Originally written December 18, 2015

I remember being in love with Star Wars as a kid, and the wonder that it instilled in me. Since I was only a kid when the prequels were coming out, it felt great to be getting new Star Wars movies, yet since they were prequels I always wondered what would happen AFTER the original trilogy. I remember having conversations with other kids on the schoolyard about how cool it would be if we ever got another trilogy of Episodes 7, 8, and 9. It all just seemed like a silly dream back then, like we were fantasizing about something that would never actually happen. That’s why when I went to see The Force Awakens, it really all hit me. My childhood dreams of getting a true Star Wars sequel were actually coming true. It was such a surreal feeling to ACTUALLY be going to see a movie that would be about what happens next in the Star Wars universe. When the classic opening title crawl started, I knew I was home.

Perhaps the biggest thing working for and against The Force Awakens is that it’s a huge mix of old and new. This includes the story at hand, which features both characters from the original trilogy, as well as fresh new faces. I’m almost reluctant to even talk too much about the story, because honestly I felt like The Force Awaken broke away from the trend of showing too much of the story in their trailers, and the result was that I managed to go into the movie and being surprised about what the movie was even about. So I don’t want to go too indepth with the plot here, as I feel some of the best moments of The Force Awakens come when you’re surprised about the directions it takes. However, I can give some info that won’t spoil anything you couldn’t gather from trailers. The movie is set 30 years after Return of the Jedi. After the defeat of the Empire, a new threat has risen from the ashes that call themselves The First Order. This group is led by Kylo Ren, a masked man that seems to be one of the only few people left that knows the ways of the Force, which seems to be nothing more than a myth now. The First Order is trying to stop the Resistance from figuring out a way to stop them from ruling the galaxy.

Some of this might sound a bit familiar, and it’s like I was saying: this is what simultaneously works wonders for the film, but also detracts from it in some ways. I think it’s best to get “the bad stuff” out of the way first, since there’s only really two big problems I found with the movie. For starters, the familiarity aspect of the movie can be a bit too much at times. While we do want the movie to be reminiscent of the original trilogy, The Force Awakens sometimes does it to the point where some of it feels like a rehash of A New Hope. There are enough plot elements going on that make up for this, but I don’t think it can be denied that it’s a bit disappointing that one of the main objectives of the heroes in this movie was to find a way to blow up the bad guys’ giant weapon that destroys planets. It’s not a third Death Star, but the similarities are present enough where it feels like they made it TOO reminiscent of A New Hope. I won’t go into any other details about that to avoid spoilers, but it could have differentiated itself from A New Hope slightly better.

Interestingly enough, it’s the similarity to A New Hope that plays into the movie’s other big problem. See, A New Hope was an excellent movie at introducing a lot of elements in its universe and story, but it wasn’t until Empire Strikes Back that we actually got more personal and indepth with it all. It just kind of scratched the surface of what was to come, and I think it’s easy to forget that that’s something that detracts from A New Hope as a standalone movie now that we’ve had the entire trilogy to watch for so long now. However, The Force Awakens does the same thing in a lot of ways, and we currently don’t have the benefit of watching its sequels to get the rest of the story. You can tell when you watch the movie that it isn’t meant as a standalone movie though. It’s meant to be the first chapter in a new trilogy, and it feels like it. The Force Awakens sets up a lot of pieces that are probably going to be developed in later installments, as well as proposes questions and mysteries that it leaves unanswered for now. This kind of thing is even seen with its new characters. The movie does a fantastic job at establishing the new characters and making them part of the universe, but it actually doesn’t do a very good job of developing them. Again, it’s only scratching the surface for now like A New Hope did. I’m sure Episode VIII will go more indepth just like Empire Strikes Back did, but for now, as a standalone movie there wasn’t quite enough actual development in The Force Awakens.

However, when it comes down to it, the movie is simply amazing. I didn’t even think about the criticisms I had until I actually sat down to write a review. When I saw the movie, I just got completely immersed in the experience of it. As someone that enjoys writing reviews, it’s common for me to watch a movie with the mindset of analyzing its good and bad qualities rather than simply mindlessly watching it. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t do that with The Force Awakens. I wasn’t thinking about what score I’d give it or what I was enjoying and not enjoying about it while I was watching it. No, I was actually genuinely hyped for the movie, and it was probably the most excited I’ve been for a movie in a long time. So, when I was watching it, I allowed myself to stay swept up in the hype and simply let myself be entertained. It felt good, and the movie reminded me of the reasons why I enjoy the magic of movies in the first place. I’m sure on future viewings I’ll look at the movie with a more critical eye like I do with other movies, but as far as my first viewing goes, I honestly just enjoyed the ride and was entertained from beginning to end.

