Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Force Awakens! (Star Wars Episode VII Review)

This poster is so amazing!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes place three decades after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire. However, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi Master, has vanished. In his absence, the sinister First Order has arisen to take over the galaxy. Meanwhile, on a planet called Jakku, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger, finds a BB-8 droid that knows the whereabouts of Skywalker.
Eventually, Rey and Finn (John Boyega), a rogue Stormtrooper, meet two smugglers Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca, and are thrown into the middle of a battle between the resistance and the daunting legions of the First Order, which is led by the mysterious Jedi Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

The original Star Wars trilogy is beloved by fans worldwide, but the recent prequel trilogy has tarnished the Star Wars brand considerably. Director J.J. Abrams had a paramount task of injecting life into Star Wars. He had to attract old fans and bring in new ones also. Fortunately, he succeeds for the most part. The newest Star Wars movie is more reminiscent of the original trilogy, which is a good aspect. The movie is good old-fashioned fun, with many call backs to 1977’s Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and throughout its running time it is never boring. It does not suffer through boring exposition and jumps straight into the action.

The new actors in The Force Awakens are likable and marvelous. The standout performance belongs to Daisy Ridley. This is her first major motion picture role, and she excels as the character Rey. She is self-confident, likable, bold, and generally a good female action hero. Boyega also shines as Finn, the rogue stormtrooper, who gets many of the laughs of the film. In addition, Harrison Ford easily slips back into the role of Han Solo. Ford really embraces the role and his performance does not feel like he is in autopilot. Lastly, Driver is compelling as the evil Kylo Ren, who is conflicted by the light and dark side of the force. It will be interesting to see where his character evolves in the next movie.

The movie is immensely enjoyable, but flawed in the fact that it does not hold up well as a stand-alone movie. The movie leaves the viewer on a cliffhanger, which is annoying, but it does get you excited about the next Star Wars movie. Plus there are some characters that should get more screen time, but unfortunately they do not. In addition, many viewers have complained that it is very derivative of Star Wars: A New Hope. The Force Awakens did take a lot of elements from A New Hope, but I feel the film was just paying homage to the first film. I find nothing wrong with that as the first Star Wars film is one of the greatest Sci-fi films of all time. The Force Awakens is still a great chapter in the Star Wars' canon.

Is Star Wars back to its former glory? Yes it is. Abrams should be commended on rebooting Star Wars for the next generation. Even though some may find it too similar to the first Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is still a fantastic film. It has just enough action and endearing characters to make it a worthy chapter in the Star Wars' mythos. If anything, it at least gets audiences excited to see the next Star Wars movie, which is currently shooting.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4/5

No comments:

Post a Comment