"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4/5 Stars

After a 10 year hiatus, the much anticipated “Star Wars VII” has come to theaters! It would be a gross understatement to say that fans both young and old were hyped for it. For months none of us have been able to escape the iron grip of Star Wars through lots of trailers, commercials with all sorts of Star Wars product placement, and, once the movie was released, plenty of social media posts on everyone either praising Star Wars as the greatest movie ever or (more recently) some calling it a huge disappointment. Disney couldn’t have picked a better time to release the movie. 10 years feels like a perfect amount of time to wait for such a huge movie, with expectations building up more and more. The success has really paid off, too. “The Force Awakens” has already passed “Titanic” as the second highest money-grossing movie of all time. It’s only a matter of time before it passes “Avatar”. It set box office records with a whopping $250 million being made on opening night. The real question, though, is how this movie stacks up against its predecessors. Was all the hype it got truly warranted?

I myself, like many, am a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, but not so much of the prequels (with the exception of the very well-done “Revenge of the Sith”). So, after the disappointment of cheesy lines, lots of CGI, mostly bad acting, and Jar-Jar Binks, I was definitely ready to see a movie that would show the Star Wars that was embodied in the original trilogy. And, for the most part, this movie doesn’t disappoint. Here’s the basic premise: The Jedi Master Luke Skywalker has disappeared, and with that a New Order has appeared with Supreme Leader Snoke as their leader. They capture the heroic pilot Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) believing he holds important information about their new Death Star-esque creation, except this time it’s as big as a planet. However he’s already given the information to his droid BB-8, who finds a young woman named Rey (played by Daisy Ridley). A young rouge Stormtrooper named Finn (played by John Boyega) helps Poe escape in a Tie-Fighter, and eventually finds Rey. Together they attempt to escape the clutches of the New Order, all the while encountering the Millennium Falcon and find Han Solo (everyone knows who plays this guy) and Chewbacca. Together they go with the Resistance, led by Princess Leia to take down the New Order and the evil Sith Lord Kylo Ren.

A lot of this might sound familiar to those who have viewed the original trilogy. And yes, this does bring to mind “A New Hope”. This has been, perhaps, one of the most controversial points which naysayers of the new Star Wars say ruins the movie altogether. They call it a “repackaging” of the “A New Hope” minus the fun or passion, making the movie a complete rip-off. However, I personally don’t see this as a problem. I view “The Force Awakens” as a re-imagining of “A New Hope”, making it director J.J. Abrams’s homage to the movie. He is giving the fans something that he knows they’ll like. Yes, this is what can be called “playing it safe”. But, is that such a bad thing? I am of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” philosophy, and “A New Hope” is a near perfect movie, so paying homage to it is really honorable to me, and a wise move on Abrams’s part. I could argue that there are plenty of new spins as well that will make for originality in later movies. The whole rogue Stormtrooper idea was genius. It was nice to see the complexity of a person who was originally just a mindless drone in all of the previous movies. Snoke is a giant, which is freaking scary to think about. Imagine what can be done with that in later movies. The idea of a giant Sith Lord is a great move.
This is a perfect moment to talk about the technicals of the movie. Despite this movie being homage to “A New Hope”, there are a lot of things here that are completely unique to this movie. The tone is one of the first that comes to mind. This one has a dark feel that is completely different to any of the other movies. There is a whole feel that a metaphorical storm is coming throughout the whole movie. Everything feels a little more serious and uncertain in this one, which makes perfect sense. This movie takes place 30 years after “Return of the Jedi”, and the audience is given little enlightenment on how Luke disappeared or how the Jedi suddenly lost to the New Order. Another aspect of the movie that is totally different which I think is really neat is that the audience feels the power of the Force in this one. In the original trilogy and the prequels, the Force is talked about a lot more than it is shown. In the moments where the Force is actually shown, it feels like we’re just watching it and not really engaged in its power. Not so with this movie. In “The Force Awakens”, every time the force is used, it is focused on for a long time, and the moments when it’s used feel very tense. Force choke feels a lot more powerful, and mind control feels like it’s really being actively used. This was one of my favorite parts of the movie, and it elevated the movie in my book.

