Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Greetings, Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens is a 2015 film and is the first in the series to be released after Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas in 2012. The seventh movie leads the Star Wars resurgence, since the damaging reputation of the prequels, as several spin offs and the rest of the new trilogy will follow suit in the coming years. It reunites fans with some of their favourite characters like Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C3-PO and R2-D2 after the fall of the Empire as well introducing several new characters. As such, many of the old cast including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew and Antony Daniels reprise their old roles while new comers, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver introduce original characters to the iconic series. John Williams also makes his return, delivering a score that is not as memorable as his original soundtrack but still proves to be a good addition to the film.

The story takes place thirty years after the destruction of the Death Star and a new sinister organization has risen after the death of Palatine and Darth Vader. The First Order, remnants of the Galactic Empire, attempts to hunt down and exterminate the last of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi Knight, has disappeared without a trace and is also being sought by Leia and the resistance in order to aid them in their fight against the First Order. Poe Dameron, a skilled resistance pilot, meets a village elder on the planet of Jakku and receives a map that will lead to Skywalker but the First order also arrives at the same time. Dameron has enough time to hide the map in his droid called BB-8 before Kylo Ren, a leading figure in the First Order captures Poe and orders the villagers to be massacred. One soldier who doesn’t partake in the slaughter is FN-2187, a storm trooper who is visibly distressed at the sight and his defiance is noticed by Kylo and Captain Phasma. BB-8 eventually crosses paths with a scavenger by the name of Rey, one of the main characters in the film.

Back on Ren’s star destroyer, FN decides to break Poe out of Ren’s clutches as he no longer wants to fight alongside the First Order. He manages to free Dameron and the two escape by stealing a TIE fighter while being shot at. Their brief conversation in which Poe gives FN the nickname of Finn is cut short when the damaged TIE fighter crashes into Jakku. Finn wakes up to find the TIE fighter is swallowed by sinking sand and cannot find Poe anywhere. After taking Dameron’s jacket to disguise himself, Finn then travels the desert until he finds Rey and BB-8 in a nearby village. BB-8 recognizes the jacket and alerts Rey about it. Finn doesn’t have enough time to explain how he got the jacket as the First Order begin attacking them. The three then escape by stealing the Millennium Falcon and they manage to evade capture but are soon abducted by a bigger vessel in space. At this moment, it is revealed that both Han Solo and Chewbacca had been piloting the ship and make their return to their old vessel.

While the film was heavily influenced by A New Hope and features many of the same storylines, I still really enjoyed it. I felt that the new characters paled in comparison to the older generation and that some like Captain Phasma or Poe served as more of a plot device than an actual character. Despite this, I believe that Episode 7 was a big improvement on the prequels and had genuinely comedic moments as well as more simplistic but powerful fight scenes than the previous instalments. Overall, I look forward to what the new films will bring and how they will expand upon many of the characters.

Plot=7/10

Characters=8/10

Special Effects=9/10

Overall=9/10

Quote of the Day

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky

We know Major Tom's a junkie

Strung out in heaven's high

Hitting an all-time low.

David Bowie

Ashes to Ashes