Star Wars – The Force Awakens: Review
Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.
Just like everyone else, I’ve been waiting for a new Star Wars movie for a good while now. When it was first announced my main worry was that it wasn’t going to come close to what the original trilogy meant to everyone. Fast forward to opening weekend and my same concern still stood…….until the movie started. As the classic Star Wars crawl appeared on screen (no lie) the hair on my arm started to stand up and everything just felt right. If you are a lover of the original trilogy then there’s a really good chance that you will love this film as well. Who am I kidding? You will adore it! Everything that you felt after watching A New Hope for the first time you will feel in this movie. Ridley came out of left field for me and completely blew me away. She embodied everything that the franchise is and did it in a way that didn’t feel forced (no pun intended) or cheesy at all. They managed to include a sense if mystery about her character in a time where surprises get spoiled constantly and I absolutely loved that about it. Throughout the entire film I was trying to brainstorm about who she could possibly be linked to and while I do have my theories about it I felt like that is exactly what Abrams and company set out to do. Driver’s performance was one that I felt should’ve come from Hayden Christensen in the prequel films. His portrayal of Kylo Ren was the perfect example of a person that was at odds with what he believed in and it showed in his demeanor and his eyes. Not only that but he was also the most unpredictable with all of his sudden anger filled outbursts. It was in those moments that you realized that he wasn’t completely balanced. I’m really curious to see how his portion of the story is going to play out. Harrison Ford didn’t miss a single step when it came to his iconic character of Han Solo. It’s no secret that in recent years he’s kind of “phoned in” his performances (especially with the last Indiana Jones movie) but he seems to have been reinvigorated with this film and actually seems like he was excited to become Solo once again. Boyega was an absolute joy to watch on screen. His characters’ side of things was interesting to see since Stormtroopers are usually just cannon fodder and are simply just overlooked. He’s also another character who’s backstory is a mystery and I would really like to see more of that play out in future episodes. Then of course there is Oscar Isaac. When he was cast in the film I figured he was just a random pilot that would play a minimal part in the film but that wasn’t the case. Sure, he wasn’t in the film a whole lot BUT his moments were some of the best in the entire film and pushed the wheels in motion for certain aspects of the story. His interaction and relationship with BB-8 was a huge throwback to the way Luke and R2-D2 interacted with each other. Now that they are making standalone films I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up with a Poe Dameron and BB-8 solo film. I would pay to see that in an instant. The only thing that I was slightly disappointed in was the fact that the basic outline of the film was pulled right from A New Hope but at the same time it was nice to experience something somewhat familiar after the prequels. The final moments of the film couldn’t have played out any better. It was emotional, captivating and said so much without a single word being uttered. When it was all over and done with I felt the same way after The Empire Strikes Back. I was content with what they gave us and thought that it was an EXCELLENT movie but I still wanted more. It most definitely did it’s job at setting up the anticipation for Episode VIII and they without a doubt have my money for any future installments. 10/10