The acting in this movie was spot on in almost every way, with some of the best acting ever given in any of the Star Wars movies. Easily the best is Harrison Ford as Han Solo. He absolutely shines in the role, and every time he’s on screen it’s a delight to watch him. His character is perhaps even more likeable in this movie than in any of the previous ones, as his wisened demeanor along with the scoundrel part of him make for a perfect combination. More complexity is put into this character than ever before. We find out that he is now a father, with his son being the Sith Lord Kylo Ren, who Luke taught before Kylo was persuaded by the Dark Side. We see the heart of gold Han has as he wants to reconcile with Kylo and get him back on the Light side. Ford portrays these emotions perfectly. He looks like he’s having a ball with the movie, and throughout the whole movie, it feels like it was meant just for him and to honor Han Solo in the way fans had always wanted. Though Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher both have minimal screen time (especially Hamill) it’s still fun to watch them and feel the nostalgia of them in Star Wars again. Many of the new characters give great performances as well. Daisy Ridley as Rey gives a great performance of a hardened orphan. She perfectly balances the toughness of her character along with the real heart she has for others, including the soft spot she has for BB-8, and eventually, Han. John Boyega shines as the rogue Stormtrooper Finn. He was easily my favorite of the new characters. The bravery of the character is impressive, and his desire to be good despite being indoctrinated into the ways of the Stormtroopers is honorable. Boyega had a lot of funny moments, and he practically embodied the spirit of Star Wars through the whole movie. BB-8 was a cute little robot who had a lot of great moments to offer in the movie, and was often the comic relief. I couldn’t help but grin any time he was on screen.

Despite all the good this movie has to offer, there are some negative aspects as well. Unfortunately, the actors on the Dark Side don’t portray their characters very well. This was very disappointing for me, as I always found the Dark Side characters interesting even in the prequels. We had amazing characters such as Count Dooku, Darth Maul, and Darth Sidious in the original whose backstories were intriguing mysteries. Darth Sidious was even more amazing in Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader is far and away my favorite character of any of the Star Wars characters, as I always found his menace to be nothing short of cool, and his conversion to the Light made him a truly three dimensional character. The same can’t be said for the evil characters here. Andy Serkis gives it his all as Snoke, but unfortunately even his expertise at animated characters couldn’t help deter my feeling that this character looked really fake. For the majority of the movie, practical special effects were used, which made Snoke’s CGI effects stick out like a sore thumb. Domhnall Gleeson’s acting was way too cartoony as General Hux. The worst out of all of them, though, was Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. He had the most screen time, and his bad acting really showed. He felt simply like a Darth Vader fanboy when it was revealed that behind his mask he was simply an older teenager and that reduced all the menace he had to nothing.

Perhaps the biggest moment of the movie is also the most controversial: the death of Han Solo. Some believed this really killed any potential for the whole movie, while others saw it as something that wasn’t a big deal and simply progressed the movies in a new direction. I’m somewhere in the middle. Han is definitely one of the best parts of the Star Wars movies, and knowing that he’s gone from the Star Wars universe is painful to think about. But then again, I don’t see how this one moment tampered with the rest of the movie. The movie was still fun. It still had plenty of moments to enjoy with Harrison Ford as the focal point. So, I’m still very unsure how this weighs in still for me. The moment in the movie I had the most problem with however, was the very rushed ending. It felt like this was half-heartedly done, and it was a little hard to root for Poe when, out of the three new main characters, he’s the one we know the least. I just didn’t feel entirely engaged.

Nevertheless, there were so many incredibly GREAT moments that outnumbered the bad. Any moment with Ford on the screen was perfection. There was a particularly fun moment in which he faced off with two groups of people he owed money to. It felt like the right Han Solo moment. There was also some direct parallel structure when he was telling BB-8 to let Chewbacca win a game, because “You don’t want a Wookie angry”. That was fun. The beginning scene was an incredible introduction to the movie: action-packed, dark, and it introduced Kylo Ren before he took his mask off (he was admittedly a frightening sight to behold here at least). The use of practical effects gave this movie a very realistic and tangible feel. The one lightsaber battle, though minimal, was still pretty fun to watch, and beautiful epic scenery accompanied it. The very ending scene with Rey presenting Luke’s lightsaber was a great way to end off the movie, as it showed all the potential that could come out of the coming Star Wars movies.

Though there were some problematic moments in “The Force Awakens”, it can still be said easily that it was a great movie. The acting was, for the most part; spot on, with some of the best moments from Harrison Ford given ever as Han. The tone was executed perfectly, and the Force really felt like something to be welcomed with. And even though some moments felt rushed, there were still so many good ones. The grin on my face and the warm feeling in my chest almost never left, as even the worst moments couldn’t deter my enjoyment from the movie at all. How does this one rank against the other movies. That’s still hard for me to say. I know for sure I like four and five both better than this one, but six is iffy. This one easily blows away all the prequels. Welcome back, Star Wars. It’s been a long ten years, but we’re all excited to be acquainted with you once again!