The Force Awakens: A Masterpiece In Spectacle, Characterization & Nostalgia

The Force Awakens only came out a few days ago, yet it's already an iconic movie. Why? Because it's a Star Wars movie.

Star Wars is one of those franchises with a fan base so huge, that there are quotable lines that wouldn't be quotable in most movies. Lines like "But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!" wouldn't be remembered in other movies. Even the Star Wars documentaries have quotable lines (mainly due to Red Letter Media, but still).

With that being said, The Force Awakens has quotable dialogue that I didn't even have much thought of when I finally saw it recently. There will be scenes, imagery, theories, and so many other things about The Force Awakens that will be analyzed for as long as Star Wars remains popular.

This is significant for being the first clip used in the first Force Awakens trailer.

The Force Awakens was my most highly anticipated movie of 2015, but I didn't want to get too excited. The trailers were brilliant, yet other movies had brilliant trailers too, which didn't live up to the movies themselves. What if The Force Awakens suffered from that too? They were so mysterious, which could actually imply that there wasn't much to see in the film, just like Fantastic Four. I never thought The Force Awakens could have been anywhere near as disastrous as Fantastic Four, but I still tried to watch the film with an open mind. The reviews already came out before I saw it, but I still tried to keep my expectations low, otherwise I would have been really disappointed if the film didn't live up to the hype.

NOTE: Spoilers are literally everywhere, including this review. Watch the movie if you haven't already.

Thankfully, the trailers did live up to the hype. I loved The Force Awakens, to the point where I can't talk about every single aspect I loved about it. There's so much to talk about, that this review won't do the movie justice.

Ironically, what Rick says here sums up how I feel about The Force Awakens.

I know there are people criticizing The Force Awakens for being too similar to A New Hope, but I don't think that's a bad thing. The Force Awakens honors the films that came before it, while introducing a new story with new characters. The film was brilliant from beginning to end. I knew this film was going to be great from reading the opening crawl, because it actually made sense! It wasn't like the prequels, which had confusing opening crawls (Taxations? There are heroes on both sides?). The opening crawl in The Force Awakens wasn't just added for nostalgia either; it was necessary to the plot. It establishes the fact that Luke is missing, the First Order have risen, and General Leia sends her best pilot to a person who has information that could lead to where Luke is.

The first shot of The Force Awakens is great, too. In A New Hope, the opening shot is of the Imperial Star Destroyer following and shooting Tantive IV. The opening shot established the size of the Empire in comparison to the Rebels. The opening shot of The Force Awakens shows a planet, which then gets covered in darkness by a Star Destroyer flying through space. It's perfect because it establishes the fact that they're the dark side, who spread corruption to every place they go to. It's one of the best homages I've ever seen. Despite the homages, The Force Awakens doesn't add nostalgia if it doesn't feel natural to the story.

In the original Star Wars trilogy, C-3PO and R2-D2 played important roles, which is why they were main characters. In The Force Awakens, they aren't that relevant to the plot, which is why they didn't have that much screen-time. Abrams and Kasdan knew that The Force Awakens had to work as its own story. They added nostalgia when it felt natural to the film. There were also moments when characters would talk to each other, and they had moments of silence, rather than say obvious things. For example, when Rey speaks to Finn at the end of the movie, he's unconscious. Rey thanks Finn for his bravery. She could have said a line like "You're more than just a Stormtrooper" or any other line where Rey basically says she doesn't care if Finn was originally a Stormtrooper. She didn't, which is a good thing. Abrams and Kasdan may have written these kind of lines in their earlier drafts of the script, but they knew that if the point was made, it doesn't require more dialogue to be said.

    This is the first time we see Finn's face, yet he conveyed more emotion with his helmet on than Qui-Gon Jinn ever did in the entirety of The Phantom Menace.

Which brings me to a second point: Exposition, or lack thereof. Abrams and Kasdan made sure they told this story as visually as possible, and avoid telling us information through dialogue unless it was necessary. In the first scene, you see Finn with the other Stormtroopers. When a Stormtrooper dies in front of him, the Stormtrooper wipes his bloody hand on Finn's helmet. This, along with John Boyega's body language, establishes the fact that he's horrified by the bloodshed. We don't hear any dialogue, we don't even see Finn's facial expression. It's handled visually, especially when Kylo Ren orders his troops to shoot the villagers. Finn doesn't shoot at all, because he knows it's wrong. He doesn't have any stupid conversations with other characters about the ethics of being a Stormtrooper, because we already know what he thinks. When he rescues Poe Dameron, it makes sense because he wants to do good.

