For almost the last 40 years, the Star Wars saga has captured the imagination across the world. Whether you are a casual fan or have made this a religion, this space opera has become something that everyone needs to experience at least once their life.
After the disappointment of the prequels, many people including myself were not sure if we were ever going to see another Star Wars film whilst George Lucas still had the rights. But with Disney now in control, and J.J Abrams at the helm of the first of many more episodes to come, I knew this was in safe hands.
However, I did obviously have my doubts. Is this over-hyped? Has the release of the merchandise months before the film worn out our interest?
But with Abrams' successes as a director and producer for many hits such as Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible III, Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, Morning Glory, Super 8 and Star Trek and Into Darkness, he has become my kind of director. His style reminds me of a young Steven Spielberg and for him to be now part of the Star Wars legacy, this couldn't be another Phantom Menace,.....could it?
Well, after initially wanting to do my review immediately after seeing it, I feel that I needed to sleep on it after the midnight screening I attended.
Firstly, I must say that it was only until the day before I saw this is only the second Star Wars film that I have seen on the big screen. For someone such as myself who has seen over 100 films at the cinema, it was hard to comprehend that only one of them had been a Star Wars.
It was an amazing feeling seeing the atmosphere in the cinema and in my screen. In an age where we are all on our devices and losing touch with physical interaction. Being part of an event like this can still bring people together has to be commended. It is something like Star Wars that shows meeting new people with similar interests is still a magical thing.
Right, now the movie. This could well be the toughest review I have had to do. I don't know whether it is because of me now reviewing films, I have become more critical of them. But for me, I felt The Force Awakens was good, but nothing more than that.
Now before you start your message of hate towards me, I hope my review of it can help me defend myself.
Seeing that opening scrawling text was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had. The mixture of excitement of seeing a new episode, but also that feeling of stepping into the unknown.
The first half of the film opens up really well with some interesting and believable characters. We see the story develop into something quite familiar, and yet it is still moving along nicely. The action sequences are really well directed and constructed and we are now building up to where these new generation of characters fit into the saga.
As for the second half, it goes in directions that definitely had me excited and I was loving a lot of the new characters and enjoyed them every time they were on screen. However, the final act did not feel exhilarating for me and I was not wanting to punch the air in delight. One part of it felt too satisfactory. But the other was quite enjoyable including one moment that gave me goosebumps. Sadly, that was the only time when I felt like that. And finally, all I'll say for the final scene is that they could have definitely done something better than what I saw.
I want to go straight to the characters, as I have a lot to talk about them all. I have to start with Daisy Ridley as I loved her. She definitely gives us the strongest performance. I honestly did have my doubts at times during the first half of the film. But they were quickly eradicated and I was totally invested in her character and I will root for her till the very end.
As for John Boyega. He is good with Ridley with some solid comedy. But he also looks so excited to be part of the film and seems to forget to act at times. But he does have his moments that are great to watch.
Adam Driver as our main villain was the most interesting. His appearance may seem like another Darth Vadar, but this troubled character gives us a new type of villain that I want to understand more.
I was not sure about Oscar Isaac's character by the end of it. He started really well and I wanted to know more about him. But he seemed to lose his development in the few times we see him in the second half.
One risky new character was the new droid, BB-8. For what we saw of the droid in the trailers, I like many had my doubts as this could have been the Jar Jar Binks of the film. He isn't annoying whatsoever. He is cute and funny and I will be happy seeing parents buy this from toy shops from now on, as it is worth the money to own such a lovable character.
Other minor roles that I liked and wanted to know about were Max Von Sydow's and Lupita Nyong'o's. I also want to give a quick shout to Iko Uwais, Yaya Ruhian and Arif Rahman who made a very small role in this film, It was great seeing some of the main actors from The Raid be part of this.
One new character I found troublesome was Domhnall Gleeson's. He really camps up his performance and felt out of place with the tone. Another disappointment, but in a different sense was Gwendoline Christie's character. She has a character that I was looking forward to. But she is hardly on screen. It was a shame as it sounded like a character that could have been quite memorable in a Boba Fett way.
Now to the characters we all know. By far the best was Harrison Ford as Han Solo. For most of the time, I felt I was actually watching Solo rather than Ford. He is a big part of the film and gives the new characters some nice guidance. His comedic moments works for the most part also.
Carrie Fisher did not feel like the Leia we all know and the role she had in this film did not seem believable. Despite not being in the film for that long, C-3PO for the few scenes he was in was actually annoying and felt like just saying things just to remind people that he was there. As for Mark Hamill. Is he in it? Yes. I'm afraid that's as far as I can go with that one.
Despite me liking a lot of it, the main part of my rating goes on my general feeling of it. As much as I was willing myself to match it with some of this years best films, I just couldn't due to the problems I had with it. Thankfully, they are all minor problems.
I think the big problem of it is that the story felt too similar. We know J.J Abrams has history as his Star Trek films seem quite similar to some of the previous ones. But he managed to still have an interesting idea to give Star Trek that perfect mix of nostalgia and bringing this franchise into the modern age.
Has Abrams done that? Yes, but only the latter.
I could even be brave and call it a safe film. It felt more like a re-boot rather than a continuation.
The humor that didn't work for me reminded me when I saw Avenges: Age Of Ultron. It felt like everyone was trying to compete for the best comedic moment and with most of them not working.
The antagonists in the main battle station was massively under-developed in my opinion. Seeing it in full operation was impressive and made my jaw drop. But I did not feel fear for the characters involved. I think that it is mainly due to the people running the battle station not feeling threatening enough for me to care. Apart from Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers, the others felt cowardly and weak rather than threatening. It felt just like something for the protagonists to fight as there was nothing else to do battle with.
As for the other things I want to mention. The practical effects was a big attraction for a lot of the fans. It is obviously great to see everything real and there for the actors to work with. The variety of creatures was great to see. I might be being picky here, but I think at times they were just shoving creatures designs in our face to show that they are doing practical effects. The visual effects were brilliant, the cinematography was vintage J.J Abrams, the score by John Williams has that great mix of the old pieces with many new additions including a couple of pieces of music for Ridley's character that are just gorgeous to listen to and I feel the production and costume design deserves Oscar nominations.
This next bit could be seen as a spoiler. But I feel that after seeing it, it will not ruin the overall experience. The way the force is used is definitely new, different and is portrayed really well, especially the first time we see it.
Is it better then all the prequels? Most definitely. It is more interesting, better written and has many characters we can invest in.
Does it match any of the original trilogy? Don't think so. The good stuff is not strong enough and it has too many problems, especially with the story being too familiar.
For people who are only reading this review out of all my others because it is Star Wars, you can have problems with even the best movies of all-time.
But rest assured, I would definitely watch it again, I was never bored and it definitely has that Star Wars magic that the prequels barely had. It was just missing something to make the story different from the rest. If I was pointing fingers, it would probably fall onto the writing department.
I do feel at times that I should hate myself for not liking it more as it is Star Wars and it was a huge part of my childhood. But I have to stick to my guns and go with what I honestly think it is. All the signs and mood of the audience after the screening seemed to fit in with what I'm saying.
Maybe I need to warm to it a bit more. But I have not had to do that with any other film and I can't see this being an exception.
I hope I have explained myself and welcome any comments like I do with all my other reviews.
Rating: 7/10
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