from Ducain. The script also reveals certain details about Rey’s visions. The first image is that of a hallway in Cloud City, mentioning a “mechanical breathing sound” and “disembodied voices [filling] the air.”
A “burning temple at night” is shown in Rey’s vision, likely portraying the attack on Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi Training Academy. Also of note, the man stabbed with a lightsaber isn’t Constable Zuvio, but an unidentified “warrior.” Rey quickly becomes comfortable with the Force in the movie, but the path to the light side isn’t clear. Unsurprisingly – at least for veteran Star Wars enthusiasts – the Dark Side is waiting to grab her as she fights Kylo Ren near the end of the movie. Should she have killed him, she may have been consumed by the other side.
“And she could kill him — right now, with ONE VICIOUS STRIKE! But she stops. Realizing she stands on a greater edge than even the cliff — the edge of the dark side. The earth SHAKES. The earth splits. A gully forms,” the script reads. SlashFilm says that in the official novelization Rey actually hears a voice inside her saying “Kill him,” a voice that’s “amorphous, unidentifiable, raw.” In the audio version of the book, the voice seems to belong to Supreme Leader Snoke.
Kylo Ren is described as a “fearful man, a large burn scar slashed across his face,” in the final duel with Rey. But he has a moment of weakness earlier in the movie, immediately after he kills his father. Ren is horrified after killing Han Solo. “Kylo Ren is somehow WEAKENED by this wicked act,” the script reads. His “shock” is broken only when Chewbacca cries out.
The script also offers answers about the mysterious ending of the movie when Rey meets Luke on an unknown planet. Called “Ahch-To,” the planet has a “pristine and mighty OCEAN,” with “endless BLUE, dotted with random beautiful mountainous BLACK ROCK ISLANDS, dotted with countless GREEN TREES.”
Ahch-To is wordplay that seems to either tease “Act Two” of the saga – Episode VIII, in which Luke will appear. It also could be a hint about the relationship between Luke and Rey, since “ahch” is Hebrew for “brother.” Interestingly, the script pretty much says that Luke knows who Rey is. He looks at her with “kindness in his eyes, but there’s something tortured, too.” He “doesn’t need to ask her who she is, or what she is doing here.”
“His look says it all,” the script says. The lightsaber that Rey pulls from her pack is “An offer. A plea. The galaxy’s only hope.” “HOLD ON LUKE SKYWALKER’S INCREDIBLE FACE, amazed and conflicted at what he sees, as our MUSIC BUILDS, the promise of an adventure, just beginning…” the end of the script reads.
When Rey tracks down Luke, he looks at her with a “kindness in his eyes, but there’s something tortured, too.” More interestingly, he “doesn’t need to ask her who she is, or what she is doing here.” This could just mean he has sensed her presence before using the Force, or it could add weight to the theory that she is a former pupil or even the daughter of Luke.
As for Rey’s outstretched lightsaber, this is apparently “an offer. A plea. The galaxy’s only hope.” The script ends: “HOLD ON LUKE SKYWALKER’S INCREDIBLE FACE, amazed and conflicted at what he sees, as our MUSIC BUILDS, the promise of an adventure, just beginning…”
“A little girl. Rey as a child. She is sobbing, hysterical. Unkar Plutt’s meaty hand holds her thin arm. She is on Jakku, watching a starship fly into the sky, abandoning her.” Rey yells, “No, come back!” and Unkar Plutt responds, “Quiet, girl!” as the “ship flies towards the desert sun, which is strangely eclipsed, as if being eaten by darkness.”
The screenplay confirms that the first image Rey sees when she picks up Luke's lightsaber takes place in “a hallway from deep inside Cloud City”. There is a “mechanical breathing sound” and “disembodied voices fill the air.”
When she finally has the better of Ren in the lightsaber duel, the screenplay describes her thoughts thus: “And she could kill him — right now, with ONE VICIOUS STRIKE! But she stops. Realizing she stands on a greater edge than even the cliff — the edge of the dark side. The earth SHAKES. The earth splits. A gully forms.”
Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has opened with a record-setting $33 million in China on Saturday. The studio said the seventh Star Wars set Chinese records for best Disney opening day and the best Saturday opening day. China, the second-largest market in the world after the U.S., is the final territory in the world to receive the blockbuster.
“The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Abrams, is expected to become the the third-largest worldwide grosser of all time this weekend, passing the $1.67 billion grossed worldwide by “Jurassic World” last year. After less than a month in theaters, it will trail only “Avatar” at $2.78 billion and “Titanic” at $2.19 billion.
The space saga set a U.S. record on Wednesday by passing “Avatar” and has a domestic gross of $781 million as of Friday. Disney has marketed “The Force Awakens” aggressively in China, where the “Star Wars” saga has a short history because the first six films have not been released commercially — although they have played on television and in legal and illegal home entertainment formats.
Why didn't Master Yoda make the cameo fans were waiting for in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens?" Those who have watched the film will know that Rey, the newest Jedi character, has a mysterious lineage. She was abandoned when she was very young and even got strange visions when she came in contact with Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
Recent reports have found out that Yoda's appearance in "Episode 7" could have made Rey's story much clearer for viewers. "There was one point where we were actually thinking of having Yoda in the film, and then we decided not to," said film ditor Maryann Brandon on Entertainment Tonight. "Frank Oz came in for a day and did a whole bunch of Yoda and he was over the moon to do it -- and we were tickled pink!"
The addition of the iconic master Jedi would've added to the nostalgic experience just as the other characters had, but the production seemed to think that his appearance would be better suited elsewhere.