Star Wars The Force Awakens review: a familiar thrill for fans
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally been released but what is the verdict? Warning: contains spoilers.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
About 20 minutes into Star Wars: The Force Awakens Han Solo and Chewbacca board the indestructible Millennium Falcon, which they had misplaced. “Chewie, we are home,’’ says Han Solo, and he could well be speaking for the huge and dedicated Star Wars fan base.
It is from this moment, with Harrison Ford’s now craggy smuggler-turned freedom fighter and his furry friend taking charge of matters, that we have lift-off in the seventh instalment of the intergalactic film franchise George Lucas started almost 40 years ago.
Han Solo also features in the film’s most shocking moment, one that will leave audiences stunned, jaws to the ground, and which of course I will not reveal here. It is the dramatic and emotional pinnacle of what is a patchy film overall.
The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events of the previous film, The Return of the Jedi (1983), which saw the demise of Darth Vader. We learn that Luke Skywalker, back then a Jedi in training, now the last Jedi master, is in hiding, which continues another Star Wars trope.
The plot turns on the traditional dark versus light battle. A new group, the First Order, wants to find Luke and eliminate him. Its evil ambitions are manifested in Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who wears a black mask and reveres the memory of Darth Vader. He is, however, a conflicted character.
The forces of light want to find Luke too, and the job falls mainly to a rebel Stormtrooper, Finn (John Boyega), and scavenger girl Rey (Daisy Ridely), who clearly has an interesting past. Han Solo and Chewie lend a hand, as they tend to do.
The Force Awakens is a fan film, one that pays homage to its predecessors, especially the 1977 original, to the point of imitation. All the favourites characters pop up, and there are scenes and dialogue ripped from the past without much embellishment. That is clever and amusing at times, but falls a bit flat at others.
And another aspect that has stood the test of time is the uninspired acting. It’s not for nothing that the six previous outings have produced one acting Oscar nomination, for Alec Guinness in 1977. Ford dominates this new film with his rougish charm but his job is made easier by the cardboard performances of newcomers Boyega and Ridley.
Not that this will matter to the devotees, who are there for the story and the spectacular. New director JJ Abrams, creator of the television series Lost, delivers the latter with some thrilling set pieces, such as a low-flying dogfight involving the Falcon. But the story, written by Abrams and long-time Star Wars scribe Lawrence Kasdan is disjointed and hard to follow at times.
There are a couple of significant and satisfying reveals, principally involving Han Solo and now General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Let’s just say that kiss at the end of The Return of the Jedi may have a lot to answer for.
But in the end all roads lead to Luke (Mark Hamill). As the credits rolled on The Force Awakens, it felt a bit like the story was just beginning, though we will have to wait until the eighth film in 2017 to find out what happens next.
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