Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)'s comments - page 4

The destruction of coruscant

On one hand, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a slobberingly, passionately mirrored retelling of A New Hope sprinkled with bits of Empire and Jedi for good measure.

On the other hand, it's just a great, magical film.

Strong story, strong cast, strong dialogue, strong special effects. Die-hard fans will see some of the twists coming when some of those echoes of the past show up, but that doesn't make them less dramatic or meaningful.

Perhaps it's the 30 years of pent-up desire for a new, good Star Wars film, but it's a near-perfect Star Wars film. Sure, it has a few odd moments and not everything is fully-formed, but for some reason it's captivating, riveting and a hell of a lot of fun.

To call it entirely a remake or an echo isn't fair. JJ Abrams puts his own stamp on this film in a great way. New characters abound, and the plot definitely surprises you at times.

Clearly the film is setting things up for a new generation of characters, but they're characters you want to spend time with, just like the original.

Han's death was the closest to tears I've come in a movie. Ben's death was encoded into my memory from infancy, before I could truly love Obi Wan, Qui-Gon's death is less sad because he only had that one film, we feel mostly for young Obi Wan. But Han's death hurt, Han was there for the full story of my childhood, & I loved him. I felt his son would betray him from the moment he stepped out onto that walkway & as Ren's face was bathed in red light I felt a sadness I've rarely felt in my life. But VII is a wondrous overture to begin the next symphony. It will never be IV but goddamn it was the best thing we could of hoped for in 2015. The world is so fucked right now, but at least the force is with us.