When Disney bought the Star Wars back in 2012, and everything belonging to it (merchandise rights, story rights, the whole circus) and announced brand new trilogy, I was excited. I am a big Star Wars fan (probably not a surprise by now :-)) so I was looking forward to seeing what will they do with that, couldn’t wait to follow somebody else’s story throughout the galaxy far, far away.
I remember the first trailer coming out and some people having issues with black Stormtrooper (I mean, Jesus, what even say to that?) but I was really hyped for the movie. To the point where I actually had to go to see this during the midnight showing, to avoid any potential spoilers coming my way. Oh yeah, I went above and beyond to make sure I’ve enjoyed this. And I have.
Let’s get the main criticism out of the way – it does feel more “new hopey” than the creators probably intended, not just with yet another Death Star (but wait, it’s totally different now, because it’s called Starkiller Base and it’s like really, really big!!) but plenty of other similarities (growing up not knowing who your parents are, by accident running across a robot who’s got important information etc.) Which didn’t bother me, as it still managed to be its own thing. And there is the “issue” about Rey being Mary Sue… I mean, come on people. There are reasons, why she’s as powerful as she is, especially knowing what we know now, just goes to show we sometimes need to let filmmakers finish the story before judging characters.
About Rey, that’s one thing I’ve noticed re-watching this movie for the first time since my midnight cinema experience – everything she does, she doesn’t do perfectly, she kind of tries and pushes her luck on the things she can/can’t do. I wouldn’t call her Mary Sue, as she’s more scared than anything and tries her luck. And yes, most of the time, she succeeds.
I really liked the main trio, I thought Daisy Ridley took this as a champ and delivered really solid performance, I thought John Boyega served well as the reminder of how dangerous First Order really is, while struggling with himself being trained to kill people, but when push comes to the shove, he couldn’t do it, and I thought Oscar Isaac was good. He didn’t really have that much to do (main reason would be him being fake dead for almost an hour of the movie) but he’s got charisma and he seems to be the best pilot in the galaxy (he says this a lot :-))
What I really liked about The Force Awakens was the fact J.J. Abrams focused mainly on practical effects (where he could) and it felt closer to the original trilogy than the prequels, no debate about that. I’ve also liked the mystery about where’s Luke, who Rey is (even though, now knowing what I know…) and I still think Kylo Ren’s lightsword looks pretty cool (even though it’s not as practical and elegant as a lightsaber).
It’s hard to rate this movie on its own, knowing how different the next two films are and where the story ultimately leads, but let me just say this – this movie is great. J.J. did a great job and for a moment, it seemed like he managed to unite most of the Star Wars fandom… Then, The Last Jedi came… but about that tomorrow 😉
For this one, I don’t have to have “an objective” rating, this is all around well made movie with great cast, action pieces and a bit of mystery.
That’s all for this one? What did you think? Did you like the new trilogy, or did you wish the would leave Star Wars alone? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke
