As we all know, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the latest cinematic chapter in the Star Wars saga. After the three classic original films we had the prequels which were to me three of the worst movies ever made. And of course there was the literary world of the EU which ran the gamut from good to appalling in quality, the video games, toys, merchandise and so forth. It was against this backdrop that Disney bought Lucasfilm with the intent of moving the Star Wars franchise back into active status. And after a long and in spots controversial process the end product is now in theatres.
So, how is it?
The Plot
The story is interesting in that it is both simple but there is depth in the right places. It also knows well what to explain and what can be left to the imagination. As a result, it is focused and not difficult to follow. As reviews in the media have said it resembles the plot for the Original Star Wars but only in more general terms – it is far from a copy/remake.
It is in this plot that one can see the results of a decision made by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy that instantly perked up the Star Wars fan community; bringing in Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark) to both co-author the script and make sure the end product had the correct plot threads and elements to be “Star Wars”. All of the plot elements in the film fit perfectly into the Star Wars “canon”, the characters and their dialogue are right and so forth.
Part of the plot of course is the characters and how they are drawn. And they are overall drawn well. Some characters that people expected to get more time were only there briefly (Captain Phasma, Poe Dameron). This was part of keeping the story focused on three of the new characters (Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren) plus Han Solo. Leia and other OT characters were present but more background. And like I said, they were sufficiently well drawn to let the actors really inhabit the characters which leads to…
The Acting
The acting was definitely a cut above what one would have expected and indeed compared to the flat, lifeless performances in the prequels it was a breath of fresh air. Harrison Ford gave a great performance as Han Solo – for the first time in years he felt like he really cared about a part and wasn’t just going through the motions. Daisy Ridley as Ren was impressive in both action and in inhabiting her character, who turned out to be more complex than originally let on. Likewise John Boyega was superb as ex-Stormtrooper Finn with guilt conflicting with determination. That brings me to what to me was the shock of the film – Adam Driver was amazing as Kylo Ren. It was a layered performance capturing not just evil but also lack of control and a burgeoning inferiority complex and inner conflict. Actually a VERY different character than Darth Vader was.
Pacing and Other Elements
This is where directing comes in and indeed another surprise. This movie does not feel like a JJ Abrams film at all. It’s tone, feel and pace are all very much like Original Trilogy Star Wars with the only real difference being the pace is a bit faster. This extends even to the fight choreography on the two lightsaber duels. The lightsaber duels in the prequels felt emotionless and were almost like dance numbers. Not these.
These duels were heavy with intensity and emotion and both combatants were just whaling on each other. If I could compare these to any other duels in Star Wars it would be the last part of the Luke-Vader duel in Return of the Jedi where Luke explodes and just hammers Vader into submission.
Also, the tone of the film is very correct for Star Wars. The background tone is adventurous but parts of the film have the needed humor, horror and indeed one moment in particular abruptly goes from tender to wrenching (Han Solo’s death at the hands of Kylo Ren). One added element is a couple of parts felt a bit like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Visuals
This is Star Wars after all. The first notable thing is it looks correct for Star Wars Original Trilogy. Practical effects were used everywhere possible and shooting was on location as opposed to in studios. It shows. The film looks GREAT and as a result the feel of it is very Star Wars too.
Part of this is that everything has that “lived in and beat up” look that Star Wars made famous. It was well executed.
Overall
I have to give this effort high marks. It fully succeeds as a Star Wars film and indeed atones for the prequels (in part by literally ignoring them; nothing in this film refers in any way to the Prequels) fully by giving us a quality Star Wars film. I had a great time with it.
I should point out that there are a couple of places where it could have been improved. One is that there are two places where it does run a little long and with them trimmed the film could have been ten minutes shorter. But that was not a biggie. The other is that the "big baddie" (Snope) was so briefly visited we barely know him. I would have liked to get a bit more time with him - but I guess that is for Episode VIII .