An Awakening of the Star Wars Franchise

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2016)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the seventh entry in the Star Wars franchise. The Force Awakens is directed by J.J. Abrams, and stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Mark Hamill, and a lot more people. The Force Awakens as I said is the continuation of the Star Wars saga, where a new menace is facing the galaxy, and only our old heroes with the help of some new ones can stop them from conquering the galaxy.
If you are like me you would know the huge amount of hype around this movie, everyone and I mean everyone was excited to see this movie. I remember watching the very first teaser trailer on Thanksgiving with my brother and being overwhelmed with pure excitement for the release of this movie, and wondering what Abrams was going to do with Star Wars. My excitement only grew as new trailers were released and the release date got closer. I went to see this movie with my two younger brother, on the opening day, and being blown away by this movie.
This movie showed me why I love Star Wars, when George Lucas made Star Wars back in the 70's, I don't think he knew what kind of cultural phenomenon he was creating. What I love about Star Wars is that there are an infinite amount of possibilities of things you can do in the Star Wars universe. What Abrams did with this movie was recapture that feeling of infinite possibilities within this universe. How he was able to recapture the feeling of the original trilogy, and put to shame the prequel trilogy. Know I know most people don't like the prequels, and I am one of them, but I don't think that they are that bad. But what Lucas failed to do in those films was to recapture the feel of the originals films, and he made them feel fake and artificial.
What I love most about The Force Awakens was its characters, new comers Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren are greatly written and well realized characters. They bring new depth to the Star Wars universe and set up very interesting characters. The old comers Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are also well written, but other than Han Solo and Chewbacca the other original cast members don't get enough screen time. Some other new characters like Supreme Leader Snoke, Captain Phasma, Maz Kanata, and General Hux also have limited screen time, and I hope that in the next two episodes they get more screen time and character development.
Another good thing about the movie is the action scenes. Abrams is a really good director of action, as shown in Mission: Impossible III and the Star Trek movies, and he directs and shows the action very well. The light saber fight at the end of the movie is well handled and not giant and bloated, like the prequel era light saber fights. The aerial dogfights are also very well visualized, and very entertaining to watch. Another thing that deserves praise is the use of practical affects, the prequels are known for using mass amounts of CGI, and this movie knows how to use CGI as a tool and fill everything else in with practical affects, which really warmed my heart. Because I love when big blockbusters are reliant on practical affects and not CGI.
Negatives with the movie was as I said before were some of the characters who get pushed to the back and aren't given much screen time. But this could be fixed in the future installments in the franchise. Also the big super weapon in the movie, Starkiller Base was just another Death Star, and I thought that maybe Abrams and Kasdan could have come up with something better. Other than that it's just small nit-picks here and there.
Over all Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a fun enjoyable movie, with great characters, great direction, great action scenes, some not well realized characters, and a kind of cliché super weapon, and left me with pure excitement for the next two movies. I give Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens an A.