Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Disney spent big, $4.5billion big in fact, add to that the budget of The Force Awakens, this latest Star Wars outing had a pretty substantial number hovering above it, so it’s a credit to JJ Abrams that he even took this on.

                The Force Awakens set roughly 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, focuses on the disappearance of Luke Skywalker, who has gone into hiding. The void left by the collapse of the Empire is filled by the new evil-no-gooders The First Order. The Resistance (essentially the Rebels from the original trilogy) are led by former princess, now general, Leia Organa. Both sides seek to find a map that leads to the location of Luke.
                The premise for the film is essentially the exact same as the original Star Wars, there’s good and evil, a bad guy who wears a mask, a droid with secret plans who finds a noble young helper on a sandy planet, and of course there’s an heroic attack on a giant space station. What really works for the film though is how well it executes this formula, and adds something to it for films further on in the saga.

                Probably the films greatest strength is its new additions, Rey who is a young woman who discovers the plans on the droid unit (the adorable BB-8) is an intriguing character who is smart and courageous and also really inventive, and she embodies a lot of the spirit of the Leia character only she seems to be leading the pack rather than assisting. Oscar Issac’s Poe Dameron is really enjoyable and charismatic, used sparingly in the film his cocksure nature and personality feel strong enough to take up the Han Solo mantel. Then there’s John Boyega

’s Finn, a Stormtrooper whose conscience leads him to desert the First Order, he’s sort of an affable clown, heroic but feckless, Boyega is brilliant at the comedy and his performance definitely makes this the funniest Star Wars outing yet. Over in the villainous corner are some great new additions also, Domhnall Gleeson caps of a brilliant year as the snarling General Hux, think of him as Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin only better and given much more to do, including a spine tingling speech to his troops. Then there is Kylo Ren. There’s the obvious Darth Vader comparison, he’s an evil Sith lord who wears a black mask and wields a red lightsaber, however what separates him from Vader is the depth the character is given. Whereas Darth Vader was a disembodied voice coming out of a big black plastic head, Kylo Ren feels like a petulant child whose prone to tantrums, he feels he is more powerful than he really is, and in the same way Luke resisted the dark side, Kylo Ren fights the lure of the light, he’s a great creation helped by Adam Driver’s brilliant performance.
                Abrams has essentially done everything he had to do, reset the franchise after the disaster of the prequels and make sure the film took a heap load of money. Yes it doesn’t feel very original, even within its own universe, and there does feel like some missteps, but what The Force Awakens has done is put the franchise back into a good position to move forward with. It makes new fans of 8 year olds and makes old fans feel 8 years old, and with it smashing all sorts of box office records it won’t be long before that $4.5billion feels like a drop in the ocean. (High 4 Stars)