This might be the least necessary review I’ve ever written. If you want to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, reviews are downright superfluous, whether they be five-star or zero-star. If you don’t want to see Star Wars, then chances are you’re not reading this, but are rather on Twitter or Facebook, talking about how you don’t want to see Star Wars. Congratulations, I guess, on not liking a thing. For the rest of us – and there are a lot of us, if presale tickets are any indication – this is a movie that will be seen multiple times regardless of hype or quality (hell, your humble reviewer saw Attack of the Clones in theaters like four times). The good news is, as the first Star Wars film in a decade following Revenge of the Sith, The Force Awakens has a very low bar to hurdle. The better news is, this film is pretty damn good on its own merits.
What was so notable about A New Hope – and, to an extent, Return of the Jedi – was the sense of fun, of joy. George Lucas was inspired by Flash Gordon serials, and set out to make a Saturday-afternoon matinee type of film (which he and Spielberg would later perfect with Raiders of the Lost Ark). Years later, that sense of fun was gone in the prequel films, replaced by a sense not of duty but of obligation – not obligation to the fans, mind you, but to the merchandise. You can’t look at anything that happens on Geonosis and tell me that the entire planet wasn’t designed to sell toys. Director J.J. Abrams, with The Force Awakens, has tapped back into that vein. This film is an almost-perfect distillation of the Star Wars formula. It’s fun and thrilling, with a healthy dose of mysticism, adventure, and occasional corniness (which is a good thing).
What impressed me most about The Force Awakens is just how much happened. Every single scene advances the plot in some way or another, and we meet about a hundred new characters, among them Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and Captain Phasma (Gwendolyn Christie, woefully underused). It’s a testament to the script (credited to Abrams, Empire scribe Lawrence Kasdan, and Toy Story 3‘s Michael Arndt) that the film never feels rushed or cluttered.
Personalities are quickly and strongly established, and The Force Awakens is somehow able to stick to a relatively tight 135-minute runtime. Finn, a former Stormtrooper, is scared and confused, but nevertheless gutsy and cocky (Boyega gets many of the film’s funniest lines). Rey is standoffish but good-hearted, General Hux is gleefully malevolent, and Kylo Ren is surprisingly tortured and conflicted. Driver gives an amazing performance, and nearly walks away with the film (he has stiff competition from Boyega and Ridley). His voice is almost a monotone, which does wonders to make Kylo Ren a Star Wars villain who can inspire actual fear. But more than that, Driver nails the serpentine physicality of Ren, which is a direct reflection of his inner turmoil.
Driver’s youth is not hidden at all – he spends a decent portion of The Force Awakens with his mask off – and is in fact used to great effect. Ren is young and impetuous, talented but not well-trained. Twice, in fits of rage, he destroys rooms with his lightsaber, and his fighting style is inelegant enough that it rings true when he gets bested. Driver was the cast member I was the most concerned about, fearing two hours spent with Darth Hipster Doofus. If you had the same worries, banish them, because Driver is so damn good that the film misses him sorely when he’s not around.
That’s not to say The Force Awakens is perfect, though. There are some pretty glaring structural problems here, which one could blame on the nature of the script. With this many new characters, it would be impossible to give them all equal amounts of screen time, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that Phasma, for instance, isn’t the intimidating presence that her armor would suggest, or that Poe disappears for almost the entire middle third of the film, this last being especially grievous to us Oscar Isaac fanboys. (Makes you think that this could be resolved if Finn and Rey didn’t spend most of their time with Han Solo and Chewbacca, but that sounds perilously close to a complaint about “too much Han Solo,” which I think is illegal to even think.) That, and the minor issue of the climax to the film being remarkably similar to that of A New Hope.
But there is a whole lot to like here, for longtime fans and for newcomers. The Force Awakens is absolutely Star Wars for the twenty-first century, as far removed from the hokey toy commercials of the trilogy as possible. It’s smart, it’s fun, and put simply, Abrams directs the shit out of it. This is probably his most personal film since Super 8, and it’s evident in every frame. The Force Awakens was shot on film, and the majority of the effects were practically done, both signs of a level of commitment to the franchise not seen in decades.
Going into The Force Awakens, Abrams didn’t have to be faithful to the original films, because the creator of those films took a giant, three-movie canonical dump all over them. Abrams had to course-correct, and he does a remarkable job of it. The Force Awakens firmly exists in the universe of the original trilogy, but has an identity of its own, which is no small feat. It’s hands-down the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back.
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