Poor Phasma & Phenomenal Poe

Before I start this blog post…Happy New Year! I hope it will be a good one with significantly more ups than downs. I hope you will all continue to support us all here in ‘The Cantina’ as it promises to be a massive year.

I hope you have all got your healthy fix of Force Awakens, I’ve only been to see it twice, but I hope to go once more before it leaves the cinema. Though I imagine, it may stay longer than planned, as it seems to be doing so well. Just like probably every other blog this month, my first piece for 2016, will be The Force Awakens themed. I am going to discuss two characters from the movie — who both caught my attention for good and bad reasons. You can probably guess that those two characters are Captain Phasma and Poe Dameron.

When Captain Phasma showed up, I was excited. Gwendoline Christie is awesome in Game of Thrones and I looked forward to seeing her take on the role of a brooding First Order captain, plus we were finally getting a female villain and not the usual, seducing female villain. We were getting a proper female villain who was going to kick ass … or so we thought. Now this is not down Gwendoline’s performance, she played what she was given well, but I feel they did absolutely nothing with Phasma. Whenever she was around, she was a presence and an intimidating one, at that. Her words were cold and emotionless; cutting through you like a knife. The early scenes with Phasma made me instantly think “yes, she’s going to be as great as I expected,” but that soon changed. Now, I know not all characters can get loads of screen time and built as this formidable and emphatic character, but Phasma honestly did nothing. The internet likes to joke about it and make memes — one which has popped up is the TR-8R (Officially FN-2199/Nines) meme which praises the “Riot Control Stormtrooper” who fights Finn and pretty much destroys him, but the thing is, he deserves a lot more praise than Phasma. In his 5 minutes of fame, he impressed me more than Phasma did the whole movie, what actually surprises me is why they didn’t have Phasma do that scene. It would of made complete sense for her to be trained to use that weapon, why she could easily beat Finn and after the scene they had at the start of the movie, it would of made complete sense for her to scream ‘Traitor!’ at Finn. Now I know Nines has an actual backstory an trained with Finn, but I still feel Phasma would have been better used in this scene. Yeah, Nines was shot, but not every shot kills — that’s what armor is for.

The only thing Phasma really did was lower the damn shields ! That brings me to my last problem and not a problem I’ve seen anyone talk about, it was something my friend mentioned to me when we were having a few drinks. He mentioned how it diminished her character that she just lowered the shields. Sure she wasn’t begging or terrified when she done it, but surely, a fearless vehement Captain of the First Order, would choose death over betrayal to the First Order. I feel this was disrespectful to the character and they could of easily had a First Order General or Admiral, lower the shields, instead of having Phasma lower them and in turn, lower her honor and reputation.

Now I need to make it clear, that I DO NOT hate Captain Phasma. I am writing this scathing piece, because I had hopes for the character and was angered by how she was treated, but thankfully they have two more movies to get her right, which I look forward to. I’m sure they will get her right I just felt the handling of her in The Force Awakens was wrong.

One character though who lived up to expectations and actually excelled past my expectations was Poe Dameron; my favourite character in the movie. Poe was amazing in every scene he was in and came across as, charismatic and he personified courage. From the get-go, Poe was an awesome character, not afraid of the First Order or Kylo Ren. Never giving into their torture, but obviously, not being powerful enough, to keep Kylo from taking the information he needed.

What struck me the most about Poe, however, was his respect for anyone he met. When he first meets Finn, he immediately trusts him. He sees this desperate man, as one who is full of guilt for being part of the First Order and as someone who wants out, he never once questions Finn and expects it to be a trick, as many others would. He has so much respect for Finn, that he even names him, not allowing him to just be another Serial Number. He even gives him his jacket! It’s a pretty sweet jacket. After that, we see him doing some pretty awesome things in his X-Wing and saving the day with his squadron, proving that he is the “best damn Star pilot in the galaxy” to quote Oscaar Isaac. After that, we see him be re-united with BB-8 and just like Anakins/Lukes relationship with Artoo, we see that Poe sees BB as more than just a droid and sees him, as a real friend — being visibly delighted with seeing BB and even getting down to BB’s level to speak with the droid . This shows that he respects all forms of life, artificial or “real”. Immediately after that he is reunited with Finn and is again, visibly delighted and hugs his friend. Poe is one of the people who is almost always happy in this movie and lightens up all scenes with his charisma and quick witted lines. We see him in the control room being a leader, adding to the conversation and helping to create this plan, but he doesn’t come across as arrogant or brash. He lets others speak when they have something to say, as all good leaders should. When they make the run on Starkiller base, again he is a leader, showing his impeccable military and flying skills. He always stays calm, even when his squadron is being shot down and the plan looks to be failing. Not to mention, he blew up Starkiller base which was an entire planet, no force needed, he just flew in and shot the hell out of the place.

Poe’s charisma, quick wit and respect, is what makes me love him as a character and I look forward to seeing more of him. The original plan for Poe was to have him die in some sort of blaze of glory. I’m glad. however, that they changed that.

Who was your favourite character from The Force Awakens? You can let me know on Twitter  or you can sound off in the comments below.

Féadfaidh an Fórsa Bí Le tú

Andy

The Cantina Cast

The wretched hive your Jedi Master warned you about!