Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Movie Review

"You...you're afraid...that you will never be as strong as Darth Vader!"

-Rey 

The day finally arrived to see the new Star Wars film. Easily the most anticipated film of 2015 and for some the movie they had waited 30 years to see. Star Wars is a phenomenon in our culture that cannot be simply explained. I say our culture, because although it is an American film, it is beloved in every corner of our planet; it is a human phenomenon. This may sound facetious, but this past weekend's box office numbers support my claim. We already knew coming into this release that this film was going to break opening weekend records since it broke all pre-sale records. The final numbers came out to about 247 million dollars domestic and 527 million globally opening weekend. Jurassic World early this year also broke records, and became the fastest movie to reach a billion dollars. There is no doubt in my mind that The Force Awakens will obliterate that record and even surpass Titanic to be the second highest grossing movie of all time. The question is whether it'll take the number one spot from Avatar. I hope it does and I'll be closely following the box office over the next few weeks. 

Now to get down to the film. How could it possibly live up to the hype? The original trilogy that George Lucas created between 1977 and 1983 has thrived throughout the years and is seen as one of the best and most influential trilogies in film history. What makes the release of The Force Awakens even sweeter is the new hope that it will wash the bad taste of the prequels out of our mouths. Those films were an abomination that don't deserve "Star Wars" attached to their titles, but that is a discussion for another time. What is important is that J.J. Abrams has rejuvenated this beloved series, with a breadth of new characters sprinkled with the favorites from the originals. I see The Force Awakens as both a soft-reboot and a sequel in this continuing saga. I am ecstatic to be able to say that all I could think of when leaving the theater was when I was going to be able to see this film again, and again, and again.

I give J.J. full marks for taking on one of the most daunting jobs a filmmaker could have taken on in today's industry. This franchise is sacred to so many and after the failure of the prequels, he had to deliver. And deliver he did, firing on all cylinders and truly bringing us back to a galaxy far far away. I'll start by introducing the new blood of the franchise, the new characters in which we will follow throughout this new and epic trilogy. Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, is a scavenger on the planet of Jakku who is extremely resourceful. This is Ridley's big break, the first major film she's acted in and I think she was phenomenal. She not only nailed her role, but made the movie as a whole more enjoyable to watch. Rey is a strong, intelligent, and caring woman and she takes center stage in this new Star Wars film. It was important for J.J. to have a woman in the leading role of this trilogy and I think it was a great choice, giving this film a different feel than its predecessors while still preserving the "Star Wars" feel. Then we have Fin, played by John Boyega. Another brilliant, young, black actor who I was very impressed by. Fin, the name given to him by another character, was actually a storm trooper, but with a conscience. He made the decision to not kill for the First Order and goes rogue. In doing so, he meets our third new main character Poe Dameron, played by Oscar Isaac. Poe is the best X-Wing pilot around and is captured by the First Order early on in the film. All three of these characters are likable and have potential for great story arcs throughout the trilogy. What makes it even better is that they are all being helmed by very capable talent who I believe will give it their all. I mean how much luckier can they be, they're in Star Wars movie!

The Force Awakens picks up 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi long since the Empire was defeated. In its place now is the First Order, led by Supreme Leader Snoke. His character was somewhat shrouded in mystery and there will be much more to see of him as the trilogy progresses. One thing I really loved about this movie was that while it maintained its identity, it also served excellently as a starting point for many stories to come. We got some questions answered, but with every answer we got two more questions rose in its place. I was both satisfied with the film and left wanting more at the same time. The great thing is that Rogue One comes out next December and Episode VIII comes out only 5 months after that. No more waiting 3 years between each film! Not that I ever had to, since I wasn't even born when those movies released, but it's a great relief for all fans of every age.

So the big bad of The Force Awakens is the newly introduced character of Kylo Ren, of the Knights of Ren. He is played by Adam Driver and I found him to be a very interesting villain. I will say that I really liked him, but I definitely need to see where his character is taken to really rank him among other great villains. When it comes down to it, Kylo Ren is an extremely powerful basket case. He's a child inside, and struggles between the Light and Dark side more than we ever saw Darth Vader struggle. He wants to be Darth Vader more than anything, which is made obvious through a few great scenes in the film. One of the big surprises in the film is that Kylo Ren is actually the son of Han Solo and Leia, which adds so many layers of complexity to his character and in turn is a good reason to reincorporate these two original characters.

J.J. found a genius balance of the old and the new in terms of the characters. Rey, Fin, Poe, and Kylo felt very fresh and interesting. But I also can't forget the new droid BB-8! Similar to R2-D2 but much more versatile with its base being a sphere. Not only was BB-8 super useful, but it was hilarious too. J.J. has his own form of humor that he sprinkles through The Force Awakens that is very different from the humor Lucas put in the originals. I laughed at all the right times and never felt the humor threw off the serious tones throughout. A lot of the classic characters make appearances, from C3P0, to R2-D2, to Leia and Han Solo, and of course Chewbacca! All used appropriately and didn't feel like they were just tossed in as fan service.

