Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

WARNING, the spoilers are strong with this one.

I am so thrilled that this movie even exists. Had it not, I probably would not have any interest in Star Wars at all. Several years ago, I was flipping channels and stumbled across a movie that looked intriguing. It turned out to be a Star Wars marathon. I believe the movie that I stumbled across was one of the prequels. This piqued my interest with the franchise. I asked my mom to look for any of the movies at the thrift store. I ended up getting Episode I, Episode IV, Episode V, and Episode VI.

When the first trailers for The Force Awakens dropped, I got excited again. I re-watched the original trilogy again in preparation for seeing the newest installment. I was late to finally getting around to see it, being two days short of a month from the original release. I tried my best to stay away from spoilers, but I still wound up seeing Han’s fate (thank you awful trolls in the YouTube comments). I was not going to let this hinder my viewing experience.

I have to say, when the score boomed from the speakers and the title screen came into view, I was so excited. This, along with the crawl text, got me so hyped. I loved the opening scene. I enjoyed that we didn’t meet Rey right away, but instead got to meet Poe. Seeing Poe face to face with Kylo Ren was powerful and really let us know what we were getting ourselves into. I’ll get more into Kylo later, but I despise the guy. I loved when the fallen Stormtrooper reached out to, who we would later come to know as Finn, and left his bloody fingerprints on his helmet. Never in this franchise have we seen a Stormtrooper have a human reaction to something. The fact that Finn couldn’t, even in front of his boss, bring himself to kill the villagers was great. I really felt for this guy early on. I felt an instant connection with the three titular characters right away.

I absolutely loved when they were back in the Starkiller Base and Finn removed his helmet. Never has a Stormtrooper removed his helmet on screen before. This instantly made the movie a lot more intriguing. The entire sequence of Finn and Poe’s escape was just gripping. Never have I seen a friendship grow between two characters so fast – and it was believable! My favorite part about the sequence was that it was Poe that gave Finn his name. I thought it was so interesting that Finn had only ever known his name to be FN-2187. Poe was a vital part to the movie, but I didn’t feel that he was used to his full potential. I was surprised to find that BB-8 (love that little droid!) belongs to Poe and not Rey. Judging by promotional pictures and trailers, I thought he would be to Rey as R2-D2 was to Luke.

Now, for Rey. I love this character. I love that this movie is about a female heroine, giving the younger generation of Star Wars fans a great, female role model to look up to. I loved that she was a scavenger, made her home in a fallen AT-AT, and started out very stubborn. I loved the scene when she was presented with a huge amount of rations in exchange for BB-8, but she turned it down. I also loved the runaway scene between Rey and Finn. When Rey talked about a ship being ”garbage” and it turned out to be the Millennium Falcon, I got so excited. The whole chase scene and the dynamic between Rey and Finn was exhilarating. Loved the thumbs-up from BB-8 as well!

This review is getting a little long, so I’d just like to touch on my thoughts on some of the other characters. Kylo Ren. He is one of those villains that just angers me. When it was revealed that he is the son of Han and Leia, I was disappointed. I felt like he threw the entire legacy that his parents created into the trash compactor. I don’t think he realized that his idol and grandfather, Darth Vader, actually turned to the light side. It is going to take a lot for me to forgive him for murdering my beloved, Han Solo. It broke my heart when Han called out “Ben!” to him. Not only because it was Han trying to get him to see the light again, but also because he was named after the great, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve been away from the movie for several days now and I am still infuriated with Kylo. I can’t even bring myself to call him Ben Solo.

When it comes to the original cast, of course I was thrilled to see them all again. Han and Chewbacca’s entrance had me smiling like a kid in a candy store. Not only did I love seeing them again, but I loved their interactions with the new generation of characters. I was very happy with their roles in the plot. When Leia arrived, I was equally excited. Seeing her talk with Han again, after years of separation apparently, brought tears to my eyes. Leia has always been my favorite character and Han and Leia are my favorite couple in the franchise. I loved seeing the droids again. I was very surprised with the absence of Luke. He was in the movie for less than a minute and had absolutely no dialogue, but I still lost it when he turned around and locked eyes with Rey.

I could say a whole lot more about this movie, but I will leave my thoughts here. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.