The Force Awakens With A New Star Wars
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is the seventh film in the Star Wars film franchise and the first to hit theaters in a decade as it tries to restore order to the Star Wars galaxy. The film focuses on two new characters, a tomboyish mechanic pilot named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and an ex-Stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega). The film starts with a hot shot pilot, Poe Dameron, (Oscar Isaac) and his droid BB-8. He sends away the droid with a vital map before he's captured. Poe then meets Finn, who decides to turn against the First Order and being a storrmtrooper. Finn helps him escape but they get separated. Later Finn teams up with Rey, who now has BB-8. Their mission is to find the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
The Force Awakens doesn’t have the magic of the original films. In fact, it seems more like a reboot of A New Hope. The most original part of the movie is that the “Original” cast is back.
The Force Awakens begins the same way A New Hope did. A wannabe Vader, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) has turned to the Dark Side and is looking for secret plans that have been hidden in a small droid. This Dark Jedi also has a father/son relationship within the Skywalker family. The droid, this time it’s BB-8 escapes the ship to another sandy desert planet. This is where the droid finds Rey, like Luke, she is a young pilot who is starting to learn the ways of the Force and join the Resistance/Republic. There is another cantina/bar scene where Finn looks to find a ship and get passage off the planet.
There is a bigger badder Death Star 3.0 where again they must find its weakness and blow it up. Kylo Ren answers to the First Order’s Supreme Leader (Evil Emperor) Snoke, CG performed by Andy Serkis, who looks like an ancient holographic Gollum. There’s another tractor beam that catches the Millennium Falcon and again they need to find a way to turn off the tractor beam and get back to the Falcon which leads to an older Han Solo (Harrison Ford), having an Obi-Wan Kenobi scene in the end of the film.
At times, I felt “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” and I've seen this movie before as the story is a rehash of the original film. However it’s still a lot of fun. Most of the new characters are entertaining but Kylo Ren is a weak villain. The original cast is back and it’s wonderful to see Han Solo, Leia, now a rebel General (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) interact again.
Of course, it has a lot of action and lightsaber battles. Rey had practiced with a martial arts bo and has the Force on her side, it seems strange that Finn is able to pick up the weapon and fight so well.
Unlike The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, this movie still has enough action and fun to make me do what I did with the original Star Wars movies, go back and see it again.
Jim McLernon