Review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) by Toffenuff — 09 Feb 2016

Not as amazing as I expected it to be, but still good and entertaining. Both a strength and weakness is in how heavily it relies on callbacks to the previous films, particularly Episode IV: A New Hope, which it closely mimics in terms of major plot points and even imagery. The fight scenes are better than I thought they would be, which is great since I'm big into action. The special effects, of course, are lightyears beyond what Lucasarts did with the original trilogy, making the whole thing more believable and immersive.

The biggest strength is undoubtedly the excellent performances of the new characters, in particular Oscar Isaac's Po and Daisy Ridley's Rey. I will admit that I was the least impressed with Boyega's portrayal of Finn. Maybe it is the way the character is written, but it simply did not seem right to me. BB-8 is of course the adorable little robot that everybody wants to have nowadays, and had a number of fun moments.

There are more than a few plot holes, questionable actions by characters, and seemingly dumb plot points that, as a long-time Star Wars fan, I am ready to forgive simply because the overall package was still a good enough beginning to the next saga of Star Wars.