Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance.
After a very long hiatus the Star Wars saga is rebooted, and somewhat surprisingly the job was handed to J.J Abrams (Lost, Star Trek and a bunch of video games) which did surprise me when it was announced. I was actually worried a bit with this choice but I doubt even Disney would piss away one of the biggest cash-cows in the movie industry so I quickly decided that it would probably work whoever they put in charge…
It is hard to write a review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens without any spoilers but I’ll try to keep it at a minimum, and to be fair – if you don’t want any spoilers then stop reading reviews for movies you haven’t seen!!!
I’m a big fan of the Star Wars saga – which most of us are – but I differ from most because I actually think Jar-Jar Binks was the character who made Episode 1 possible (or worked) and not at all the most hated Star Wars character that he has become, but such is life. Episode 1-3 are questionable compared to the original 3 episodes and that’s perhaps why I thought Jar-Jar brought something to the otherwise uneven films…? But enough about that. This is not a review about Jar-Jar Binks – it’s a review for the latest instalment of Star Wars!
It was known prior to the release that Han Solo, Leia and Luke would return, albeit the details were a bit shady and many of us had already guessed how much (or little) one of the characters would appear…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens kicks off 30-ish years in the future from Episode 6 and that’s all we will find out. Whatever happened between then and now with the empire, rebels, planets and relations is apparently not important because this is a special effects-fest and that’s pretty much it!
Don’t get me wrong – it is to date the best film ever made with regards to special effects, but at the cost of a non-existing script… We’re talking about 95% vs. 5% spent in time between creating special effects and writing a script. Some might say that Star Wars was always about pushing the limits for what was possible with special effects, but there was also a really great story there and that was apparently deemed unimportant for this one…
The new kids (Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren) were given plenty of space to evolve their characters and – apart from Kylo Ren – this was a success. I personally thought Kylo Ren was poorly scripted and acted and I’m surprised if I’m alone thinking this, but Rey and Finn were well acted and we all are looking forward to see them again in the future!
The old “kids” (Han, Leia and Luke) is a different story all together… One of them was given way too much screen-time and one of them way too little, and that’s a fact, and the rendition of Leia as a princess with a stiff face due to a bodged cosmetic surgery was pretty bad to be honest!
Han Solo was spot on and it looked like Harrison Ford enjoyed his comeback together with Chewbacca – but I didn’t like one part of the script that was given to Harrison Ford and you who have seen it know what I mean, the rest of you will have to find out for yourselves… (it’s damn hard to explain without any spoilers but I was pretty miffed about this when I saw the movie…)
For me Star Wars isn’t Star Wars without C-3PO and R2-D2 but they were only given minute screen-time here… Luckily BB-8 was a funny droid but he is not the same as two constantly arguing droids, but the show must go on I guess?
The poor implementation of a script left my two boys in the dark because they had no clue whatsoever what the movie was all about – but the first class footage and special effects made them enjoy the film anyway, but that’s all they remember from the film sadly.
Obviously I will buy Star Wars: The Force Awakens as soon as it’s released on BluRay but was it a great film? No. Not even close. The footage and special effects will generate a much higher score than I’d want to but the script was crap and the only thing it generated was questions regarding what the heck had happened the last 30-ish years and who the heck are these First Order anyway and where did they come from???
There are also a few “hidden” famous actors in the movie like Daniel Craig (Stormtrooper), Simon Pegg (Unkar Plutt), Andy Serkis (Snoke) and Warwick Davis (Woolivan).
Scriptwise I give it ZERO points out of five! The rescue is the footage and special effects – and the fact that it was shot with real film! 🙂
If I add this up, subtract the crap script, add some here for this and that… The final verdict is still only 2 out of 5 – but if you want great footage and special effects and care little about background and script – this is a winner!
p.s Where the heck is Landon Calrissian??? Call him because they’ll need more crew members on the Millennium Falcon… *hint hint* 😉
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