Down to the nitty-gritty. In this 30 year gap, in which we don't know very much about, we find out that Luke Skywalker has been in hiding for years. He began to train potential Jedi before he disappeared but after his apprentice, Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren turns on him, he seems to have given up and left everything behind. Leia and Han's relationship fell apart upon losing their son to the Dark Side. It's also made clear that the Supreme Leader had a big part in Kylo Ren's decision to choose the dark side, but that was also left unanswered fully. It seems to me that this is something that will definitely be answered in a subsequent episode. They way all these characters are brought together is through the search for Luke Skywalker. Poe Dameron acquires a map with Luke's location, but they come to find out that it is only a piece of the puzzle. Fin and Rey get dragged into this when they stumble upon the beat up Millennium Falcon while escaping from the First Order, eventually being tracked down by no one other than Han and Chewie.

I have to take a minute to appreciate two things here. One, the on screen chemistry between Rey and Fin is fantastic and I enjoyed all the scenes in which they were together. Whether it be bickering or narrowly escaping death, they made a great team. I also really admired that fact that Harrison Ford gave this old role his all. Not once during the film do you see Harrison Ford working for a paycheck. What you do see is the same Han Solo we grew to love and hate 30 years ago. The same can’t be said for General Leia though, as Carrie Fisher is not exactly an active actress and her performance wasn't quiet fresh. It didn't take me out of the film very much, but I did notice her performance to be a bit dry, just not on par with her co-stars.

I would be a fool to not point out the elephant in the room, that being the fact that The Force Awakens is eerily similar to A New Hope. There's a Death Star replica, just bigger and badder called the Star Killer. There's a loner on a desert planet who is strong with The Force and meets up with someone from a different walk of life to go on an adventure and learn dastardly secrets with along the way. Princess Leia gave R2-D2 vital secret information the way Poe gave BB-8 the Skywalker map. I can go on and on with the overlap, but this isn't me complaining. J.J. reused many of the plot devices from a fantastic movie in the franchise and gave it his own personal spin. History repeats itself, and I won't sit here and hate on this film because it had similarities from a past movie. So what if it does, the movie was good and it took great inspiration from another fantastic movie. 

J.J. gives the lead roles to a woman and a black man, which is very significant and obviously very different from the white-male dominated original trilogy. And despite Kylo Ren and Darth Vader being somewhat similar in appearance, they ultimately are very different villains. While Vader never visibly struggled with the Light Side of the force the way Kylo Ren did in this film, they make two very different choices that change their characters trajectory’s dramatically. Where Vader decided to save Luke from Palpatine, his last act being a noble one and death being the price for his redemption, Kylo Ren chooses the Dark Side when he kills Han Solo in the third act of the film. Not only was it a tremendous punch to the gut to see Solo die on screen at the hands of his son, but it solidified that Kylo Ren was not to be taken as a joke and that he was far more committed to the Dark Side then presumed. 

Even being stuffed with all these characters, old and new, this story is very much the story of Rey. Fin is great and I loved Poe, but Rey stole the show for me. Daisy Ridley nailed her character and I've fallen for her within the first movie. The Force flows strongly through her and she got a grasp on the ways of the Jedi rather quickly. Something is leading me to believe that she was trained as a child, but had her memories suppressed for some reason. The thought arose when she so easily did a Jedi mind trick on the Storm Trooper. Her apparent skill with the light saber can be written off by the fact that she was clearly skilled with her staff before anything starting going down at the beginning of the film. And this all culminates for me when she finds Luke Skywalker on a deserted island to return his light saber in the final scene of the film. Not only was it surreal to see an aged Luke Skywalker on the big screen, but his absence of dialogue and the look on his face when he sees Rey with his lightsaber only pushed me to believe even further that Rey is his daughter. Now this may be genius misdirection of J.J.'s part, but this is the theory I'm going to stick with until I learn otherwise.

Is Rey Luke's daughter? Who is Snoke? What hand did Snoke have in converting Kylo Ren? Will there be more Storm Troopers who betray the First Order? Will Rey kill Kylo Ren? Will Luke Skywalker ever go one-on-one with Snoke? What happened with Leia, Han, and Luke after Return of the Jedi? Does the force awakens refer to the Light Side of the force awakening within Rey? Will Phasma have a larger role in a later episode? These are only a few of the questions that have tormented me after seeing The Force Awaken once, and God knows I intend on seeing it many more times throughout its theatrical run. I loved the introduction of the new characters and the nostalgia of the old. I love the use of practical effects along with the beautiful use of modern CGI. I love that J.J. was able to recapture the magic and fun of the originals while still bringing new concepts to the table. I applaud him very much and thank him for not giving us too much or too little in the first installment of this new trilogy. I give Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens a 9 out of 10 after my first viewing. 

Edit: After my second viewing, I firmly stand by my score, and might have enjoyed it even more this time around. Star Wars is back baby!