‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Review

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (8.5 out of 10) Directed by J.J. Abrams, Written by J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt; Starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley, Gwendoline Christie, Max Von Sydow, Andy Serkis; Rated PG-13 for “sci-fi action violence;” 135 min; Wide Release Dec 18, 2015.

What can one say about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens?” 

It’s the sequel to “Return of the Jedi” and it shows us a galaxy that we weren’t expecting at all. At the end of “Jedi,” we all assumed that the galaxy was due for its happily ever after. After decades of strife and war, from the blockade of Naboo to the destruction of the second Death Star, there were few in the galaxy the war hadn’t touched and they all deserved a respite.

But “The Force Awakens” shows that they never quite got it. Or, rather, they did. But it was a temporary truce with the constant war in the galaxy.

And that galaxy had other plans for everyone. 

It’s a story that will seem as familiar as it does foreign. It is measured equally in action and humor, tragedy and suspense. Abrams and Kasdan offer us a story that plays so well into the cycle of “Star Wars” movies that it will take us until the end of the decade and the release of “Episode IX” to see just how clever things were laid out. But that’s one of the things about this movie different than the rest of the “Star Wars” saga. “The Phantom Menace” and “A New Hope,” both the opening installments of a trilogy, and felt like much more complete, standalone films. “The Force Awakens” ends on an ellipses that demands we tune in next time.

Is that a mistake? I won’t know until Rian Johnson’s film comes out.

But this film certainly begs more questions than it answers, which I don’t find to be a bad thing.

As far as the filmmaking, Abrams proves a deft hand as direction. Everything about the film feels modern. Where the classic trilogy felt contemporary for the 70s and 80s, and the acting in the prequels felt contemporary to the filmmaking of old Hollywood, this film feels modern. It’s a great choice that lets us feel like a lot of time has passed between installments. This particularly holds true for John Boyega as Finn, who just works in this film. He’s funny, he’s got that urgency to him we’ve come to love in the trailers, and he’s just someone we want to root for. Oscar Isaac, too, knows exactly what he’s doing to bring about the vibe of “new Han Solo.” Harrison Ford himself seems more comfortable on the screen than we’ve seen him in a long time and he provides us some of the best moments of Han Solo we’ve ever had. Daisy Ridley is also a charming dream and Adam Driver is perhaps the most intimidating villain we’ve seen in “Star Wars,” mainly because we have no idea just what he might do next.

As for the editing, though, this is where Abrams could have used some more lessons from George Lucas. His job here on “The Force Awakens” is completely competent and the movie is great, but no one–no one–puts together a multi-story climax sequence together with more gusto or sure-handedness than George Lucas. In fact, my only complaint about this film at this point is in the editing. Compared to the other six “Star Wars” films, the editing isn’t as exhilarating and sure. Abrams doesn’t quite explain enough context to let us have the stakes be raised to the point we as an audience would have liked, There were characters that needed more build-up and situations and events that seemed like they should have had a larger reaction, but we weren’t quite able to get there. “Return of the Jedi” and “The Phantom Menace” are the movies that probably pieced out the endings the best between all the situations and “The Force Awakens” almost reaches those heights.

Lucas was also able to make the political machinations feel much larger and easier to understand. He was able to contextualize them in a way that we could easily digest and helped raise the stakes on the rest of the story. Abrams, again, is almost that good. But not quite.

One thing I did love was how this film carried on those small threads that weave the different eras of “Star Wars” together. It didn’t pay undue attention to the original trilogy and it paid just enough homage to the prequel trilogy. The story matches the cyclical feeling of the rest of the saga and at the same time introduced new themes that matched the old. This is still a story about heroes trying to turn away from their journey, about families, about doing what is right when it might be the most difficult thing in the world. 

We’ll have a more in-depth review over the weekend, but these are just my scattered, initial thoughts. 

Overall, I feel like this film is a promising start to a new era of “Star Wars.” It was an emotional experience and I can’t stress enough how you shouldn’t spoil this for people. It is something that needs to be seen and experienced. Abrams did good work in a thankless job.

At this moment, I’m going to give it an 8.5, but I fully reserve the right to revise that in future reviews. It’s not my favorite Star Wars film, but it’s not my least favorite either. But who am I kidding? I don’t have a least favorite. We’ll see how I feel on Sunday, after having seen it half a dozen times, if I can still say, “My favorite “Star Wars” movie is the one I’m watching.”

For more in-depth analysis, watch this space and listen to the Full of Sith podcast.