Star Wars Reviews: The Force Awakens

Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt
Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford and Adam Driver

For years it seemed like a day that would never come. Whether you enjoy the prequels, accept aspects of them or loathe them as the worst thing to ever happen to the Star Wars name, there's an undeniable truth that they pale in comparison to the original trilogy. When Disney gained the rights to Star Wars and announced a new movie was in development I was very skeptical. Return of the Jedi was so satisfying a conclusion and superior to anything Star Wars that had come out since 1983, I had major doubts over how another movie could ever live up to the greatness of the originals. Despite his shortcomings in past, I always felt George Lucas had an intimate link with Star Wars that could never be filled by any other director, producer or writer. When it was announced that J.J. Abrams was directing, I had a new spark of hope for the project given how much I loved both Super 8 and his Star Trek reboots. My enthusiasm could only grow in the wake of the first trailer's release...

Admittedly 2015 is a cinematic year I'm still trying to catch up on. There's actually several Best Picture nominees I just haven't made it to watching yet. What I have seen though is still positive enough for me to consider it a great year for the movies. My idol, Quentin Tarantino released the outstanding The Hateful Eight, which I hail as 2015's best film. We also got new installments to beloved franchises in the form of Creed and Mad Max: Fury Road. On top of that, I also loved releases like It Follows, Selma, Inside Out, The Martian and others. But where does the seventh Star Wars movie sit?

I consider it fortunate that I've only just made it to writing this review right now. The hype surronding The Force Awakens has settled now that fans have their eyes looking to the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story sitting just over the horizon. I now feel I can approach talking about this movie with a degree of objectivity that might have been obscured amid the excitement. Every Star Wars movie is an event movie, and even I can admit to being guilty of getting caught in the storm of obsession and assumptions that it could be anything but perfect. The awesome reality is that the movie is excellent. It's not a masterpiece, but with the pressure of living up to both the originals and making up for the prequel's mistakes I strongly believe that The Force Awakens exceeded where odds would have had it fail.

The movie takes place roughly thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The New Republic has fallen into chaos in the wake of a war with the First Order, a militaristic dictatorship forged from the shards of the Galactic Empire and lead by the secretive Supreme Leader Snoke. The dark warrior Kylo Ren and a new Resistance movement are both searching for Luke's whereabouts. The conflict brings a young scavenger named Rey and the disgruntled stormtrooper Finn into the galaxy's battle against the First Order. During their journey, they learn of unexpected truths about themselves, their enemy, the history of the prior rebellion against the Empire and the ways of the Force.

It's undeniable how much longtime fans and newcomers alike loved this movie. People like myself couldn't contain the excitement of seeing a new opening crawl, Han Solo walking onscreen and saying "Chewie, we're home." nor could we deny the chills that ran down our spine just by hearing the classic John Williams film score. The younger generation that may have never even seen any of these movies no doubt loved The Force Awakens for the adventure and mythology that make Star Wars the great thing that it is. There are however some very clear areas worthy of criticism. The most common complaint is that it's structurally too close to the original film from 1977. While it's true this movie does recycle elements, I actually think it also tends to do the same for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in ways that are far more subtle. I can't help but feel that if this is an issue, it's more in it wanting to tribute the originals too much rather than simply plagiarizing. In that respect I think it does this very well regardless. The imagery is nothing short of perfect, it balances drama and humor effectively and spurs the imagination.

Perhaps The Force Awakens doesn't want to distance itself from the original trilogy and it feels like it's playing it safe. Whether or not one wants to consider that a bad thing is up to them, but I do think the movie is strong enough to stand on its own. I actually appreciated its new characters far more upon revisiting the movie than during the unforgettable premiere in December. Daisy Ridley's Rey grabs us with her personal desires to escape her life on the desolate planet Jakku and reunite with her long-long family. John Boyega's Finn similarly draws us in with an uncompromising moral duty and a desire to do the best for those around him. They are heroes developed the way heroes should be, and I can only wish we had more time with the new fan-favourite, Poe Dameron and feel the same. While Harrison Ford is as fantastic as ever as Han Solo, I can only wish the same was true for the rest of the returning cast. Chewbacca and C-3PO are treated like wallpaper as opposed to unforgettable characters making their return, and Carrie Fisher now plays Leia quite laboriously compared to thirty years ago.

I think that the best aspects of character are actually focused on Luke Skywalker and the new villain Kylo Ren. Luke's absence throughout offers a much stronger dramatic question than anything else in the immediate plot. From start to finish, you're just as caught up in the mystery of what happened to him as much as the other characters. There's this overwhelming feeling that at any moment Luke is going to appear, unleash an astonishing act of power, the First Order will crumble and our heroes are saved. The fact that it doesn't keeps you speculating all while engaged in Rey and Finn's plight.

I absolutely loved Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver. I strongly believe that the tale of a man's fall from grace is told with greater prowess in the case of Han Solo and Leia Organa's son becoming a pawn of the Dark Side than with Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader in the entire prequel trilogy. This is considering that we've so far only seen one part of it, and I'm aching to see what comes of this arc in the next two movies.

The real challenge is how much it can really match up to feeling like one of the classic Star Wars movies. This is probably the greatest aspiration J.J. Abrams and Disney had in the making of this movie. The task is so monumental that it's surprising that it doesn't fall flat on its face. I don't know if it's possible that we're ever gonna see a movie that lives up exactly to the original trilogy's standard, but The Force Awakens does it in the best way possible. The lightsaber duel between Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren is absolutely intense and uses its access to CGI modestly. It's not the choreographed mess stuck on a fast-forward setting that was so commonplace in the prequels, but not so identical to what was seen before The Phantom Menace.

Where this new movie shines is in its dramatic payoffs. While the three I want to talk about all occur later on in the movie, it was in those moments that we knew that Star Wars really was back. Han Solo's death at the hands of his own son is something you can't prepare yourself for, and yet it feels like it was the right time for this character to be let go and pass the torch on, bringing me to my second choice. Rey's realising of her strength with the Force in her battle against Kylo Ren made it abundantly clear who our new hero was and why we should give her as much admiration as we had the characters we grew up with. Finally, the ending. It's impossible to describe how great that scene was in the theater, and I still struggle to put it into words now.

Is The Force Awakens perfect? It's neither perfect as a Star Wars movie, or as a motion picture in general, but it's still exceptional in both of those departments. My anxieties over a new Star Wars movie proved to be deceptive, and it exceeded the odds. The original trilogy is both cinematic magic and a cherished aspect of my youth, so trying to live up to it is comparable to matching the greatness of movies like The Godfather, Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia or Citizen Kane. Despite imperfections, I'm truly amazed by what J.J. Abrams and Disney have accomplished. It's clear that there's a bright future ahead for Star Wars, so it's not even worth discussing the anticipation I have for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the Episode VIII after it. Long live Star Wars, and the moviegoing experience.

My Rating: 9/10