Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Movie Review
Title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Watched: Theater
Duration: A bit over 2 hours
Years after the close of Episode 6 we come to another galactic conflict due to the instability of the remnants of the now-defunct Galactic Empire. The Empire is now replaced with The First Order, an entity every bit as evil as its predecessor. Possibly even more-so. The Rebellion opposes The First Order and seeks to undo its evil. This is where we are at when our story starts.
The cast of this movie was truly spot-on. I think they did a tremendous job on picking the actors to fill in the new slots. From new to old, everyone seems to pull their own weight and they all seem utterly believable in their respective roles. Not everyone gets equal screen time to really shine, however, but there are 2 more movies(at least) in the works to help out with this. Most viewers really do not need a ton more back story on the older cast from the original trilogy. They are as familiar as ever and we feel like we picked up right after the last adventure.
As for some miscellaneous notes: The grand orchestral score of this movie feels right at home and is instantly familiar. The sound effects on everything are perfect and have amazing impact. The sound on some of the heavy blasters is particularly satisfying. I did not have any issues with the lighting anywhere and was able to easily identify everything. They also had a great attention to detail. They even included heat waves from the jet engines of the TIE fighters! The CGI was blended virtually seamlessly. They spared no expense to quote John Hammond from Jurassic Park.
There is plenty of excitement at just the right times to keep people engaged and invested in the characters and their story. Nothing felt boring at all or felt like it went on way too long. It is very consistent and in the right amounts. The touches of humor were pleasant and not done in excess like "wink wink remember this thing?".
In conclusion, this movie was phenomenal. This is coming from someone who had the entire movie spoiled for them ahead of time. It was very engaging and well paced from the outset. The entire universe felt totally organic and believable. My only real grievance would be a couple of points with some amazing plot convenience. I want to give a special shout-out to the melee combat sequences. They felt fairly realistic and had some serious weight to them, making them all-the-more tense. They did not overdo the light sabers either! It plays it safe but that is not always a bad thing. This genuinely felt like a Star Wars movie and J. J. Abrams should very much be commended for this.
*Highly Recommended*
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