Star Wars... Just go and watch it already!!

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2015)

As you can expect, from the trailers shown, this movie looks amazing! JJ Abrams, like he did with Star Trek, does a great job making a film that star wars fans can enjoy whilst also making it relevant and interesting for people who do not know the history of Star Wars. This is one of the best films in the franchise. Fans may have been worried that, after a long time away from the big screen, we were going to get another Phantom Menace. This is NOT the case!! Overall this is a very entertaining movie to watch and I'm confident that this will break the 2 Billion mark, watch out Avatar!
The cast in this film are great and I did not find any performances from the actors/actresses annoying, whiny or emotionless. All of the old cast, unsurprisingly, were wonderful. A special mention to Harrison Ford as he really played Hans Solo well and worked very well of the old and new cast. The new cast were out of this world! (Sorry I couldn't help it!) Pardon the pun. Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhall Gleeson, Andy Sirkis, Lupita Nyong'o & Gwendoline Christie have all proved they can act, whether it's the small screen or big screen, and they don't disappoint here. However the only actors whose faces are shown during the movie is Adam Driver and Domhall Gleeson, so keep an ear out for the rest. I had high expectations for John Boyega as Finn. I've seen this guy in Attack the Block and it's obvious that he has a lot of talent and potential. Knowing that he landed a major role in Star Wars, gave me reassurances that his potential will not be wasted. John brings a level of realism and empathy to a role, he makes you feel his pain and understand his motivation. Watching this movie will make you root for the storm trooper, something which you won't really consider to do before this film. Johns' performance will silence his critics (racists). My personal favourite was Daisy Ridley (Keira Knightley Lookalike anyone?) as Rey, she did a great job of not only making an iconic female character but one of the best characters in Star Wars universe and movie history as well. Her character is a mixture of Hans Solo, Luke and Leia, she is a badass but also lost, she is brave but also scared, small but powerful. Daisey should be very proud of her first major film and I look forward to see her perform in future films. The cast should be happy; they all did an admirable job.
The plot for this film was not shown in the trailers prior to its release. I am grateful to the marketing people and JJ Abrams for not falling into common practise. Not knowing the plot made the twists and reveals all the more exciting and shocking. I recommend going in to watch this movie without reading any plot details as I feel it will reduce your enjoyment. I will not reveal any plot details in my review; they do add a lot more comedy to the story than I thought they could. The pacing of the movie is quick and this makes sense with the story that they're trying to tell. It seems to go form one set piece to another, which is amazing to see. The comedy feels organic and not forced for the sake of a quick laugh. The movie is a classic story with a fresh/modern interpretation but it is not near as revolutionary as A New Hope. The dialogue is a lot better than all the previous movies and it's because George Lucas was not on the writing team. However the story is similar to Episodes 4-6, but personally that's what it want because it works so well. If I was being harsh then I would say the story could have been better and more original, but I don't want to be harsh to a great movie, which this is.
The action and set pieces in this movie are done on a very large scale. With the biggest franchise, do we really expect anything else? The re-use of practical work with CGI help is done extremely well, not as well as Mad Max Fury Road, but that is the most visually stunning movie of the year and arguably of all time. Whilst watching these scenes I was wondering why other directors don't use practical as well. This is a better way to show action pieces, to the audience, but it's also more time consuming and expensive. It's good to know that Disney is spending more money and time for our enjoyment. On a smaller scale, individual confrontation looked great. When I heard that they were hiring some of the staff from the Raid movies, I thought that they would help give it that jaw dropping moment, however this wasn't the case as I feel that they missed a trick to make this movie slightly more epic. The action was breath taking at times and not showing a lot of the action beforehand helped make the scenes not lose any of its movie magic.
Star Wars the Force Awakens is a worthy addition to this franchise. I did feel that, in very few moments, it could have been better as it did not reach up to what it potentially could. The story may seem a bit like a cover song of the original trilogy but people were complaining that this wasn't present in episodes 1-3. Overall I am extremely happy with this movie and it's my 2nd favourite in the franchise.
I hope you enjoyed the review! A video review will be uploaded to my channel if I receive a few questions to answer as I hardly have any time away from work.
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