Seeing a new Star Wars film in the cinema is a feeling that one must experience without preconceived notions. It is euphoric, exhilarating, and will captivate you from start to finish. The Force Awakens is no different and will be known as a cultural phenomenon that stretches out (at minimum) for the next 5 Star Wars movies. Despite all the feelings, wide-eyed wonder, and rose tinted nostalgia for the franchise, Episode VII – The Force Awakens does not elevate itself above the original trilogy, but does not fall into prequel movie insistence upon themselves. People will tell me I’m wrong and this could dethrone the originals (I honestly think it is tied in quality with Return of the Jedi, simply because I hate Endor) but on repeat viewings, it becomes easy to see where the newest saga in Star Wars falls apart, yet does not sink to the lowest levels we’ve ever seen.
Some SPOILERS BELOW, seriously.
It was really exciting to be in a full theater with people who were excited to watch STAR WARS again in theaters. You can’t deny the fandom and energy in the air. Its contagious, you get exited, and you ride that feeling out. For me, I was lucky enough to ride that feeling into a second screening with a private group and not a spoiler was spoken the entire time. However, after getting out of the first screening, I couldn’t shake a feeling that the hype for this movie is going to surpass the objective truth.
The movie feels as if it took the highlights of the prequels, with the mysticism of the original trilogy, and gave us an amalgamated continuation of the story that started with Anakin Skywalker. As you’ll find out in the movie, this carries on in ways similar to expanded universe stories, but also does its own things. We don’t learn everything in the first outing, but thats ok! It worked for Luke and Leia’s heritage/relationship early on. What doesn’t work is how little some characters are used overall and their reasoning for being included.
Reviewing this movie is very hard, because it is a good movie and fun and exciting, but its also not perfect by any means. Theres a lot of waste in it which could have been alleviated, but its not a horrible addition to the film franchise. I look forward to the new characters, the new mythos, and learning all the secrets that have transpired over the past 30 Star Wars years, but at the same time hope we get varied sets, less wasted characters, and Kylo Ren keeping his mask on the full time. I hope that everyone enjoys their screening like I did, but keeps an open mind that at the end of the day, this actually didn’t change anything.
On top of giving the film a numerical rating, I’ll be listing the Pros and Cons and the movie, which may or may not be agreed upon with every Star Wars fan.
Current Star Wars Film Rankings according to Chris
- The Empire Strikes Back
- A New Hope
- Return of the Jedi/The Force Awakens
- Revenge of the Sith
- The Phantom Menace
- Attack of the Clones
