An energetic space adventure

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2017)

When I came out of the theater after watching 'The Force Awakens' I never thought that I would have to defend it against haters. It seemed that the movie had taken its audience by storm: it was lauded as a triumphant return to form for the Star Wars franchise after lackluster prequel films. Now, a year later, people seem to have turned against it. It copied Episode IV, they say, it is manipulative and calculated, it is derivative to the point of repeating key plot points and characters.
It is true that there is a lot of nostalgia pandering in the movie, a flaw that also plagued 'Jurassic World' which came out the same year, but that pandering hardly ruined my enjoyment of either movie. 'The Force Awakens' is energetic and adventurous. It does things by the book, but it does them right. There are the lovable underdog heroes, there is the menacing villain and the sinister mentor behind him, there are the allegories of fascism and there is the sense of wonder that hints at such a large world that we are glimpsing at. There is urgency and there are high stakes, there is trust and betrayal, old heroes and new. There are lightsabers and massive superweapons, space magic and robot comic reliefs.
Another complaint that people have seems to be that Rey is too good at everything. I don't mind that at all and I think it is wonderful to see how her character will grow. She seems to be in a similar position as Anakin at the beginning of Episode II: a gifted prodigy who requires careful guidance, but will she listen to her tutors? And will she have a romantic subplot? But the thing that steals the movie for me is the villain. And I don't mean Snoke. Kylo Ren is something both new and familiar: he's an insecure Darth Vader, a menacing villain whose heart might not be in it. He is troubled, and his soul is twisted. He is not a cold killing machine, on the contrary, he is constantly in pain. He is reminiscent of a younger Darth Vader, the tortured Anakin Skywalker, who he so greatly admires. Now there are those who don't like him because he's an angsty teenager, the type who yells at his parents, smokes in defiance and listens to Linkin Park. And he is. But unlike Anakin, who was wooden and unlikeable, he is believable and relatable in his angst. He is a tragic hero, for sure, but the movie doesn't glorify his tragedy but makes us see the irony of it. He is as funny as he is brooding. A great combination for any fan of 'Angel', the TV show about a vampire with a soul.