Moments We Didn't See Coming In The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally been released, and we now know that no amount of nerd anticipation or trailer dissection could have prepared us for all of the stuff that actually happens. Director J.J. Abrams and his crew did an excellent job of throwing the audience for a loop, despite trailers spilling the beans on a hundred little details before the film's opening. So, what surprises were left over? Here are a few moments from The Force Awakens that surprised audiences everywhere—unless some idiot spoiled it on the Internet first. Oh, and on that note, major spoilers ahead.
Kylo Ren Unmasked
The mystery of Kylo Ren was probably one of the best-kept secrets in The Force Awakens. It was always implied that he was probably related to someone we already knew, so the revelation of his parentage wasn't all that surprising, but the fact that a powerful Sith would actually take off his mask and reveal himself to his enemy was very surprising. While the action is surely meant to demonstrate Kylo Ren's vulnerability and waffling between being a good guy or an evil dork, Ren's mask removal during Rey's interrogation is a completely unexpected moment. Second surprise? That all that hair fits under that thing.
The Split Of Han And Leia
In a single block of extremely clear exposition, Han and Leia's entire broken relationship was laid out, and after Return of the Jedi, it seems like things got kind of ugly. Audiences hoped that true love could at least exist in space, without all of the messy, gross stuff that comes with Earth-love and having babies and getting old, but no. Love among the stars is just as dumb, and the film's writers decide to completely break our hearts by showing us that not even Han and Leia could make it work, and that when they had a baby, it turned into a complete psycho. It just goes to show you that you should never fall in love and babies are always evil. At least Star Wars action figures can't betray you.
The Death Of Han Solo
We're all incredibly sad that Han Solo was sabered to death and tossed into the space garbage by his own son. Everyone expected a major character to bite it in The Force Awakens, but the smart money was always on the giant walking target named Chewbacca, or even one of the newcomers who's placed front and center. Now that Han Solo is gone, and Chewbacca has lost his lifelong friend and co-pilot, it's going to be a pretty sad Life Day card this year. RIP, you scruffy-looking nerf herder. We miss you already.
Kylo Ren, Mind Reader
We don't really know what parts of Sith powers are canon and which have been tossed out with the Expanded Universe. Sure, they can shoot lightning, move stuff with their minds, have a wicked grasp of saber skills, and can sense other Force-sensitive people around, but mind reading seems to be pretty new. Ren first uses it with no problem on Poe Dameron, and later, he blows it when he can't pry open Rey's brain-locks, but we don't know if this psychic power is unique to Ren, or if this is just something that Sith never really explored before. Either way, it's apparently fine-tuned enough to extract a picture of a map that someone's only seen once or twice, so it's nothing to be trifled with.
Kylo's Total Freakouts
One of the most important parts of being an effective Sith is being able to channel your anger into power, but Kylo Ren seems to be prone to his fair share of computer-destroying nerdrage freakouts. As he's chopping apart his whole computer console because of some bad news, it's hard to avoid comparisons to those dudes who throw beers through their flatscreens anytime they get killed in Call of Duty. Kylo may be powerful, but at the same time, he's incredibly weak. There's some heavy foreshadowing that he'll eventually become a Jedi, but until then, he's going to be a total Darth Spaz.
Captain Phasma's Surrender
The silver-garbed Captain Phasma, who was touted as a major character but barely appears on screen, is incredibly quick to turn off the shields on Starkiller Base when she has a blaster aimed at her helmet. One might think that a First Order captain would have rather been killed than expose an enormous vulnerability in their one weapon, but she has no problem flipping the switch. And after that, she's just gone. She's either thrown down a garbage chute or tied up somewhere on the exploding planet, but it just seems weird that Phasma's whole role in the film would be to destroy the First Order. Secret Resistance operative, anyone?
Starkiller Base
Force Awakens movie posters had already dropped the bomb that the film would include yet another Death Star-like device, but it would have been hard to anticipate that it would be the size of an entire planet. Borrowing some stuff from the Expanded Universe, and a name from George Lucas' early drafts of Star Wars, the planet is capable of absorbing the energy of a sun, and directing it back at multiple planets at once, at seemingly impossible distances. It's like the Death Star's big brother, but also a sniper, and with the exact same flaws that every other Death Star had. You'd think they'd learn by now.
Everything Snoke
One of the film's other big reveals was Supreme Leader Snoke, whose appearance was completely unknown until the premiere. Played by Andy Serkis in full-body motion capture, Snoke isn't much more than a gnarled old guy who looks vaguely alien. We've only seen him in hologram form and know almost nothing about him other than he's kinda like this new trilogy's Emperor Palpatine, but it's safe to say that audiences expected a far more complex villain with all of the things possible with CGI. Instead, The Force Awakens gave us a mean, hairless old man. It was a reveal moment that only made us miss our grandpappys.