“These are your first steps…”
— Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It took ten years for that iconic yellow title to light up the big screen again.
In 2015, Disney released Episode VII of the Star Wars saga—Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams. The film grossed over $2 billion worldwide and changed the lives of stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver forever.
Now that the sequel trilogy is complete and the saga has ended (once again), it’s worth going back and revisiting the film that picked up where Luke Skywalker left off.
Like Episode IV did in 1977, Episode VII begins with blaster fire and something mysterious hidden in a cute round droid. From there we’re introduced to our new heroes and villains in a whirlwind of lightning-fast pacing. Each are reminiscent of Star Wars characters we already know and love, but they have twists to them. Poe, Finn, and Rey are a lot like Han, Luke, and Leia respectively. Kylo Ren’s character marries the childish anger of Anakin with the gravity of Darth Vader.
The actors have a chemistry that makes their characters’ near immediate loyalty to each other believable. New characters greet old ones with the wide-eyed respect that one would expect when meeting a legend. We see an older Han and Leia, with priorities different from what we know from their younger selves, but still true to form.
It’s the Resistance versus the First Order now instead of the Rebels rising to fight the Empire. Again, a huge new planet-killing threat (definitely no moon; it’s a space station) points its laser toward anyone who defies it. Again, an angry masked man in black commands a legion of white-clad Stormtroopers and bows to a hologram of his overlord.
We’ve seen this before. But we haven’t seen it done this way. The parallels are obvious, but the film gives a fresh coat of paint to a franchise decades old with new characters and a new story. It sets up the next two films with lots of questions to answer: Who are Rey’s parents? Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? Will Kylo remain in the Darkness, or follow the call to the Light? How is Rey so powerful with no training? Will Finn learn to use a lightsaber? Will Luke train Rey to become the next in a long line of Jedi?
There was nothing that surprised me about The Force Awakens. This isn’t always a bad thing. I found myself at the edge of my seat anyway.
Visually, Star Wars has never looked this good. They made puppets out of many creatures in a callback to the 70’s, but the CGI was stunning when they used that instead. Fights looked just as striking on the ground as they did in the air or up in space. Even background characters wore gorgeous costumes, and the props resembled ones right out of the original trilogy.
The film ends with Rey’s hand outstretched. Our villains have suffered a major defeat but are strong enough to bounce back. The future looks muddy. It’s a great set up for the next two films.
Dark Side Reviews 