Star Wars: The Inner Nerd Awakens

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2016)

The seventh chapter of the Star Wars Saga unfolds with this highly anticipated sci-fi extravaganza. The Force Awakens deviates from the CGI fest and subpar writing of the prequels and mimics the mythology and realistic practical effects of the original trilogy. Although a lot of people have a problem with the similarities between The Force Awakens and A New Hope; The Force Awakens is still an awesome riveting sci-fi spectacle filled with explosively stunning visuals, impeccable pacing, great comedic moments, and a somewhat similar yet still refreshingly kinetic story with old faces along side new ones.
J.J. Abrams and the cast did a great job reviving a franchise no one thought could be resurrected. It accomplished itself by being an exciting addition to the Star Wars Saga while refraining from the mistakes of the prequels and by being a faithful homage to the originals. The Force Awakens succeeded where the prequels failed, as in:
(1) The Writing- which was a big time improvement over the prequels and matched the originals in wit. (2) The Acting- the acting was fine and offered the new characters like Rey, Finn, and Poe some crucial moments to shine. (3) Usage of practical effects- probably the biggest difference which added a more nostalgic and realistic spin on the action offering more excitement. (4) The chemistry between characters- was another big improvement and offered a more believable connection the characters had with each other. (5) The story- the detailed matured perspective on the story was far superior than the much criticized prequels.
Now a lot of people on IMDb are having problems with the unoriginality of The Force Awakens. They believe it is a remake of A New Hope with new characters and better effects. Basically some of their complaints regarding originality and other aspects of the film are:
(1) The whole thing with the new Death Star (Death Planet)
(2) How the Resistance goes about destroying the Death Star (Death Planet)
(3) The new characters are basically just an update of the old characters. (Kylo to Darth Vader)
(4) Kylo Ren and his fight with Rey.
(5) Not filling in the 30 year gap.
(6) No backstory to relationships like Han and Kylo Ren.
(7) Little character development for characters like Rey and Finn.
(8) Some poor dialogue with an unrealistic bond between Rey and Finn.
Some rebuttals to the above are that yes, The Force Awakens was flawed due to its unoriginality but some can argue that it was trying to do this so that J.J. and Disney could bring Star Wars back to the glory days of the original trilogy, yet still be exciting and fresh in its own way. The flaws in The Force Awakens were no where near as bad as IMDb users are making them out to be. The film's flaws, overshadowed by its awesomeness, should not be deemed of hatred especially if you are a Star Wars fan. Now counters to the points made above.
(1) Maybe the First Order was trying to be exactly like The Empire and needed a Death Planet to be just as powerful as the old empire. May be unoriginal but kind of plausible for the story if you think about it.
(2) The plan the Resistance comes up with is quite similar to A New Hope. Send in a bunch of X-Wings to find a weakness on a planet destroying battle station before they blow up the rebel home planet. Honestly the writers know this and even poke fun at themselves by just having the characters do the same thing. Has no one seen "22 Jump Street," because it is using the same humor as that in this one particular sequence.
(3) Well most of the new characters are descendants to the old ones so there must be similarities and influences that run through the family.
(4) Now this was hard to believe Rey kicking Kylo Ren's ass with limited training but maybe Kylo Ren had limited training too. Maybe he prematurely ditched Luke through his arrogance and became totally fascinated with the dark side of the force that lead him to misjudge his destiny with Luke and Jedi training. (Just a theory of course)
(5) Disney might make prequels or they might explain that gap in the upcoming sequels.
(6) Again this can be further expanded upon in upcoming movies as long as we got the gist of the relationship, which we did!
(7) Rey and Finn were developed just enough to care about them while still leaving us mystified and even more excited to see their characters in the upcoming films.
(8) Rey and Finn may have had a few bad line exchanges but mostly it was good. The good overcame the bad.
In conclusion, Star Wars: The Force Awakens lived up to the hype and offered Star Wars fans a fun fast pace entertaining sci-fi epic with great action, new characters, nice comic relief, exciting story, nostalgia, and heart felt moments that touched, mesmerized and even shocked at moments. The film was a big improvement over the prequels and got right what they did wrong. Though The Force Awakens was not perfect and was never going to be, but succeeded in what it was supposed to do -- Rock our inner nerd with Star Wars galore!