Movie Review: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

It's here. The Force Awakens is here. Just saying that made me realize how incredible it is that we finally have a Star Wars film set after Return of the Jedi. (WARNING) Just a heads up that there will not be HUGE spoliers, but there will be some spoilers as I find the vague interviews don't always capture the spirit of this movie. Star Wars The Force Awakens takes place thirty years after Return of the Jedi. The Galactic Empire has been destroyed and a new sith-like force has taken place called the First Order. The First Order is led by sith lord Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) a Darth Vader wannabe who wants to seize control over the galaxy. One of his stormtroopers is Finn (John Boyega) who after witnessing their violent acts, decides to escape from Ren's leagues clutches. Along the way he meets Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs) a pilot who just so happens to be one of my new favorite series characters, his droid BB-8, and a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley). Eventually Finn, Rey, and BB-8 stowaway on the Milenium Falcon and meet Han Solo (played brilliantly once again by Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). Now going into this movie I was pumped and filled with adrenaline. This was a movie that I had been wanting to see ever since Revenge of the Sith ten years ago. Now we finally got it? Is it good, though? YES! This is the most amazing movie...maybe of 2015? What works in the movie? The first thing that really attracted my attention towards the movie was Abram's direction. When I heard JJ Abrams was going to be directing this film, I was not sure if he would be able to capture what made Star Wars so nostalgic in the first place. He did, and I thought this by far is his best film. He uses long sweeping shots and takes wide angles of the most attractive imagery. The first shot on Jakku with Poe Dameron and Max Von Sydow's character was the best shot in the entire film. The next thing that I loved is the fact that this is a film where you actually care about the characters!!!! I remember seeing Revenge of the Sith a while back and I saw the scene where Palpatine kills Mace Windu. All I thought was: Yeah that's really cool. However, when emotional stuff does go underway, again no spoilers, I thought that the deepness of emotion was so powerful and rich. There are moments where you forget this is a movie. You feel like this is real. That's another thing that works with The Force Awakens is that the movie feels so real. It feels like this stuff has actually gone down and we're just witnessing it for the first time. Also, there is humor in this movie. All I'll say is that it doesn't come off as bad or corny. In fact, it actually sort of helps the storyline move along. Overall, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is a great movie with great scenes, fascinating acting performances from old and new characters, and a great launch into the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Three stars.