Thinking about it more, what exactly did I like about The Force Awakens though? I think it’s still that mix of old and new, of familiarity and rejuvenation. While it does play into the movie’s flaws, it mainly plays into its strengths. As far as story is concerned, it’s interesting how the movie is both a sequel to the original trilogy while also being the start of its own entirely different story. I think this is a good mix because it appeases long-time fans while also managing to not be confusing for newcomers to the series. We see a continuation of the story after Return of the Jedi, but we also get to start the journey of new people. It took me a little bit of time to wrap my head around the story at all because I didn’t realize that the first six movies pretty much all centered around Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, and now his story is over. Our main ties to the original movies are from the returning cast, with the rest of the movie being all about our new cast.

On that subject, I’d like to talk about both the old cast and the new cast. I don’t want to spoil any plot developments, but you will know from trailers, news, or even the IMDB page that the main three heroes from the original trilogy have all returned for The Force Awakens. Mark Hamill is playing Luke Skywalker again, Carrie Fisher is playing Princess Leia again, and most surprising (since he’s publicly expressed his disinterest in Star Wars now) Harrison Ford is playing Han Solo again. Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO also all return, which is great. However, I found the news of the old cast returning to be a bit misleading. We’ll see how heavy of a role they play in the next two installments, but for the most part the only one that’s really a main character in The Force Awakens is Han Solo. He’s involved in a lot of the plot of the movie, and he’s still the same lovable smartass we know, despite him sounding a bit more grisly now. It’s nice to see Han back, but unfortunately Leia and Luke are more on the sidelines in this one. It’s hard to talk about this anymore without spoiling anything, but while it was nice to have the old cast back, they’re not quite as involved as you might expect. I’m not even saying this as a sleight against the movie though since I think it’s a miracle that we were even able to get a new Star Wars movie in 2015 that had the original cast appearing in it. It’s definitely good to see everyone again though. When Han Solo first appeared on screen, my theater actually cheered.

As for the new cast, they had the very huge task of filling the shoes of the old cast, and I was genuinely surprised at how well they did, especially given the problem I mentioned earlier about them not being developed fully. The ones worth talking about the most are the three “main” heroes and the “main” villain. As far as our heroes go, we have Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), a scavenger on the desert planet of Jakku that’s just trying to survive while she waits for some mysterious person to return that isn’t seeming to. Finn (played by John Boyega) is a Stormtrooper for The First Order that decides to defect and join the fight against The First Order. Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) is a cocky pilot that’s fighting for the Resistance. Poe doesn’t quite get that much screen time, but he’s a lot of fun while he is on screen. We spend the most time in the movie with Rey and Finn (along with Han Solo), and these two are really great heroes to follow. They’re interesting separately and have great chemistry together. The movie really managed to get me interested in their stories, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. Daisy Ridley as Rey is probably the standout performance in the movie, although Boyega did nail it as Finn too. Finally, our other main character is Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver), the leader of The First Order that uses the Dark Side of the Force to get what he wants. It’s impossible to talk about Ren’s motivations without spoiling crucial plot points, but I will say that rather than being a tyrant type of villain, I actually found Kylo Ren to be more of a complex character with an interesting backstory. I never thought I’d say this, but he’s a really worthy successor to Darth Vader and isn’t too similar to him by any means. Adam Driver probably helps this by delivering an intense performance. As far as other side characters are concerned, most of them are decent, but considering even the main characters are a little underdeveloped, the side characters definitely are. This is especially true for the other villain characters like General Hux and Captain Phasma. Hopefully the sequels will help expand these other characters, but for now they were a bit unimportant.

Aside from story and characters, I feel like the only other big thing that needs to be discussed about a Star Wars movie is its action. The only thing I might be able to say against the action of the movie is that there’s not many really standout action sequences (for example, how the chase scene on Endor in Return of the Jedi was one of its most memorable action scenes), but I never thought any of the action scenes were bad. I always enjoyed even the smaller action scenes. The biggest one that’s most memorable is a lightsaber duel at the end (as if anyone was surprised by this), and that’s because there are some real emotions and stakes that play into it. While I enjoyed all of the action in the movie, I was on the edge of my seat (literally) during the final battle.

I feel like I rarely have a movie experience like I did with The Force Awakens. There was SO much hype surrounding this movie, to the point where a movie living up to that amount of hype was practically impossible. Usually in instances like this where there is so much hype surrounding a movie, you either walk away feeling disappointed or having your expectations actually succeeded. For me, I somehow find my expectations were simply met with The Force Awakens. I set incredibly high expectations for the movie, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a perfect movie. And honestly, I got from the movie exactly what I wanted, which rarely happens. I feel like it’s hard to compare it to the other Star Wars movies at this point in time, but if I had to I think the only one I still think is better than The Force Awakens is The Empire Strikes Back. Otherwise, I think The Force Awakens might be one of the best Star Wars movies we ever got. It’s a nice blend of both old and new, and at the end of the day I think the movie delivers exactly what we all wanted it to. The fact that Episode VII even exists is crazy…the fact that it’s THIS good is simply amazing.

4.5/5