Let’s talk Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Come to the dark side of spoilers. We have cookies.

If you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens and don’t want to be spoiled, you really need to stop reading now. No whining in the comments that you didn’t know I’d be spoiling key plot points in this post.

All good? Good.

First, of all, wow. I thought J.J. Abrams and crew really did a great job blending the nostalgia with a new set of characters. Was it a little too heavy on the nostalgia? Probably. But I was 7 when Star Wars IV: A New Hope came out in 1977 and so I greedily devoured every nostalgic reference. From Finn accidentally turning on the holographic battle beast game in the Millenium Falcon to Kylo Ren killing Han Solo on the bridge the way Darth Vader killed Obi-wan Kenobi to Han and Finn’s witty dialogue about trash compactors. It pushed every nostalgic button I had brilliantly. And when Han called out to his wayward son with his given name, I just about lost it.

The fact that the plot was a mirror of A New Hope was both exciting and disappointing. Abrams essentially told the same story with new characters. I loved the new characters, and I loved how they were integrated into the Star Wars universe, but I would have preferred a more original story line. He still could have put in all the wonderful call backs to the original trilogy, but in an adventure that was not so much of a retread.

I can’t decide which new character I enjoyed more: Finn or Rey (or Rebel Alliance ace pilot Poe Dameron!) Finn, played brilliantly by John Boyega, was funny and engaging in every scene he was in, particularly the ones with Han. Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, was so engaging you couldn’t help rooting for her every step of the way. I would follow these two on whatever adventure they went on together and that’s a testament to the acting as well as the script. And the fact that a woman is the next Jedi made me cheer especially since I was sitting next to my 11-year old daughter at the screening.

Finally, we have to talk about the elephant in the room: Han Solo’s death. It had to happen. We have to have a villain that could rival Darth Vader and what better reason to hate Kylo Ren than because he killed off one of the most beloved characters of the franchise. And while I loved seeing Luke and Leia and Han again, they need to move so we can focus on the story of Rey and Finn and Kylo Ren. Here’s hoping the next two installments work on their own and not on references from 38 years ago.

What did you think of Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Everything you hoped for and more or an okay retread of an overhyped classic movie? Also, did you realize that General Hux was played by Domhnall Gleeson aka Bill Weasley from the Harry Potter movies? /mindblown