You know that party at end of Star Wars Episode VII: Return Of The Jedi?
Ewoks running everywhere; The Rebel Alliance are celebrating their win; Lando Calrissian is there being fly as hell while Luke lovingly gazes upon Force Ghosts who are just hanging out enjoying the euphoria of joy that is occurring all over Endor (and in later remasters, every other planet we visited during the series).
It’s a good time basically.
The best time maybe.
That sort of time where if you’re amongst it, you’re peaking off every different chemical your body can produce.
That’s what The Force Awakens has not only produced for audiences with its long journey towards release; but has re-produced once viewed in its entirety on-screen.
Given the unenviable task of having to sort of “reboot” the Star Wars universe after the Episode 1 to 3 series divided audiences, Director J.J Abrams projects his own holographic message onto the screen with a giant love letter to the Episode 4 to 6 tales.
Uniting the new cast of John Boyega (Finn), Daisy Ridley (Rey), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) with the original cast of Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), the tale weaves itself around far, far away galaxies we’ve visited before (and some we haven’t).
Dog-fights of old are lovingly updated to be even more epic in scope, with TIE Fighters and X-Wings getting far more screen-time than they’ve ever had, Abrams choice of practical effects paying off with a glorious level of detail helping to paint a very (close-to-real) world (it also creates BB-8 who is somehow even COOLER than R2-D2).
While issues may arise for some, the movie executes a very simple plan to full effect:
Get the fans back.
And it does.
In talking about the film and trying to tell friends how I feel about it, you can’t really say too much because that’s what it does so well; It can simply be explained as
“if you love Star Wars, you will love this film”.
Recapturing the sentiment and nostalgia of A New Hope, The Force Awakens comes off as something old while something new.
Preparing a new cast for a new story it hands off the series like a “thank you for the memories”, yet does enough to move itself forward at lightspeed.
And I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Summary
The Force Awakens does all it needs to do to destroy the Box Office and set up a new galaxy of stories for fans!
