Star Wars the Force Awakens
synopsis: Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn (John Boyega) crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.
Spoiler review: "Star Wars the Force Awakens" is the 7th movie in the franchise and it is a sequel to "Return of the Jedi". The "Force Awakens" returns Star Wars to its glory after the disappointing prequels. This movie introduces great new characters mixed with fan favorite old ones, like Leia, Han and Luke that we fell in love with during the original trilogy. Thirty years after "Return of the Jedi", Luke Skywalker the last of the Jedi knights has vanished and the galaxy has a new threat from Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a young storm trooper named Finn (John Boyega), who betrays the force order, crash-lands on a dessert planet of Jakku, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridely) a scavenger whose droid named BB-8 contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca to defeat the First Order and must make sure the map makes it to the Resistance base in order to learn the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Director J.J. Abrams has delivered a movie that is action packed, exciting and visually striking. What makes Star Wars so special is the characters and in this movie you get to learn about their journey. My favorite new characters have to be Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren. What I love about Rey and Finn is their chemistry with each other. Finn is charismatic and funny; it felt like the original Star Wars trilogy humor that we all loved not the bad prequel humor that felt forced. Rey is the strong female Star Wars character that the audience yearned for, and she was the standout in this movie, and I am excited to see what Daisy Ridley does in her career. Kylo Ren was one of the best villains in any Star Wars film since Darth Vader. He is a compelling, gripping and powerful villain who was fighting with the light side and the dark side of the force. This movie has a nostalgic feeling of "A New Hope" as they took elements from the original movie to make Star Wars fans relate to this movie more. One of my favorite scenes in this move has to be the lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren. It was intense and dramatic; definitely a crowd pleasing moment of the entire climax of the third act. The only problems that I found with this movie are some underdeveloped characters that I felt should have been used like Captain Phasma {Gwendoline Christie) who only had 15 minutes of screen time. Another complaint has to be with Starkiller Base which is just another Death Star but bigger and it felt like a lazy plot line in the story. "Star Wars the Force Awakens" is a well-directed, action packed sequel with great new characters mixed with old faces that we love, and it also brought new fans to the Star Wars universe. I am giving "Star Wars the Force Awakens" a 4 out of 5 stars.
Director: J.J Abrams
Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Mayhew, and Max Von Syndow
Runtime: 136 minutes