The War That Matters: A Review of The Force Awakens

Whether you loved or hated it (or most likely something in-between), there is no denying that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is one of the bigger popular events of recent years.

Last weekend it made over $812 in the domestic box office, “making it the first movie in history to cross $800 million.”[1] In social situations it’s assumed that everyone has at least heard about it, if not already seen it. And you don’t have to look very far to get neck-deep in an online debate about any aspect of the film.

Personally, I really enjoyed the movie; and loved it even more upon a second viewing. But I’m not really going to give a review about the film here: if you want that you can check out my YouTube channel.

Here I just want to discuss one thing; something that I’ve not heard a lot of people talking about – even with the avalanche of blogs and articles that talk about everything from relationship speculation to Jar Jar conspiracies. Here I want to talk about the main theme of Star Wars saga, and one of the main themes of The Force Awakens.

When Finn and Ray are led by the older-but-still-swaggering Han Solo, to meet with Maz Kanata there is an interesting scene which gets at the heart of what our heroes are really struggling with. When there are all sitting around a table Maz turns to Han and confronts him with running from the war. When Ray asks, “What war?” Maz responds by telling them about “the only war that matters,” the war between good and evil, the light and the dark, the main battle that Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Kylo Ren all struggled with personally. This is the one war that matters in the Star Wars universe, and it’s deeper than a war between the Rebels and the Empire and isn’t fought with blasters and lightsabers.

The thing is…this not just true in the cinematic universe created by George Lucas. It’s the same for us in the actual, flesh and blood universe. There is one war that matters. And it’s not fought with guns or swords; “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph 6:12).

Han Solo had been running around smuggling and whatnot for years, he didn’t want to worry about good and evil anymore, he was trying to get by and turn a blind eye to the deeper war in the universe. Ray and Finn struggle with this too in their own way. But in the climax of The Force Awakens Han is faced with the decision to confront his son or not; to do so would mean entering into the war and fighting for the good in his son, but could cost him dearly. This most important war usually does demand extreme sacrifice.

So I guess among all the Star Wars hype all I’m trying to say is that The Force Awakens provides me with an opportunity to ask myself and others the question, are you going to fight in the one war that matters? Even if you disliked the film this is a crucial question to settle. It might be tempting to shrug and let other people worry about it (Han and Leia sent their son away to be trained in the force, which Leia confesses to be the point in which they lose him).

So…do you care about good and evil? Are you going to do something about it?

I, for one, am trying to do my best in this fight; but it’s hard fighting for good when you’re not perfect – which reminds me of two things. Firstly, that why it’s called a war. Secondly, I’m glad that there was a perfect person who lived and died to win this battle for all of us who trust and follow Him. So I’ll keep trusting Jesus, and fighting as best I can.

[1] (http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/10/box-office-report-star-wars-force-awakens-the-revenant-the-forest)