Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

In October 2012, George Lucas revealed that he sold his production company, Lucasfilm, as well as the Star Wars franchise to The Walt Disney Company. It was also in that month that the world was made aware that sequels to the original trilogy would be made, this time under the guidance of the Disney company. This sent of wild speculations of how much Lucas would be involved given the negative reaction to the prequel trilogy, would there be original story or the one Lucas created, who would direct and most importantly, would the original cast return?

Over the next few years we got our answers. In January of 2013, Star Trek reboot director JJ Abrams was announced as the director of the next Star Wars movie. Over the next couple of months new writers were brought on for the script and the world was told that the saga would continue in December of 2015. But it was not until 2014 that it was revealed that Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill would return to their roles as Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. But we were not only going to be getting the original characters back, but also some new ones. Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Adam Driver were cast as completely new characters in the Star Wars universe.

From there it was back to speculation for fans. Until November 28, 2014 when the first teaser dropped online. It was only 90 seconds but still, it was the first footage of the movie, a movie coming out in only a year. After that, Abrams released images of mock trading cards that revealed the names of  the new characters, those being Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Then we got the second trailer in April of 2015 that blew every fan away. From there it was media coverage and a HUGE mass marketing until the date of December 18th, 2015 , the release date of the movie.

I've brought all this up to remind everyone of how much this movie was built up. For 3 years we waited in anticipation for clips, images and any source of information regarding the movie. And was all the build up worth it? Yes, yes it was. Star Wars: The Force Awakens recaptures the spirit of the franchise that was lost in the prequels. No more boring political drama, no more stiff acting, no more hokey dialogue and especially no more dumb Jar Jar humor. This is the movie fans have been hoping for. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Force Awakens takes place 30  years after the demise of Darth Vader and the Empire. Luke Skywalker has vanished and the rebels, now called the Resistance, as well as The First Order, a new version of the Empire, are looking for him as he is now the last Jedi in the galaxy. Leading The First Order is the ominous Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren is what fans wanted out of Anakin Skywalker, someone who is being torn apart by both sides of the force and ultimately giving in to the fear and anger that is the dark side. He discovers from Poe Dameron that the map to Skywalker is in a droid, BB-8 who serves as our R2-D2. At the same time stormtrooper FN-2187 is having a moment of realization that he should not be with the First Order, and Ren feels it in him. He helps Poe escape the torture of Ren as Poe gives him the name Finn.

The escape and crash land on the desert planet Jakku, which is home to Daisy Ridley's character Rey. Rey is arguably my favorite character in the movie next to Finn. Her past is a mystery but is one that may be pieced together through her journey and she is a strong and bold female lead that can lead a massive franchise such as this one. There have been those who say she is a Mary Sue character (a female who is so perfect she is annoying) but I feel that those critiques are not warranted. She's good because she knows what she is doing. As a scavenger she has been in an Imperial ship many times to the point she knows how they work and thus she would know how to fly a ship. Also, when it is revealed she has the force, she doesn't immediately move objects with her mind but use the Jedi mind trick to get free and to guide her in battle. She is new to the force and is not fully aware of her strength.

After meeting Rey, it becomes a race to get the map to Skywalker to the Resistance and blow up The First Order's Starkiller base, which is so freaking huge it makes the death star seem tiny by comparison. Now a lot of critics have pointed out the film mirrors the story of A New Hope, the first film released but the forth in the story. And yeah, it does but A New Hope when you get down to it, is a basic hero's journey story. What makes it work here and in the first movie is the characters. We want to see Rey and Finn make it because we care about them, something we didn't when it came to the prequels. Good characters can give an old story new life.

Speaking of new life, practical effects are back and they are a welcoming site from the CGI heavy prequels. Yes CGI can make glorious looking worlds but sometimes we need to see that what's there is really there. There is CGI in the movie and the most notable are the characters of Supreme Leader Snoke, played excellently by motion capture expert Andy Serkis, and Maz Kanata, played by Lupita Nyong'o. They're not bad looking by no means but they stand out in a mostly practical effect heavy movie.

While the movie mirrors a lot of the plot of the first movie and even some story points from Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is the kick in the pants Star Wars needed after the lackluster prequels. We see what our old favorite characters are up to but it also gives us great new characters to adventure with. The movie is sure to please fans and casual movie goers a like. Now with all that said is the most perfect movie of the year? No, it has a lot of unexplained plot holes and continuity errors out the wazoo,  but as a Star Wars movie The Force Awakens is a  fun movie going experience that must been seen in glorious IMAX 3D in order to appreciate what the fandom is getting after years of disappointment.

Grade: A-