The Force Awakens: Upon Further Review

This is the first of my series: Upon Further Review, where I return to previous films I’ve reviewed or seen, and see if my perspective has changed.

When writing about a movie or formulating an opinion on something, it’s difficult to avoid the excitement that comes after seeing a film. The belief that everything about it seems incredible, unique, exciting, or any other positive word in the dictionary. I’ve struggled with this multiple times while writing about movies, and as a result, I struggle to convey my most genuine thoughts in the process. Usually, I make the conscious decision to either see the movie a second time and look for more information to formulate my opinion or let it sit in my memory and evaluate the stand out moments. Today, I’m taking this process to another level, and re-evaluating a film years later, in a way that is conducive for writing.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a movie that I had been waiting 19 years for. I grew up loving the Star Wars films, often hearing my parents tell me how when they needed me to calm down or just to stay in one place, they’d turn any of them on and let me sit and watch. I’d be mystified and entranced all at once, and you’d have to physically move me to break me from that connection. As a result, my love was born from a very young age. This also meant that a lot of my opinions about the franchise of Star Wars started out favourably, and until I really started to look at them did I ever notice any true blemishes. But, even though I began to not truly enjoy the prequel films as much, I was still just as eager to see the saga continue.

I loved The Force Awakens, and it immediately was placed at the top of my Star Wars film rankings. It felt like it brought a lot of the story points from the past together and really made the entire history of the saga matter in ways you don’t remember. The original heroes and villains still hold a place, whether it’s large or small, and even the prequels felt like their presence was felt. Along with this, the new protagonists felt like a perfect fit for the universe and made it feel that much more rejuvenated. Finally, Kylo Ren felt absolutely masterful, and what many really wanted Anakin to be during his turn to the dark side: a tragic villain. To put it all into one general thought: The Force Awakens is everything I wanted from a new Star Wars movie and really the start of a new era for the franchise.

Watching this movie with my girlfriend in 2019, I realize there are some things about this film that I specifically recognize as well done. The first being the visuals of the movie. Disney made sure to prop up in a lot of their ad campaign the fact that a majority of their visuals and effects were done practically, and man does this payoff. A trend that continued in future films, practical effects take Star Wars back to where it was in 1977. It feels new but also old like I want it to, not a CGI-fest like that of the prequels. There’s so much to these effects and how they improve the quality of the movie that it’s hard to really just say one or two specific things. If you want an example, go watch the entire opening sequence on Takodana.

Another extreme positive that I always recognize with this film is the number of stellar performances from many of the main characters. Adam Driver as Kylo Ren is stellar, giving the franchise a different style of villain than it is used to, and Rey is an interesting anomaly with a lot of questions still left to be answered, but this mystery is done greatly by Daisy Ridley. John Boyega and Oscar Isaac also both play their roles excellently, and Poe for me continues to be a standout. And, who could forget the original cast returning to their roles, with Harrison Ford taking up the role of Han Solo one more time in arguably one of his better performances of the character.

As I sit and watch the film in 2019, I still feel this is true, and The Force Awakens still places within the top 3 of my favourite Star Wars movies. But, there’s something else I really want to discuss surrounding the majority of the criticism this movie gets. The A New Hope comparisons.

A sect of people view The Force Awakens as an almost carbon copy of A New Hope, which is absolutely not true, but I’d be lying if I said there were no similarities. For me though, I don’t seem to mind that all. But why is that? After doing some thinking, I believe that the reason for this is that after such a long period of time, Disney knew what made Star Wars great: the underdog story that made the original films so great. So, taking that formula and reinventing it for a new generation is absolutely worthwhile to introduce fans back to the franchise in a good way that they’ll immediately connect with. The similarities only come and specific moments in the story, but there’s so much original creation that I’m very satisfied with the overall package.

The Force Awakens is an incredible Star Wars film and film in general. As someone whose a life-long lover of the franchise, this is still the movie I find myself re-watching more than any other, and I’m still just as excited by it on the 100th re-watch as I was the first time I saw it in the theater. For those fans out there who maybe haven’t had the chance to see this movie again in some time, I encourage you to go and give this movie another watch, you just might find something else to love about it or discuss with your friends. May the Force be with you!

Thanks for reading everyone, this was an experiment for myself in this second review style, and something I’d like to continue doing perhaps on a monthly basis. Feel free to give me any criticism below on ways I can improve, but otherwise, I’ll see you all next week for another new article! - John