Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Episode VII is a familiar dream

This review contains spoilers.

It’s hard to overstate the influence that “Star Wars” had in the formation of my love for movies. As a six year-old in New York, that pivotal summer of 1977 was an Enlightenment Era for my psyche, set to an ever present soundtrack of KISS, The Bee Gees, and, of course, John Williams’ iconic score.  As the first film I saw in a theater, “Star Wars” was the revelatory epicenter of what movies could be. That’s why we’re here talking right now.

That’s also why, after decades of ingrained fandom and a prequel trilogy that disappointed in almost every way, it is borderline surreal to see a new “Star Wars” film that is objectively better, in essence, than half of the “Star Wars” movies that now exist.

“The Force Awakens” conscripts the bulk of the original cast, nicely intact, to serve as a booster rocket for new characters and stories, carried by director JJ Abrams’ obsessive drive to recapture the intangible magic that made the originals work.

Fortunately, despite an all-too-familiar plot, “The Force Awakens” is a rousing—if scattershot—return to form, executed with enough heart to make its inherent artifice mostly forgivable.

Set thirty years after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” the film’s opening text crawl reveals that Luke Skywalker has vanished and the Jedi are all but extinct. Luke, and the Force itself, have become half-forgotten myths.

The remnants of the Empire have reformed under the leadership of Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) into the First Order. Meanwhile, under the command of General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), The Resistance (essentially the military-arm of the re-established Republic) lead a campaign against the First Order while quietly searching the galaxy high and low for Luke.

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a First Order commander, is also a member of the mysterious Knights of Ren, a cultish cadre of Sith fanboys who aim to make the Dark Side fashionable once more.  He was Luke’s Padawan—before slaughtering his fellow students—and now pursues his former master, determined not to let the last Jedi encroach on his plans for galactic domination.

The manhunt leads to a convergence of characters on the desert planet Jakku, a desolate junkyard world whose scavenger denizens mine scrap from the graves of fallen star destroyers to trade for a Soylent Green-like foodstuff (shit’s pretty grim in the Outer Rim).

There’s X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and his faithful droid co-pilot BB-8, who discover a map to where Luke is hiding. Then there’s Rey (Daisy Ridley), a young scrap collector, and Finn (John Boyega), a conscientious former Storm Trooper. Due to epic levels of luck they meet Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), who since the end of the war have become spacefaring junk collectors. These characters cross paths and eventually unite to carry on the search for Luke.

The major plot points of the first “Star Wars” film, and elements of the other films, are repurposed and given a leftward spin, but they’re all here. A cute little droid hiding important information, a stunning reveal about well-known characters that you never saw coming, and, of course, a gallant death for one of them. And there’s another Death Star, this one much bigger and capable of destroying multiple planets at once.   

The same strengths and weaknesses that made Abrams 2009 “Star Trek” reboot so compulsively fun yet frustrating manifest themselves here. The breakneck pace combined with Abrams stunning visual prowess often blurs the fault lines in the script, co-written by Abrams and “Empire Strikes Back” vet Lawrence Kasdan.

The thinly sketched story, dependent on an overabundance of sheer coincidence, often leapfrogs like an Olympic tri-athlete right past critically important details. Who are the Knights of Ren? Why does Poe Dameron disappear through the second act? How the hell does he reappear, leading the Resistance during a critical battle to save our heroes on a completely different planet? What happened to the original home of the Republic, Coruscant? Why does R2 just wake up out of nowhere? Some of those questions are answered in synergistic comics and video games, but they are frustratingly glossed over here. The fact that Abrams is addressing these narrative gaps in interviews now, as opposed to, you know, in the film, speaks volumes.    

There’s no denying Abrams loves this universe to its core, but “The Force Awakens” is some new sub-strata of reboot, hitting the beats of your favorite song like a reliable tribute band. The cynic in me sees a successful corporate acquisition, divorced from its famously anti-corporate creator George Lucas, to be given the Marvel treatment by the Mouse House, and (in this case) re-mixed by a purveyor of cinematic cover songs, who was as similarly moved as the rest of us during that same, seminal moment in 1977. This man gets our nostalgia. For better and worse.

But there’s no mention of Federation Trade disputes, at least, and no character as annoying as Jar Jar Binks. “The Force Awakens” is Abrams best film, and rivals “Return of the Jedi” as third best in the series, pretty much obviating the Prequels entirely. The originals are the prequels now.

The director’s real strength, aside from the visuals—going all-in with 35mm film, largely practical FX and an obvious reverence for the iconic designs—is his casting. What elevates “The Force Awakens” are some often-great performances, something Lucas was never known for eliciting. This is, by far, the best acting ever committed to any film called “Star Wars.”

Daisy Ridley is a revelation and the chemistry she shares with John Boyega is the heart and soul of the film—giving life to heroic arcs that are both genuine to the world and compellingly charismatic. The characters are stunningly successful—emotionally compelling and easy to invest in—and their diversity is a refreshing parallel to life as we know it here on Earth.

As Kylo Ren, Adam Driver is also a standout. I was unsure of his casting at first (I’ve seen him get freaky too many times on “Girls”) but Driver brings a cagey depth to the role—he’s a Goth kid who collects the relics of the Sith, and his evil deeds conceal a deeper conflict below the surface.  

As exciting as these performances are, what has many fans rightly elated is the return of the original cast. Carrie Fisher brings a world-weary seriousness to Leia, tenacious as ever but far removed from her days as a princess. Harrison Ford feels invested in his old, roguish self for the first time in a decade, and it is undeniably heart-warming to see them together again, with Chewie as their co-pilot—at least until the film’s most emotionally devastating moment.  

And here we are, all these years later, still with them. “The Force Awakens” is a lot of fun to watch (something Lucas forgot about), but it’s also something of a reunion tour—like seeing your favorite ‘80s band, with some new members, juke-boxing their greatest hits live in the 21^st century.

Except this band is never going to die.

For more from Joe, read his review of the Christmas horror comedy, "Krampus."