Rating of
3/4
The Force Awakens - Movie Review
Matthew Brady - wrote on 12/22/15
"Chewie, we're home".
The Force Awakens is a continuation of the "Star Wars" saga, balance returns to the Force as the First Order, emerging from the ashes of the Empire, clashes with the Resistance, which includes scrappy newcomers as well as heroes from the former Rebel Alliance.
It's been awhile since we've seen a Star Wars movie hit theaters and the last one wasn't that great. Fans today are still not over what George Lucas did. Then the news came out about a 7th film in one of the biggest and most iconic franchise of all time, but that only made fans more worried. Everyone had doubts over J.J. Abrams directing a new Star Wars movie, because Star Wars is one of the BIGGEST movies ever and fans seriously don't want another Phantom Menace on their hands, but after seeing the movie I can safely say that J.J. Abrams nailed it.
J.J. Abrams broke his back making this movie, I mean taking on a project like this is a big deal. Abrams himself is a fan of the original Star Wars movies and while watching this movie I could tell. He put everything in this movie and it absolutely paid off. I can't imagine anyone else directing this movie and I think it's a perfect idea for a Star Wars fan (like Abrams) to direct the movie, because he knows his roots better than Lucas. Abrams really listened to fans and this isn't the first time a director did that, I mean with J.J. Abrams wanting to make a good Star Wars movie, he wants to get everything nailed down perfectly and the best way he could do that is by listening to what people what. Abrams did fantastic job directing this movie as he added a mix of A New Hope, the old school film making and a little bit of a Star Trek feel to it.
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega play new character's in the Star Wars saga and both of them are unknown stars to some people. Both of them deliver a great performance and their characters were enjoyable to watch. The characters themselves are interesting, you care for them and you have a little glimpse of their back story that makes you want to know more about them. All the characters in the movie are great and I'm talking about the old and new characters.
Now lets talk about the villain 'Kylo Ken' played by Adam Driver. This might honestly be the most fleshed out, human and understandable villain we've had since Vader, now I'm not saying he's the next Vader or he's up up there with Vader, but he is a menacing villain that's quite frightening at times. He's not the type of villain that's just evil or tries to have a clear motivation that's done poorly in other movies, but here (Without spoiling everything) is more than that. He was a great villain and just his presence can make anyone go silent.
I loved the use of the CGI in this movie. Abrams went back to original way of filming things and that's blending the CGI into the background that this universe is set in, and it's execution was beautiful. Now when I think about it, the whole movie is one big "f**k you" to George Lucas and how this movie avoids the things that we hated in the prequels (two of them is the use of CGI and Jar Jar).
To those wondering if Luke Skywalker is in the movie and again without giving much away, yes, he is.
Now for the flaws: A lot of people have said that The Force Awakens is basically a remake of A New Hope and I do agree on that. Some might have no problem with that and that's fine be me, but there were some call backs that felt a bit force (No pun intended).
I already talked about how amazing the visual effect's look, but some effect's were a bit noticeable. I think some of the noticeable effect's were some of the CGI character's. But all that a side, the rest of the effect's was really good.
Overall The Force Awakens is a great Star Wars movie and it feels good saying that. It's way way better than the prequels and Return of the Jedi. It's absolutely worth seeing.
P.S. Here is something for those people who are going to spoil this movie for others. "Those attempting to spoil Star Wars for others, know that it's the most attention you'll likely receive in life". - Quote by Chris Stuckmann
