Lucasfilm / Disney
After Return of the Jedi opened in 1983, those of us who were there to see it happen thought we’d never see another Star Wars movie after that. But in 1999, George Lucas gifted us with The Phantom Menace and ended a second trilogy in 2005, after which, again, we thought we’d never see another Star Wars movie on the big screen. Just more of Lucas’ tinkering with the films and releasing them as newer special editions every couple of years. But a funny thing happened when Disney suddenly announced out of nowhere that they had purchased Lucasfilm … a new Star Wars movie was in the works! A new trilogy in fact, AND several spin-off films as well. But who would direct the first new Star Wars movie to come along in ten years?
That would be one J.J. Abrams, who resuscitated the Star Trek movie franchise (although his second film in that series is less than revered), and whom Disney believed would be able to breathe new life into Star Wars. And you know what? He did, with nary a lens flare in sight. But let’s get to the story first … and don’t worry, we’ll keep this as spoiler-free as possible.
It’s thirty years after the events of Return of the Jedi and the Galactic Empire has been replaced by the First Order and the Rebel Alliance is now the Resistance. Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) has been entrusted with a very important piece of information — a map containing the whereabout of Luke Skywalker, who seems to have gone completely off the grid. As the First Order descends on the planet of Jakku, Poe gives the sort of flash drive to his trusty droid BB-8, tasking it with getting the information to the Resistance.
Lucasfilm / Disney
The film is basically a “Where’s Luke?” story with new and old characters fighting to retrieve this significant piece of information. Among the new characters are First Order Stormtrooper-turned-traitor FN-2187 (John Boyega), dubbed Finn by Dameron, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger who has quite a few tricks up her sleeve, General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), a ruthless First Order officer, Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), a silver-plated stormtrooper commander, Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), owner of a cantina and keeper of some special artifacts, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), commander of the First Order who has been seduced by Snoke and the Dark Side of the Force. Look closely and you’ll also glimpse Billie Lorde, Carrie Fisher’s daughter, in a small role, as well as Abrams’ pal Greg Grunberg as a Resistance X-Wing pilot.
Of course, there are also the familiar faces as well: Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia (Carrie Fisher), more commonly known as General Organa these days, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). We even get to see Admiral Ackbar and Nien Nunb at the Resistance base!
Watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens was like being transported back to 1977 when the original movie first opened. Abrams got everything right as far as the look and feel of the movie. Yes, of course there is a ton of CGI, but it’s seamless, and Abrams insisted on doing a lot of the effects work as practically as possible so it didn’t just feel like a CGI animated movie. The environments and everything within them feel completely realistic.
Abrams also kept to the classic opening shot after the title crawl, panning down to a planet which is then completely obliterated from sight by a massive star destroyer, all accompanied to John Williams’ thrilling new score which manages to weave in some classic themes throughout the film. But, while we’re used to seeing C-3PO and R2-D2 at the start of the film, we’re quickly introduced to the new characters in the story. Abrams wisely spreads the nostalgia throughout the movie instead of just packing everyone into one scene. Han and Chewie, though, are the real anchors of the movie, with Leia a close second. This is really is their story because of a connection to one of the new characters. Even after all these years, the banter between Han and Chewie is still as amusing as ever.
Lucasfilm / Disney
Abrams has also done a great job of casting the new characters. While we really don’t get to know too much about Poe, except that he’s the best pilot in the galaxy (but someone else might give him a run for his money), Oscar Isaac does a fine job with what he’s given to do. John Boyega is really good as the ex-stormtrooper on the run, who just wants to get as far away from the First Order as possible, but keeps getting sucked back into this quest to find Skywalker and the Resistance (and, I really liked the way Finn and Rey assumed Luke, Han and Leia were just some mythical legends until they started meeting them in the flesh). Daisy Ridley probably gets even more screen time than Boyega, and you have to take her character with a grain of salt. Rey seems to be a homeless scavenger, waiting for her family to return to Jakku (although deep down she knows they never will), living off of the parts taken from downed Star Destroyers. She somehow also seems to know how to pilot the Millennium Falcon, which has been sitting in a junk yard for years. It’s never explained how she’s acquired all of the mechanical and technical skills she has, but if you start asking a lot of questions, not much of it is going to make sense so just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Lucasfilm / Disney
Adam Driver certainly has the most interesting role of the new characters, Kylo Ren. Masked for most of the movie, with some cool digital distortion applied to his voice while in the Darth Vader-esque mask, Driver puts the doltish screen persona he’s had up to this point far behind him to portray someone who is almost pure evil. There is hope that he hasn’t completely been consumed by the Dark Side, but in one key moment he will become the most despised character in Star Wars canon. The question is, will he be consumed completely or find redemption by the end of the trilogy? Ren is a cool new character, and Driver is very good, especially when he’s not masked, but I’m still not recovered from what Ren does.
Lucasfilm / Disney
When the original Star Wars came out, no one knew if there would be a sequel, so the story is pretty self-contained with a beginning, middle and end. With The Force Awakens, we know there will be more to come so it ends on a major, major cliffhanger of a moment (which also explains why Luke is not in any of the trailers). So, while the new movie is everything any Star Wars fan could want from the movie, you may feel a little more shell-shocked than elated when the credits roll. That’s certainly not a bad thing because at least Abrams has left us wanting more. All we can ask is that he, Disney and Lucasfilm maintain the quality and not let things go off the rails while focusing not only on the trilogy but the off-shoots as well. For now, everyone has given us an immensely satisfying movie that will thrill the new fans and bring back those feelings us oldsters had when we saw the first movie. You can’t ask for anything more than that.
Share this post
