Review- Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Blogmas Day 19


Film- The Force Awakens
Franchise- Star Wars
Directed by- J.J. Abrams
Rating- 5 stars

Star Wars is the absolute love of my life, so it is no surprise that I went to see this film on the first day it came out. When I first heard about this film I completely freaked out, this franchise has always been such a large part of my life, knowing another film was on its way was extremely exciting. But of course, as a fan, I was extremely hesitant and did not want this film to be a complete disappointment. Although going into this film I was filled with all kinds of excitement and joy, I didn't have sky high expectations and wondered how on Earth they would pull this off. They definitely had big shoes to fill if they wanted to live up to the original trilogy.
This review is going to be quite hard to write, as there is so much to this film and I have so many feelings- so bear with me, I hope it isn't too rambly and annoying! 
The first part of this review will be without spoilers, however I suggest going into this film knowing nothing and making up your own mind about it (because I always feel that is the best way) but I will eventually get onto some spoilers because this film is extremely hard to talk about without them! This film was completely action packed and something was always happening, there seemed to be constant nostalgia, the new characters were easy to love and I warmed to them as soon as they hit the screen. Ray and Finn are our new main characters in this film, ofcourse its always tricky to adjust to new characters... Especially in a franchise like Star Wars. But I immediately connected with them, Ray especially, she is already a fantastic character who has only just begun her journey and I am so excited to see what comes next for her. Finn seemed to be the comic relief in this film, and for that I really enjoyed his character- I'm ready to see more of him. Lots of people were hesitant about these new characters, but the writers did a good job with them in my opinion. Every new character in this film was on point, I even loved the side characters. Poe is an awesome new addition- he was a badass right from the start, as well as our main villain, who was played excellently. BB-8 was literally awesome, I actually want a life size version in my room, probably one of my favourite parts of this movie...
And then we had the classic characters. The mix of the old and new was done so well, Carrie Fisher was straight back into her role of Leia and every detail of her personality was back. Harrison Ford also returned excellently, Han and Chewbacca's chemistry was exactly how we saw it back in the original films and I loved it. The question that lots of people have been asking is whether Luke returns in this
movie, so I feel like I shouldn't really go into this until the spoiler section because I don't want to give anything away.
There were lots of call backs to the original trilogy, but obviously lots of time has passed since Return of the Jedi so things are going to be different. The film also seems worlds away from the prequels and it is quite difficult to see similarities between the two. But it is always great to see something new, I personally loved the style of this film and was constantly seeing the attention to detail, I thought that the visual effects in this film were done really well, I don't think they over did the CGI and it was just very visually pleasing.  
This film is completely worth the watch and I think they did an immaculate job of it. Of course it must have been tricky to get this film right and not everything was complete and utter perfection, but its not often you watch a film and it has no faults. I am already absolutely dying to watch this film again, just wanting to see things that I might have missed the first time I watched it. But now I am going to go into spoilers, so if you have yet to watch this film then I wouldn't read this section as a lot goes down in this movie, definitely recommend taking a trip to the cinema to see this film!


Spoilers
I am still a complete and utter emotional wreck, even after letting this film sink in. I was not expecting half of the things which happened in this film, especially Han. I would like to talk about this first because I have been dying to discuss it after the horror of watching it unfold. Kylo Ren is probably one of the most complex villains I have ever come across, Adam Driver played him so well and the odd thing is, you can sympathize with him a little in a really messed up way. The fact that he is Han and Leia's child made it so much worse, you could understand his emotional struggle and it was painful to watch at times. I am heartbroken about Han, it feels like my childhood has been ripped away from me and I don't know how to feel about it. His death was done so well but I am gutted and fail to understand why, oh why, they had to kill him off. Maybe his death was necessary, but right now I am in mourning over his character, when it happened I stared at the screen in a mix of absolute horror and shock. RIP.
One of my main problems with this film was the Supreme Leader. Maybe this is just me being super critical, but to me he just reminded me more of Lord of the Rings than Star Wars and I couldn't really take him seriously, he didn't feel that menacing. For me he stood out too much in this film and not particularly in a good way, but maybe it is too early on to judge him- these are my first impressions and I'm not a fan so far.
So we don't see Luke until the final scene, which is obviously going to be annoying for quite a few people. But considering Luke wasn't in most of the film, I didn't feel like there was something substantial missing- which means that it was done quite well essentially. Seeing him at the end was so satisfying and sets up episode 8 so perfectly, I am so ready for this next film and after episode 7 finished, I just wanted to go straight onto the next part of the story.
Like I said earlier, I absolutely love Ray and think that she is going to be perfect for this new trilogy, I am super excited to see her train as a Jedi and work with Luke. Everything is put in place and set up for her to descend into being a character who will be unforgettable and I feel so happy to be able to watch that unfold. 
Poe has already impressed me so much, his pilot skills were so epic and when we thought he was dead, I was gutted that we wouldn't be getting more of him. His relationship with BB-8 was so sweet and I absolutely loved it. Seeing that he was alive after all, I felt literal relief. 
I want more C-3PO in my life. When he and R2 returned, I was so very happy to see them, I would happily watch a whole film about those two. I missed them and although R2 wasn't himself, I am so excited to see him come back as the droid we know and love. C-3PO was immediately hilarious and his red arm was so endearing. 
I feel like I have gone on way too long in this review and there is still so much more I could discuss. But for now I am going to leave it at that, let me know what you thought of the film if you have seen it and may the force be with you.
-Darcy