Review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) by Farth D — 06 Mar 2018

A New Hope for Star Wars.

The copycatting of A New Hope starts the moment the opening crawl starts and we are supposed to accept that the New Republic government is actually the Resistance and in an underdog position to the First Order (who are in fact the real rebels in this case) and continues with a hero on a desert planet (that it is not Tatooine in this case only makes it more obvious to me). Is that a problem? Hell no! Star Wars is back and all is forgiven.

The story may not be super original but it does a good job introducing the new characters and linking them to the old characters in a story that passes the torch of heroism from the old to the new generation. Visuals, sounds, locations, spaceships, creatures and droids are everything you would expect from a Star Wars movie and the new cast makes a strong impression. Are there any doubts? Well, yes. Kylo Ren makes a very good first impression as the new villain but actually becomes weaker as the movie progresses losing to brand new untrained and unguided force user Rey in a mental and later a lightsaber duel. But he seems to have a soft spot for Rey somehow and was just wounded by Chewbacca after killing his father when the lightsaber dual went down, right? Also there must be something we don't know about Rey that explains not so much her sensitivity to the force as her ability to use it, right? We can forget all that for now and just enjoy the ride, answers will be provided further along in the new trilogy. And a good ride it is, even after watching it several times in theaters and at home!

As you've probably guessed I'm writing this review after seeing The Last Jedi, but also after re-watching The Force Awakens after that again and I'm happy to say that I still like it enough to give it 5 stars. I believe it deserves that as a reboot of the Star Wars saga and a first chapter of a new trilogy. In a well thought out trilogy the first chapter needs to leave us with some questions unanswered as a setup for the story lines of the next chapters.