The good news is you don't really need to watch the original Star Wars films in order to follow along with this film. But then honestly, why wouldn't you have seen the original Star Wars films?
Star Wars is really an amazing franchise, starting in 1977 with the very first film. Can you imagine watching that in its inception? All these years later, you're still in awe of the characters, the story, the effects, the set pieces--the whole universe. The sets don't even look that different in this one than the ones from the '70s. Yet, we're still in awe.
Without giving too much away, Star Wars: The Force Awakens revolves around the First Order (the dark side) trying to control the galaxy while racing against the Resistance (the light side) to find the disappeared Luke Skywalker. The film mixes old characters with a band of new characters--characters that you're going to love--and doesn't stray from what was so charismatic about the original movies.
The film truly has that classic feel to it--from the scene cuts to the camerawork to the dialogue. This isn't your Marvel movie, folks. In fact, it makes us rethink what exactly we love about those films to begin with. I mean, we have Star Wars back now. What more could we want?
But there is a different kind of levity brought here that we actually may be able to actually thank Marvel for. It's not too much, but the perfect amount. In the originals, they would have never dared make light of any scene involving Darth Vader, but here we are given one surprising, yet heedful laugh during a bit that involves the neo-Darth Vader, Kylo Ren--who is just as bit of creepy and sinister as Vader.
The newcomers, John Boyega as an ex-stormtrooper, Finn, and Daisy Ridley as a orphaned scavenger, Rey, will have no problems being the new faces of the franchise. Their characters have a lot of depth already, with much more yet to be explored.
Harrison Ford is back as Han Solo, and he's better than he's ever been. His performance is actually award-worthy. I mean, just give the guy an Oscar already (he's only had 1 nomination ever--seriously).
And what is Star Wars without a couple twists? The ones that we're given are great, and you know they're stringing you along for more. They don't answer every question in this film. They answer a lot, but still leave you talking afterwards and speculating. It teaches us to be patient and we're surprisingly okay with that. The film doesn't give in to the immediate gratification that the Avengers culture usually demands.
It runs at 135 minutes, but feels no longer than 100. The pacing is basically near-perfect, which attributes to it's deceptive length.
I truly didn't want it to end. It's the year's best film and perhaps the best one I've seen in at least 5 years. It gave me the happy chills about eleven different times. I can't even begin to explain how good it is. I guess you're just going to have to see it for yourself. Who am I kidding? Everyone's about to watch this movie. But that's Star Wars for ya.
Twizard Rating: 100
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