The Familiar Opening Text Promises Another Tale In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2015)

A couple years ago, it was widely reported that Disney acquired Lucasfilm and all of its IP's for a staggeringly large sum of money. What was more of a surprise is that within hours of sealing the deal, Disney had announced to create a further 6 Star Wars movies all to be released by 2020. Maybe it's all too much but look at it this way, the House of Mouse owns male interests for pretty much the rest of their lives, this and Indiana Jones.
To Star Wars fans it was a bit of shock when announced that the Expanded Universe had been written out of the series canon, and moved to a new label: "Star Wars Legends". Many wonderful twists and turns for beloved characters and events disappeared (As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror). With canon now being the main movies, Clone Wars, Disney animated show and Marvel comic line (Also owned by Disney), so began the search to find out who would be responsible for starting this new trilogy. It was good to know that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy would oversee production, "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006) writer Michael Arndt wrote an initial script and series creator George Lucas served as creative consultant in the early stages of production, using cliff notes from what was originally meant to be a film series over 10 Episodes or so.
Many were approached, finally it was announced that J. J. Abrams would be the first director to helm the new Star Wars movie (Initially reluctant as he wanted to enjoy them as a fan). Seeing his work with the latest "Star Trek" movies, it was safe to say that the man knew how to create exciting movies, especially when it comes to actors interacting with each other and their surroundings (Check out interviews where he talks about building hallways to the Enterprise control room just to get a dynamic shot). With Star Wars somewhat having lost confidence with the audience in recent years (Myself included), two vital decisions from the start was to hire unknown actors to helm these new films (Much like Hamil, Fisher and Ford were back in 1977) and finally go back to more practical methods of special effects and film-making rather than just digital. Trailers launched, segments of film both nostalgic and new appeared as John Williams's sweeping music overwhelmed. It seemed not only a new movie in the franchise was born, but the beginning of something unfamiliar and exciting was about to be told.
With Star Wars not only being one of the biggest franchises of all time, it is of course very personal to every member of the audience. I attended the midnight screening on the day of release, sat down with a full house and saw the wonderful tagline in blue font. The screen fades to black, horns blare out and a big nerd tear left my eye. Suddenly Act 1 is over and I'm impressed, Act 2 wraps up and it's overall satisfying. Finally Act 3 concludes and I'm overwhelmed. The places we visit and the creatures we see all point to exciting possibilities for the future. But it must be mentioned that Episode 7: The Force Awakens is pretty much "A New Hope", with some darker elements of "The Empire Strikes Back" (Which makes sense as Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Episode 5 and 6 rewrote some of Arndt's script with Abrams). It wasn't a bad film, far from it. It was actually lovely to see our favourite classic characters essentially give their blessing to the wonderful young talent who easily reassure they could helm the rest of the trilogy themselves. Upon reflection a few villains though intimidating proved to be a little underwhelming for now, but I look forward to seeing what this new threat will develop into given where we leave off at the end of this chapter.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac deliver wonderful performances of already now memorable characters. Though there yet stands to be a larger interaction between all three of them, Rey (Daisy) and Finn (John) generally come across as well developed young adults thrown into their situation, and the friendship between Finn and Poe Dameron (Oscar) is undeniably unique and fun. Daisy Ridley stood out as a leading lady and the much needed female presence for this franchise (It has felt like a much longer time without a Princess Leia), for a first time big performance I sense a great future career ahead of her. But ultimately the highlight, glue, heart and soul of the movie belongs to Harrison Ford, who returned to the Han Solo character as if he never left. For a man now 73 years of age who moved on from the franchise long ago, to see him return on top form and dare I say better than ever, will most likely melt any cynical heart. Andy Serkis, Gwendoline Christie and Adam Driver provide enough to make the mysterious "First Order" genuinely come off threatening, and new droids like BB-8 remain very expressive thanks to great puppeteer work. Carrie Fisher warmly returns to ever provide reason and for those wondering on the absence of Mark Hamil will definitely be surprised or find solace until Episode 8 in 2017.
Final Verdict: What is the greatest strength of The Force Awakens? Harrison Ford to be exact, but its greatest strength is that the Force actually feels mysterious again. Though there are many twists and turns and throwbacks to the original trilogy, to actually see this magical plot device become present again all whilst having this heavy foreshadowing just looming over the story makes it all very engaging. Hopefully the next instalment will pretty much say goodbye to nostalgia and leave it entirely in the hands of our new characters. To wonder and see where all this will be leading to by 2020 leaves me extremely optimistic. J. J. Abrams and Co. you did it. 9/10.