Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the sort of addition to a monumental franchise that can make a fan out of viewers who weren’t raised understanding the pull of the Force.

The Force Awakens opens with a classic action movie opening on Jakku where we meet Rey (Daisy Ridley), who lives a solitary life as a scavenger, and expects to spend the rest of her life there until a chance encounter with a droid sweeps her up with the rebel alliance.

The dark force is known this time at The First Order, headed by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While Rey is on Jakku, a non-conforming Stormtrooper (John Boyega) teams up with a rebel pilot, Poe (Oscar Isaac), to make their escape in a First Order spaceship, and return to Jakku to retrieve the Droid. 

Not surprisingly, Rey and the Stormtrooper, who gives himself the name Finn team up, and the rest are ~spoilers~. 

Without getting further into the plot, I will say this was the Star Wars I needed. It touched on old Star Wars without waxing poetic about a time gone by (though the audience might have been). 

The effects were a mix of puppets, reality, and CGI, which worked to make it an immersive cinematic world, and the stunts neither drove nor hindered the plot. 

The writing for Rey and Finn was excellent. I appreciate the fact that they had time as a platonic duo, and that Rey was written out as a fully independent, multi-faceted character with lines that showed awareness of traditional movie tropes, and mocked them with a knowingness the audience could appreciate without being patronizing. Ridley and Isaac were both adept at navigating the varying emotions of their characters, and peers to Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. 

This movie has made me a fan of Star Wars. (I’m watching the prequels, and had watched the original trilogy in preparation.) The lifetime fans I know, loved it in equal measure. You should watch it.