Star Wars: The Force Awakens

As of Jan. 6  the new Star Wars has officially become the highest grossing film of all time in the United States, grossing over 900 million dollars domestically. It is also projected to become the highest grossing film of all time, surpassing Avatar. I saw it the night after it came out, and it definitely wasn’t disappointing to a Star Wars fanatic like me. Talking to other friends who have seen it, they all agree it was a worthwhile movie with the only complaint being it reminded them of A New Hope, which was the first Star Wars movie that came out back in 1977. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, especially seeing some old characters like R2-D2 and Chewbacca. The acting, along with the visual effects were great and added to the movie. Seeing a new sith also added some excitement. I’m not going to say much just in case some of you haven’t seen it yet.

The most impressive feat of this Star Wars movie was the fact that all these small actors, who aren’t big names, played in huge roles and did phenomenal. Daisy Ridley, who played in a couple of small TV show roles before Star Wars, did a great job portraying Rey. The most impressive role was definitely Fin, who was portrayed by John Boyega, an English actor who has only played in four small roles before this Star Wars film. The inner struggle that he went through was shown well throughout the movie. Both Ridley and Boyega together showed us how well two newbie actors could take control of their roles and knock them out of the park. J. J. Abrams has never disappointed as a director, so I had some high expectations about this movie. He directed the TV show Lost, the Sci-Fi thriller Cloverfield, along with the Star Trek movies. Of course, it was also good to see Harrison Ford reprise his hero as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. It helped add more excitement, seeing our old heroes on the big screen again.

Plot-wise, the movie had a lot of twist and turns and in the end, left you wanting more. As I said earlier, the only complaint I have along with other Star Wars fans is that it reminded me of A New Hope. It started out with one of Leia’s most trusted pilots for the resistance, Poe Dameron, who is looking for the long lost jedi master Luke Skywalker on the planet of Jakku. He is with his droid BB-8, who is carrying  important information on Skywalker. The First-Order, rising from the ashes of the once powerful Galactic Empire is also looking for Luke to destroy him along with the Republic. The First Order and their leader, Kylo Ren, land on Jakku and take Poe prisoner, leaving BB-8 behind. On board, Fin, a Stormtrooper, frees Poe and escapes with him. He loses Poe when their ship crashes back on Jakku. Poe goes on and meets Rey, a scavenger who has taken BB-8 in. The First Order attacks them and they are forced to flee Jakku on an old ship, the Millennium Falcon. Han and Chewbacca pick them up on their freighter and take their ship back and join forces along with Fin as they try to seek out Leia to give her the info BB-8 carries in order to find Master Luke. They go to the planet of Takodana in order to find one of Han’s friends, Maz. While there, Luke’s lightsaber, which Maz has found, calls to Rey, but she doesn’t take it. Maz gives it to Fin, just as the First Order attacks the plant and takes Rey prisoner. She escapes though and eventually they all meet up at the rebel base on D’Qar, where they must destroy the First Order’s starkiller base before it destroys the planet, but without Luke, can they do it?

I can tell that the next one, Star Wars 8, which will be out in 2017 according to Rian Johnson, will be good. Rian Johnson will be the director of Star Wars 8, he has won some small awards at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2005. And I’m really looking forward to it. Overall, the acting and visual style of the movie was far from disappointing and I really enjoyed seeing my favorite saga back on the big screen. This one was much better than Episodes 1 through 3. There were no major plot-holes or complaints, and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. With new heroes and villains as well, I have high hopes for the upcoming movies and I’m sure they will be great. I would rate it a  9 out of 10 because personally, who wasn’t psyched about another Star Wars??? Now we just have to wait for another two years, but it’ll be worth it. May the force be with you.