The review is so free of spoilers as possible.
Must Force be with us all! There were long thought was impossible has now become reality! Star Wars is back on the big screen, and with Disney in ownership is set for a new series of films in the coming five to six years.
The pressure has not exactly been little in director JJ Abrams and his team. Precursor trilogy is not exactly known in retrospect to be film history’s best, and a new movie will not only supply the good old Star Wars feeling but also be the start of a new trilogy. It is also a fact that no matter how well you try to satisfy all requirements, there will always be some old (or new) fans who would shout out their dissatisfaction and stomp home in protest.
All fans can once do not let them meet. But with twenty years as Star Wars enthusiast on your butt can at least this tab breathe a sigh of relief and ascertain the following: There is no need to rename the director’s name to Jar Jar Abrams, Star Wars is back in top form.
I mean, this is a movie where we get everything we almost could dream of: A new evil force advancing. Breathless scenes in the air with spaceship racer and fight each other. A journey to new and unfamiliar places. A reunion with old, scruffy heroes. A meeting with new races and scary beasts. But perhaps most important of all: We get to know a new group of heroes and villains who all put their mark on us and this is the gang that takes us on an exciting new adventure in the galaxy far, far away.
We are thrown right into a story that takes place thirty years after Return of the Jedi and the Battle of Endor. Empire has fallen and a new republic has been created, but in the wake of the old empire has a new evil superpower step forward. Now The First Order at full advancing through the galaxy, and a stunned Republic can not do much else than to muster a resistance movement who do their best to defend their freedom.
Our journey starts over the barren desert planet Jakku, where the great battle between the rebels and the Empire stood one year after Endor, and this is where we first get to know our new heroes and villains. We meet Finn, a storm trooper in the First Order; Poe, one flown skilled pilot for the resistance movement; and Rey, a lonely vrakplyndrer left to themselves on Jakku. On the other side of the conflict, we meet figures such as the ambitious general Hux, the enigmatic Captain phasma and not least the mysterious Kylo Ren, a cloaked man with a mask and a rugged, unrefined lightsaber.
The gallery is in itself even good enough reason to sit back and enjoy themselves with The Force Awakens. The reunion with old heroes are of course fun, and it’s fun to see how some shapes have changed after thirty years have passed and their worldview has been changed. But there is still the new heroes who really dominates. In particular, the duo Finn (played by John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) is cited as one of the film’s single largest peak. Here are two actors that really complement their roles well, but in addition really seem to have a great time on the set. Compared with the rigid play that often characterized Episode I-III, this is a joy to witness.
But the villain since there is much to gain, and here comes a no escaping Kylo Ren. Without revealing anything I would say that Kylo works very well as an enemy figure in the Star Wars universe, but in a totally different plan than what one might think initially. More can be said, but not in the public domain (for when we destroy after all for those who have not seen the movie, and we do not want).
Though some will disagree, I will assert that film greatest strength is its ability to ask more questions than it answers. We are introduced to many new characters, places and concepts. We have no idea at all times that here hides more behind the scenes than we can take part in the here and now, and by the film’s end, there are still many unanswered questions. This creates a new curiosity around the Star Wars universe. We are excited to learn more, and we are eager to throw us deeper into the new reality we are introduced to. This is the film’s clear strength, a strength that is equal to the world got to taste with A New Hope. In many ways you could say that The Force Awakens is a kind of A New Hope 2.0. We get an independent film, while we introduced for the start of something new and large. In an era where many old film and series concepts from the 80s and 90s are revived again, this is by no means anything for granted. Movies like Jurassic World and Terminator Genisys shows how new movies based on old concepts are struggling to find their own identity. The Force Awakens manages luckily to avoid similar problems, and some of the reason is probably the film’s ability to open up to a larger universe than that it alone is able to answer.
If anything should be highlighted as an objection against the film, so it must be that the film did not dare to stand enough on its own feet. The film certainly does a good job of balancing the old against the new, and it is reassuring to see that the film manages to honoring the source material while it manages to tell a new story. I still wish that both the film and the director had more faith in themselves and dare to do more of the latter. The Force Awakens feels like saying that a kind of A New Hope 2.0, but this is thus both good and bad. The same can be said about music. John Williams is still king of Star Wars, but mostly plowing he known mark rather than to explore a new and unfamiliar terrain. Fortunately, there are some memorable tracks also in this soundtrack, where Rey’s Theme perhaps excels the most.
Some characters should also gained proved more forward than they do. Here it is of course possible that there’s more to come in the upcoming films, but characters like Captain phasma should certainly have been allowed to make more out of them in this movie than they do. We can certainly hope for more time and the next films, but a little more even now had not damaged.
The drop for the film has been great, but director JJ Abrams has tackled the challenge masterfully. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens we see the start of a new and great adventure, and it all bodes well for Star Wars future. The power is definitely revived, and it is strong in The Force Awakens.
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