Star Wars: The Forces Awakens (NO SPOILERS)
To write a film criticism is to observe a film through our own personal lens as a viewer and then attempt to write that observation in a concise and accurate manner– that in mind it’s with some amount of struggle that I come to you to write about J.J. Abrams latest endeavor Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Why? Because I personally want you to experience this film as I did, with a sense of wonder and admiration. A sense of something that has shaped and engrained itself into American culture for nearly 40 years. A continuing story that has inspired adults and children to dream of the stars, examine the balance of good and evil and how the two are often inseparably twisted, and the continued questioning of who we are and what we’re made of? To that end, I won’t be offering any plot synopsis for this film, instead, a thought about what J.J. Abrams has created.
In a few words, Hope, A New Hope. Having wrestled with the downturn of the franchise in the 90’s and 00’s through a series of abysmal prequel’s with creator George Lucas at the helm, Abrams has instead gone to the mountain and found the bottled lighting that created the original trilogy, episodes 4 though 6. Harnessing that power Abrams along with additional writers Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt have created a great new step in a positive direction to put the awe in awesome and formulate a story that delicately weaves new guard and old in a loving way combining stars Daisy Ridley, John Bodega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver, along side Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, and Mark Hamill; not allowing one to upstage or overshadow the other. And while some of the dialogue and plotting comes across as oversimplified and blocky, remember that’s always been a part of the Star Wars “charm,” regardless, prepare to be won over with loving nostalgia and the best intentions. Congrats J.J. you have inspired this doubter and helped me to believe again.