“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is the first “Star Wars” movie (if you don’t count the animated “Clone Wars” movie from 2008) in a little over a decade and the first good “Star Wars” movie in thirty-two years.
It has been thirty years since the Empire was defeated and a new threat known as The First Order has risen from its ruins. Led by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the First Order has begun searching for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who has vanished. After finding a lost rebellion droid that has information about Skywalker’s whereabouts, a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and a rogue stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega) team up in order to return the droid to the Rebellion, getting caught up in an adventure that takes them all across the galaxy.
After the letdown that the prequels were, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is exactly what people were looking for. It seamlessly mixes the old with the new, bringing back what past fans loved about the series and integrating those elements with the new. There are a few plot lines that are quite similar to those found in “Star Wars: A New Hope,” but “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” avoids turning itself into an accidental reboot of the franchise’s first movie. Either twists are added to the plot lines to make them different from its Original Trilogy counterpart, or they are used as background for the more important character moments.
Speaking of characters, it was a fear of mine that the characters of Luke (Mark Hamill), Han (Harrison Ford) and Leia (Carrie Fischer) would outshine the new cast. Thanks to the writing and the actors, this is not the case and the new characters are able to hold a candle to their predecessors. Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) are just as engaging and likable as Luke, Han, and Leia were in the original three films. Well, maybe likable isn’t the best word to describe Kylo Ren.
The tone and execution of the movie is done in a similar manner to director J.J. Abrams’s renditions of “Star Trek,” with amusing action and engaging adventure at every turn. In terms of the most iconic action aspect of these movies, the lightsaber fights, I would say that the battle at the end of “The Force Awakens” is the best choreographed one of the entire franchise. It utilizes the simple fighting style of the original movies with the quicker movement that the duels in the prequels had.
I said above that the movie was exactly what people wanted, but it is also exactly what it needed to be. It needed to be a movie that could introduce “Star Wars” to an entirely new generation while simultaneously keeping a hold of the audience who saw and loved the movie almost forty years prior. It also needed to prove, especially after the prequels, that the movies were in competent hands. Considering the fact that the writers and actors got us to care about a stormtrooper and an X-wing pilot in about five minutes of screen time tells me the people in charge know what they’re doing.
