(Note: Fear not,
those who haven’t seen the film yet, for I will be as spoiler-free as possible
during this review.)
It was over 38 years ago when George Lucas released the
first installment of his epic space saga, ‘Star Wars’, later retitled ‘Episode
IV: A New Hope’, into theaters. Despite all of the problems that occurred during
the film’s production, it became one of the biggest hits of all-time, spawning
two equally critically and commercially successful sequels and creating one of
the biggest and most beloved franchises in pop culture history. After 1983’s
‘Return of the Jedi’, it seemed as if the story of Luke Skywalker and his
friends had finally come to a close. Lucas initially had plans for a sequel
trilogy but those plans ended up getting scrapped. However, Lucas would soon
return to the world that he created through the creation of a prequel trilogy,
beginning in 1999 with ‘Episode I: The Phantom Menace’, which explored the rise
and fall of the original trilogy’s main villain, Darth Vader AKA Anakin
Skywalker. However, while this second trilogy was just as commercially successful
as the first, the prequel films did not receive the same critical acclaim as
their three predecessors. Many ‘Star Wars’ fans were especially disappointed
with the films as they felt that Lucas had placed greater emphasis on visuals
than story and characters, the opposite of what made the Original Trilogy so beloved.
Regardless, the films were still big commercial hits and when 2005’s ‘Episode
III: Revenge of the Sith’ was released, once again we all thought that this was
the end of the ‘Star Wars’ saga.
And then, in 2012, everything changed when Disney purchased
Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and announced that new ‘Star Wars’ films were going
to be produced. Not only was there going to be a brand new trilogy of films
that would follow the events of the Original Trilogy, as Lucas had originally
planned, but there were also going to be ‘spin-off’ films that would further
expand the universe. In January of 2013, J.J. Abrams, fresh off of resurrecting
the ‘Star Trek’ franchise with 2009’s ‘Star Trek’ and 2013’s ‘Star Trek Into
Darkness’, was hired to lead off the new series of ‘Star Wars’ films. And over
the next two years, Abrams began production on what has arguably become the
most anticipated film of all-time; ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’. Seriously,
I don’t think there has been a film that has been this anticipated since, well,
the last time ‘Star Wars’ made a comeback on the big screen with ‘The Phantom
Menace’. And with that said, yes we are all very much aware about what happened
the last time we ‘Star Wars’ fans hyped up a new film this much. That ended up
backfiring big-time for most people and even though I was very excited for this
new film, primarily because one of my favorite directors working today was
directing it, I made an effort to keep my expectations in check hoping that, at
the very least, this would not become another situation like ‘The Phantom
Menace’ where most people would end up being very disappointed by it. But now
that ‘The Force Awakens’ is in theaters, I can happily say that you will not be
disappointed by what J.J. has given us.
It has been 30 years since the events of ‘Episode VI: Return
of the Jedi’, in which the Galactic Empire had finally been defeated by the
Rebel Alliance. But in the years since then, a new villainous faction has
emerged in the form of the First Order to oppose the Rebel Alliance, now known
as ‘the Resistance’. As the film begins, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar
Isaac) is sent on a mission by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) to retrieve
a vital piece of information that both the Resistance and First Order are
after. When the First Order catches up with him, Poe is captured but is freed
by Stormtrooper FN-2187 (John Boyega), dubbed ‘Finn’ by Poe, who defects from
the First Order when he finds himself unable to follow their vile ways. The two
end up getting separated and Finn soon finds himself coming across Poe’s droid
BB-8, who is carrying the aforementioned vital piece of information, and its current
companion Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger living on the planet of Jakku. With
the First Order aggressively pursuing them, Finn and Rey embark on a
life-changing adventure to bring the information that BB-8 is holding back to
the Resistance before the First Order, and more specifically Dark Side user
Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), gets it first. Along the way, their journey even sees
them coming across legendary figures like the one and only Han Solo (Harrison
Ford) and his trusty co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).
