Bringing back Star Wars !!!

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2017)

There is a moment towards the middle of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' when Han Solo says the following to Rey and Finn - "It's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true." - that particular line of dialogue to me completely and very clearly established and underlines the motive and the intent of JJ Abrams and Disney as a whole behind their collective approach in restarting the Star Wars Saga. Since the souring of the mood and the spirits of the diehard Star Wars fans triggered by the prequels, there had been a prolonged gap. The basic idea of 'The Force Awakens' is to end that gap by reaffirming the myths, the legends and the magic of Star Wars and reassure the fanbase with a film that symbolises the phrase - 'Star Wars(in its original form) is back !!!'

To me this idea of reaffirming the legend of 'Star Wars' has two repercussions which are very noticeable in the film. On one hand, certain elements that make the original trilogy wondrous like the joy and innocence of fantasies and adventures, Han Solo's charisma, etc. On the other hand, it also brings along with it the elements that have always prevented me from fully embracing Star Wars which are surface level storytelling, hokey and over-expressive dialogue,etc. Another problem with the film is that in trying to deliver on 'fan service', the film doubles down and flirts with the prospect of being a little over-abundant on references and moments that pay explicit homage to the original trilogy as well as overall narrative throughlines that again blatantly mirror a number of the occurrences in previous films in the series.

However what prevents the film from becoming an excuse in nostalgia porn is the characters. The new characters especially Rey and Finn were very likeable and they seem like individuals that I as a viewer would like to accompany in future adventures and spend time with. I mentioned earlier how 'Force Awakens' reaffirms the myths of Star Wars. Through Daisy Ridley's 'Rey', the film goes one step forward by hinting at powers and abilities which are unprecedented and almost incomprehensible(to Rey herself), the sources of which will probably be elaborated upon in the sequels. Harrison Ford manages to embody the swashbuckling Han Solo once again after all these years and it feels like older version of the exact same character from the original trilogy with the same charisma and sarcasm. Kylo Ren seemed interesting enough.

In an nutshell the film embodies certain elements that I have never completely been in tune with which are inherent to the concept of Star Wars itself. But having said that, with the basic energy and the exciting new characters, JJ Abrams managed to make me not only care about about this film, but also curious about what's to come next.