Fake World, Real Stakes!

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2015)

After watching the 7th instalment to one of the most iconic movie franchises, I must say I was very impressed. JJ Abrams did a brilliant job by making the film have some of the brilliance of the originals and some new and very impressive elements to this film. I was thankful there wasn't any lens flares like in the star trek film because that would have become very frustrating. I feel that the film struggled with making the plot develop and because of this, they copied some of the original films idea (blowing up the evil space station that has a weapon that can destroy planets). I think the film is a very good instalment to the franchise and I could consider it to be in the top 3 Star Wars films. It's enjoyable throughout and I didn't want to miss a thing just in case something would happen.The film had me at the edge of my seat at times with its high risk and intense battle scenes which were executed brilliantly. I'm happy the film went back to using practical models instead of CGI as it gave a more realistic feel and atmosphere to the setting. There was very little use of green screen which allowed me to feel the large scale of the worlds the characters were in. Killing off a main character is very risky. Han Solo is such an iconic and fan favourite character that I was very surprised he would die. I can't see the character returning as he was stabbed, then fell a couple of hundred feet, then the space station also was destroyed and exploded. Then again, we don't see how Kylo Ren leaves the star destroyer so maybe he got Han out just before it explodes. Kylo Ren was a good movie villain. He had so much anger in him and because of the manipulation of Supreme Leader Snoke his hatred for his parents and Luke is understandable. It was hard to develop the character in this film so when he was in some scenes, there had to be a massive thing for him to do to allow his character to grow; like smashing everything up with his light saber in anger in two different scenes. I feel like they made the character too similar to Darth Vader. Darth Vader needed the helmet to be able to breathe, Kylo Ren just has a helmet to cover his face. Yet again being similar to the originals is that there is a big boss who doesn't show up much in the first, but gradually will get more and more screen time. Supreme Leader Snoke is very similar to the emperor. He persuaded a young, promising Jedi with a tiny bit of the dark side and turned them into evil characters. The emperor and Supreme Leader Snoke also don't care much for their apprentice. The character Rey is a very good character in this film. We have only had one film with this character and she will be so much better once she is trained by Luke. She has a mysterious past which I believe could be great to have a massive plot twist like in the empire strikes back. Maybe Rey's parents were strong Jedi warriors or maybe a real dark Sith lord. I feel that if it's another Sith, then it would be too repetitive. Bringing back old characters was a good thing to do from JJ Abrams. While watching I loved seeing memorable, minor characters from the originals like Admiral Ackbar. It made me smile when I saw these characters and it made the film extra fun. A character I was disappointed with was Captain Phasma. When I first saw this character in the trailer, I thought she would be a strong character who would play a big part in the film. I was hoping she would be as cool and as good Boba Fett, but she wasn't. As Captain Phasma was played by a good actress like Gwendoline Christie who I like in 'Game of Thrones' I was thinking the character would be great to watch. Also, Gwendoline Christie said that Captain Phasma would beat Boba Fett in a fight. Clearly this was just a selling technique. Seeing Luke at the end of the film was great. The last scene was amazing. There was no dialogue which I believe made the scene better. You could see in the character's facial expressions what a magical moment it was. It has got me so excited for episode 8 so I know what will happen next with all of the characters. Overall, I think this was a great film to watch and was very fun. The world may be fake but the stakes felt real. I know I have been critical of the film but I seriously did enjoy it and I would recommend it to anyone, Star Wars fan or not. It was a great watch and I can't wait to watch the next films to come.