The characters feel like human beings. They're well written, which is essential in every movie. Even the best actors can look bad if they have to perform terrible characters with terrible dialogue, which is why most of the actors in the prequels couldn't deliver good performances. I liked John Boyega in Attack The Block and My Murder, and I was excited when it was announced that he'd be in The Force Awakens. He had to do an American accent, which I never heard him do before. His accent in The Force Awakens was perfect, and he showed subtlety and charisma in his role. Oscar Isaac always delivers great performances, and this is no exception.

The main character in the film is played by Daisy Ridley. She's acted in plays, short films, and TV episodes, but she's never acted in a feature film before. She plays as the main character in one of the most highly anticipated movies ever made, which must have been a daunting task. Sure, she didn't have to play as the child version of the most iconic villain in cinematic history, but she still had to deliver a great performance. Thankfully, she did. She was incredible in the film, and I can't wait to see how her career flourishes.

Someday, they will have Oscars in their hands.

I've written so much about this movie already, and I haven't even mentioned the villain yet. Honestly, I think the concept of Kylo Ren is genius. The idea of a Star Wars villain who wants to live up to Darth Vader's legacy, and wears a mask with an altered voice to imitate Vader. His violent outbursts make sense too, because he inherited his anger from Darth Vader, who's actually his grandfather. It's interesting that Kylo Ren is Han and Leia's son, because adds the troubled family dynamic to the new trilogy, which was also in the original trilogy. What's even more interesting is that Kylo Ren kills Han Solo. I never expected Harrison Ford to be in the rest of the trilogy, so I expected this to be his last performance as Han Solo. It was a great way to end his character. I can't wait to see how Kylo Ren is explored in the sequels, in terms of his backstory, the thoughts that go on in his mind after killing his father, and if he has a scene with Leia. I am convinced that Kylo Ren and Leia will have a pivotal scene together, and it will be one of the best scenes in the new Star Wars trilogy.

It's impossible to satisfy everyone, especially Star Wars fans. This is a sequel to one of the most beloved trilogies ever made, so it was bound to have detractors. The Force Awakens has been criticized for copying a lot of the plot points from A New Hope. I saw A New Hope a few days before The Force Awakens, and I can honestly say that the similarities never bothered me. The Force Awakens has unique characters, like a Stormtrooper who wants to do good, and a scavenger who doesn't know much about their past. We've never seen characters like these in the other Star Wars movies, and because they're unique, they made the film feel a lot less formulaic, at least in my opinion.

I refuse to criticize the film for its plot conveniences because it's the first film in a trilogy. Rey becomes powerful with the force very quickly, but it was already established that she's very self-sufficient, so she's probably a fast learner. There may be another reason why she became powerful so quickly, which gets explained in the sequels. It's the first film in a trilogy; it doesn't answer all of its questions because the film wants you to debate certain things. It wants the fans to have theories on what happens in the sequels, which adds to the intrigue of the film.

The only unanswered question I had for The Phantom Menace was: WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE!?!?

Honestly, this review can go on for much longer. I haven't even written about the music, the great usage of practical effects, the emotion I felt when Han died, when Rey uses the lightsaber to fight Kylo Ren, and when Leia says to Rey "May The Force Be With You," the performances of the older actors, and the way it was directed. I could go on about the positive aspects, but this review is already too long, and it would be best if I finally stated my biggest problem with The Force Awakens.

The only real flaw I have is the final shot of the movie. I love the ending, but the very last shot is an awkward 360 degree camera movement, then it transitions to the end credits. Personally, I would have preferred it if a master shot of Luke and Rey was used as the final shot, or a close-up of Luke's face was used as the final shot, or a close-up of Rey or the lightsaber she's holding. Anything would have been better. All the other Star Wars movies had great final shots, which is why I'm even critiquing this shot. The crazy thing is, this is just a nitpick. When the biggest criticism you have for a movie is something as minor as this, you know that movie is incredible. The Force Awakens doesn't deserve a lower rating for something so minor, which is why I'm still giving it a perfect score.

10/10