Review by Stephanie LaCour
For a lot of us, Star Wars was our first movie that transported us to outer space, showing us a new world. A world of Jedis, of Siths, of aliens and bounty hunters. A world that made us question; are we alone in space? Sitting in the theater our thoughts were alive with questions; who’s Rey? Where does Finn come from? Who is the X-wing pilot?
Everyone had these thoughts in their heads because we’d all seen the trailers and we wanted answers. The theater waited with baited breath for the striking music to start. When those first bars of one of the most remarkable theme songs started, you could feel the entire theater holding their breath.
Then the memorable golden title appeared and the theater erupted into applause, screaming and shouting with the voices of people who had waited years for the Star Wars world to be brought back to screens.
After watching it, most of us could say The Force Awakens shattered our expectations, but others insist The Force Awakens could’ve been better. Although, we all agree that the best thing in the entire movie was Han Solo being the sassiest cinnamon roll in the galaxy.
The movie begins by introducing us to the hottest X-wing pilot in the resistance: Poe Dameron, portrayed by the amazing Oscar Isaac. Soon, we discover Poe is on a mission to find a piece of the map that leads to Luke Skywalker, who apparently has been in a self imposed exile for a little over a decade.
How to describe the perfect being that is Poe Dameron? Well, he has some really witty one liners, such as, when he was brought in front of Kylo Ren to be tortured “Do I talk first or you talk first? I talk first?” in the face of certain danger, and possibly death, he remains extremely aware of himself and Poe Dameron manages to back talk one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy.
We’re also introduced to BB-8, the best thing since sliced bread, and the actual greatest non-human character to be on screen since Dobby the House-elf from Harry Potter. Everyone in the theater fell in love with BB-8 the minute he appeared on screen. You could hear the muffled laughter of the crowd in response to BB-8’s comedic appearance and his noteworthy thumbs up with his little torch.
Soon thereafter, we are following Finn into the First Order, and seeing into the life of the modern stormtrooper. Finn is a great character and John Boyega did a magnificent job playing him.
I just have to say that the jacket scene between him and Poe was the best scene in the movie hands down. The tension between the two was so real, and you could feel the chemistry between the two of them buzzing throughout the theater.
Finn was a really colorful character and we get to see many sides of him, such as him being torn about his duties as a stormtrooper and his morals; Finn being happy when escaping with Poe, and shooting down tie-fighters.
Overall, Finn is a well rounded character and we get to see quite a bit of character development from him over the length of the movie.
A favorite scene of mine is when Kylo Ren is torturing Rey and being a lovely whiny four year old, because she is acting like he’s a child (which he is) and he’s acting like he’s something important (which he’s not).
The character of Kylo Ren, played by the talented Adam Driver, is well written; if he is supposed to be written like a whiny child. Other than that he seems de- cent, his force powers are nicely written, and how he can mind probe is an interesting touch, because that is a unique power not many force users can learn.
Overall, the movie was well written, although it did move a little fast, but that was expected.
The magic of seeing it in theater is something I will never forget and the magic of Star Wars will never leave us.
The Force Awakens did not have all we wished for, but now we have better expectations for the next ones.
Although, it definitely has the magic of Star Wars.