4 subtle moments you may have missed in The Force Awakens
1. There was something familiar about the Dejarik Board on the Falcon...
"I suggest a new strategy, Artoo: let the Wookie win." - A classic quote indeed.
Aboard the Millennium Falcon, R2D2 is beating an agitated Chewbacca at Dejarik so C3PO suggests the strategy to placate the hairy goof. That game between the Walk Carpet and The Little Droid that Could was never actually finished.
In The Force Awakens, Finn accidentally turns on the Dejarik board and the game begins exactly where R2D2 and Chewbacca left off!
In The Force Awakens, Finn accidentally turns on the Dejarik board and the game begins exactly where R2D2 and Chewbacca left off!
In the Rise of Skywalker, they go back to this and Poe and Finn conclude Chewbacca is a cheat.
2. Obi Wan calls out to Rey via the Force
During Rey's flash back scene at Maz Kanata's castle, Obi-Wan Kenobi called out to her via the Force:
Rey! These are your first steps
It was very subtle and many people missed it the first time round (including myself).
The internet went bonkers over the revelation from TFA's director JJ Abrams that yes, that was Obi-Wan Kenobi was calling out to Rey and that the voice was that of both actors that have played Kenobi, the younger Ewan McGregor and the older, nominated for an Oscar for his turn at the role, Alec Guiness!
It turns out that Ewan had been called into to record this line of dialogue. Which is pretty cool as he was arguably the best thing about the Prequel Trilogy.
He was the ultimate Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith and his part made Guinesse's turn all the more special when you understand what the character went through.
So how did this happen that Guinness had a line as well as McGregor?
It turns out that Ewan had been called into to record this line of dialogue. Which is pretty cool as he was arguably the best thing about the Prequel Trilogy.
He was the ultimate Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith and his part made Guinesse's turn all the more special when you understand what the character went through.
So how did this happen that Guinness had a line as well as McGregor?
You can thank producer Bryan Burkk for surprising JJ with some dialogue that Guinness had recorded when he said the word 'afraid'.
The sound engineers were able to take the Rey sounding syllable as it was phrased just the way the script needed it. McGregor's words were used for the rest of the line.
3. Rey was always awesome, she didn't suddenly 'become' able to take on a Knight of Ren (but she did have some help...)
When we first met Rey, she is shown crawling and abseiling around the crashed Star Destroyer. She later beats up the two men sent by Unkar Plutt to steal BB-8 from her.
This subtly demonstrates to the viewer that she can handle herself in a fight, which is handy when she fights the grandson of Darth Vader.
It should also be no surprise when she goes sneaking around the Star Killer base after she has escaped as she has had practice climbing around the crashed destroyer on Jakku, it was practically her day job after all!
It's a classic moviemaking trick to show the hero doing something at the start of the movie so it's no surprise when they can do it later on.
It's the Chekov's gun thinking at play. The subtlety of The Force Awakens is that it's not in your face as much as other movies do.
4. It was not an accident that Han Solo kept using Chewbacca's Bowcaster weapon
When Han died, Chewbacca shot Kylo Ren in anger to avenge Han. What was REALLY happening was the culmination of the movie's running gag of Han Solo using Chewbacca's bowcaster.
The movie made a blunt point that Chewbacca's Bowcaster weapon is very strong. Both Chewie and Han Solo used it to great effect, demonstrating that when hit with it you would be thrown 10 feet from where you stood. And probably be dead.
After Kylo Ren killed Han Solo, Chewie shot Kylo with the bowcaster. He took the full blast to his chest. He didn't take a back step, which demonstrated how strong he was however Chewbacca's shot severely injured him.
The subtlety of this is that it was a deliberately drawn out plot point that leveled the 'playing field' somewhat so that when Rey fought Kylo, she at least would be able to foot it with him for a time...
The blast had left Ren bleeding and as he faced Rey, his blood was spilling onto the snow at his feet.
All those hammy jokes of Han trying out the weapon were a not-so-subtle effort to make the climax of the movie believable.
Did you like that? Star Wars is full of subtle moments. We've got some more: