Review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) by Shayan S — 03 Dec 2017

Oh man...well, here it is. After a controversial turn for George Lucas to give Lucasfilm to Disney and retire from Star Wars back in 2013, three years of anticipation from director J.J Abrams to direct the next film, the eventually overhype expectations fans created, and being received as months passed by with disgust and negativity from fans, we have the CANONIC episode of Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens. And I gotta say, this film gets...quite the reputation around the internet, and I don't mean this in a good or agreeing way. And look don't' worry, i'm not gonna spend this review explaining why people are wrong and how amazing this movie was and how you're stupid for thinking that. If you don't like Force Awakens it's fine, especially if you feel there's legitimate issues with it. I just only have issues when people try to act as if this 'insulted' them as a fan of movies or Star Wars. Which i've seen people rate it as and it...honestly baffles me to be honest. But anywho back on topic, now what are my thoughts on the film still you might ask? Well, they're still pretty positive. Though they've changed since watching it back in December in 2015.

So here's a fun fact about my experience for Force Awakens: This was gonna be my first time watching a Star Wars film in cinemas, and for opening day I went with a friend to a packed theater at midnight, and honestly it was one of the most fun theater experiences I ever got to feel as a fan. Now onto the film, so like I mentioned before when I saw this film initially my reaction was heavily positive (even tempting enough to give it a 9). I described it being "...very entertaining from start to finish....and I know many people will be disappointed by this film and will be, sadly, nitpicked to death because of this one major issue I had (which was about how it felt like a rehash of the original trilogy), but in the end I had a good experience for this film. It was a great film with a lot flaws." Now after re-watching the film I can say my thoughts since haven't, really changed much since. It's still an incredibly entertaining and solid soft reboot to Star Wars that I think now lets me see the flaws i've had with it that aren't just regurgitated opinions everyone has said about 40,000 times.

Despite having it's flaws like a really fast pace (that I feel keeps the film from expanding its new characters properly), a story that while I won't say really feels like a rehash I think just needed some more tweaking if anything to make it feel more like a continuation than making it a bit of a retread (I.E: Starkiller Base) and wished it went from what Michael Arndt came up with for the film before Abrams and Kasdan came in, likable new characters that unfortunately don't always benefit from the films super fast pace and as a result create some flaws in their arcs (from both Rey, Finn, and Poe), and some editing, some original trilogy references, and the context of this universe not being done well, I can't say it is enough to break the film for me. Because to me, Force Awakens felt like Return of the Jedi, done properly. And I mean this as a good thing. It's simple but well done soft reboot small scale story is well executed and competent in its own right, the new characters are incredibly likable (especially Kylo Ren), the original trilogy characters are given something to do and their impact on the story is actually meaningful and not forced, J.J's action sequences being so well executed that it's not only just a lot of fun but serve to not slow the film down, the well done underappreciated new ideas to this sequel trilogy (I.E: What the original cast has been up to, the outline of the story, Kylo's force abilities, etc.), and a solid John Williams soundtrack while somewhat weak on its own but good with Force Awakens. Now look, Force Awakens isn't perfect, and it's not the best Star Wars film either. But it is certainly a competent soft reboot film that I feel stands well as a film and to continue and soft reboot Star Wars. I understand where a lot of people come from with their complaints, and they have every right to critique it as a soft reboot. But to me, this film did its job well and I personally must commemorate J.J Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and even Disney for AT LEAST trying. Because if they keep this up with Last Jedi, and make this sequel trilogy truly stand well on it's own and do it's own thing, then i'll be satisfied. It's a well done start, but obviously not without its flaws.