There have been quite a few people that have made
comparisons between this film’s plot and the plot of ‘A New Hope’. And yes if
you really do look at it, it’s true that this film follows quite a few of the
same beats of that film, like the fact that the two main factions are after a
piece of information of great importance to both sides or how the film’s finale
revolves around a powerful space weapon. But even with that said, unlike some
of the film’s detractors, I didn’t mind at all the fact that this film is very
reminiscent of ‘A New Hope’ in regards to its plotting because it just shows
how much J.J. Abrams respects the original trilogy while also making sure that
‘The Force Awakens’ is its own story. In other words, ‘The Force Awakens’ is
very much a new ‘Star Wars’ film. It all feels like a very fitting continuation
of the story since we last left it in ‘Return of the Jedi’, giving the major
returning characters from the previous trilogy further character development
that respects what has been set up before while also establishing its new main
protagonists who will lead the way for the rest of this new trilogy; Finn, Rey,
and Poe. And I must say that in our current age where the internet could spoil
anything about a film (I very much sympathize with anyone who unfortunately had
something about this film spoiled by jackasses trying to ruin everyone’s fun),
it’s nice to go into a film like this generally unaware of what’s going to
happen and I will say that there were some things in this film, namely certain
plot-points that I of course won’t at all reveal in this non-spoiler review,
that I didn’t see coming.
One of the major reasons why fans loved the Original
Trilogy, particularly from a modern-day perspective, was that it was primarily
done with practical effects in a time when CGI wasn’t even a thing yet. As a
result, one of the major complaints of the prequel trilogy, as well as the changes
made to the ‘Special Edition’ versions of the original films, was the
over-reliance on CGI. So fans will be very happy to know that this new film
does not go down the same ‘CGI-heavy’ road of the prequel trilogy. After all,
J.J. did the same thing with the ‘Star Trek’ films, opting to utilize as many
practical sets as possible for a sci-fi film of that scale. And that is once
again the case with ‘The Force Awakens’. Sure there are obviously still quite a
lot of CGI effects in this film but unlike ‘Attack of the Clones’ and ‘Revenge
of the Sith’, in which Lucas went as far as to just shoot the actors in front
of a green-screen and not actually shoot on a set, the major set-pieces of ‘The
Force Awakens’ were filmed in real locations and they definitely look much
better because of it, resulting in some pretty awesome action sequences. Not
only that, but the screenplay by J.J. and ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of
the Jedi’ writer Lawrence Kasdan, as well as J.J.’s direction in general,
really captures the same fun spirit of the original films through fast-paced action
and witty dialogue.
As many of us know, the cast is a combination of both
returning members of the Original Trilogy and a whole bunch of newcomers. Fans
of the original trilogy should be satisfied with the appearances of the
original leading trio of the series, all of whom easily return to their iconic
roles with ease, especially Harrison Ford, with Han Solo basically having the
most substantial role of the original trio in this new film. And right from the
get-go, the new cast of leads are well-established and all three work greatly
off of the writing. John Boyega gets a great redemptive character arc as Finn,
the former Stormtrooper who rejects the ways of the First Order but then
perhaps gets a bit too in over his head as a result, Oscar Isaac brings a Han
Solo-esque charm and wit to the role of Poe Dameron, whom Isaac himself dubbed as
the ‘best freaking pilot in the galaxy’ (a claim that he basically does back up
given his piloting in the film), and Daisy Ridley captures a lot of the same
relatable qualities that Luke had in the Original Trilogy and brings that to
the role of Rey. Now let’s talk about the main villain, Kylo Ren. Without
giving anything major away, Ren has a particular connection to the ‘Star Wars’
lore that not only makes for one hell of a reveal, but it also brings quite a
lot of depth to the character and his motivations. It’ll be very interesting to
see how Ren’s story arc will play out in subsequent films.
‘The Force Awakens’ is a film that very much lives up to the
massive hype that the fans built around it. Like with Marvel and the Marvel
Cinematic Universe, this film squashes the fears of any skeptic/cynic who
thought that Disney’s purchase of the brand would lead to its downfall. It’s a
film that both continues the ‘Star Wars’ series in grand fashion while also
honoring its previous installments. Under J.J.’s excellent-as-usual direction, the
film is a rousing adventure full of awesome action, funny dialogue, great
character moments, and moments that just simply feel epic given the legacy of
this franchise. As you could see from this review, I didn’t make much
comparisons to the last set of ‘Star Wars’ films, the much-maligned prequel
trilogy, because I wasn’t willing to go down the same path that I know many
other reviewers are; using this film as another way to bash the prequels. Instead
of being stuck in the past and busting a trilogy that seriously isn’t as bad as
the internet constantly puts it out to be, I kept my eyes firmly locked on the
future and based on this first film, I can tell that we are in for one hell of
a new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, with Rian Johnson set to direct ‘Episode VIII’ in
2017 and Colin Trevorrow to helm ‘Episode IX’ in 2019. But for now, I end my
review with this message to the one and only J.J. Abrams. Thank you J.J. for
giving us one of the most exhilarating film experiences in recent memory that
proves just how special this franchise has been to many people and how it will
be again for a whole new generation of fans. ‘Star Wars’ is back!
Rating: 5/5!
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