Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)

A New Generation Awakens… in a Very Familiar Galaxy

Trailer Links (Watch First to Relive the Hype):

Non-Spoiler Overview

It is genuinely difficult to describe just how enormous Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt in 2015.

Ten years had passed since Revenge of the Sith. As far as theatrical Star Wars was concerned, that was it. The original six-film saga had ended, George Lucas had sold Lucasfilm to Disney, and suddenly we were being told that not only was Star Wars coming back, but we were getting Episode VII.

Then those trailers started dropping.

The desert. The new stormtroopers. Kylo Ren igniting that strange crossguard lightsaber. The Millennium Falcon soaring through the air as John Williams’ music kicked in. And, of course:

“Chewie… we’re home.”

Goddamn.

Whatever you think about the sequel trilogy now, it is hard for me to completely separate The Force Awakens from the sheer excitement surrounding its release. Star Wars felt like an event again. Nobody knew what Luke Skywalker had been doing for thirty years. Nobody knew who Rey was. Nobody knew who Kylo Ren was beneath the mask. Nobody knew what Snoke was. The possibilities seemed endless.

And then the movie actually arrived.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, The Force Awakens is simultaneously an incredibly entertaining return to Star Wars and one of the safest possible ways Disney could have brought the franchise back.

Because let’s just address the giant Death Star-shaped elephant in the room:

This is basically A New Hope again.

We have a young hero stranded on a desert planet. A cute droid carrying incredibly important information. An evil organization descended from the Empire. A mysterious masked dark-side villain. An older mentor from the previous generation. A cantina-like location. A gigantic planet-destroying superweapon. And eventually our heroes need to blow that superweapon up.

It is A New Hope with different furniture.

But—and this is why I’ve actually bumped my rating up from my original 7/10 to an 8/10—The Force Awakens executes that familiar formula extremely well.

The movie has tremendous energy. It’s funny without becoming a complete comedy. The action moves. The practical sets and creatures help everything feel tangible. The visual effects still look fantastic. Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8 bring a youthful energy to the franchise, while Han and Chewie provide the connection to the original trilogy.

It’s safe.

It’s derivative.

But it’s also really damn entertaining.

And I think I’ve come to appreciate that more with time.

Also, this movie has one of my favorite villain introductions of the sequel trilogy. The opening attack on Jakku immediately establishes the First Order, Kylo Ren, and the new status quo, and Kylo casually freezing Poe’s blaster bolt in midair remains one of the coolest demonstrations of the Force in the movie.

And that music certainly helps.

Villain Introduction / Opening Music

Characters & Cast Breakdown

Rey – Daisy Ridley

Rey is our new protagonist, a scavenger living alone on Jakku while desperately holding onto the belief that the family who abandoned her will someday return.

I think Daisy Ridley is genuinely good here. Rey has enthusiasm, loneliness, stubbornness, and a believable fascination with the larger galaxy. One of my favorite little things about her is how much history has already become mythology to her. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and the Jedi are figures from stories rather than people she personally remembers.

My problem is how quickly her Force abilities progress once they awaken.

I don’t agree anymore with reducing everything Rey accomplishes to “she’s instantly perfect at everything.” The movie establishes that she’s mechanically knowledgeable, knows how to defend herself, and has some piloting experience.

The Force, however, is where things get harder for me to swallow.

Within a very short period, Rey discovers she is Force-sensitive, resists Kylo Ren’s attempt to probe her mind, turns that ability back against him, performs a Jedi mind trick, pulls Luke’s lightsaber to herself, and ultimately defeats Kylo in combat.

There are explanations—Kylo is physically wounded by Chewbacca’s bowcaster, emotionally unstable after killing Han, and clearly isn’t fighting at his best—but Rey’s progression still feels extraordinarily fast.

There’s an interesting character here. I just wish the movie allowed her abilities to develop more gradually.

Finn – John Boyega

Finn might have the most immediately fascinating concept of the new characters.

He’s a stormtrooper who realizes:

“Holy shit. We’re the bad guys.”

And leaves.

That’s a fantastic premise.

John Boyega also brings a ton of personality to Finn. He’s nervous, funny, impulsive, occasionally selfish, but ultimately willing to risk himself for people he cares about.

Unfortunately, knowing where the trilogy eventually takes him makes his setup somewhat bittersweet. The Force Awakens gives Finn enormous potential. A former stormtrooper rebelling against the organization that kidnapped and indoctrinated him could have gone in so many fascinating directions.

Poe Dameron – Oscar Isaac

Poe is the Resistance’s hotshot pilot, and Oscar Isaac gives him enough charisma that even though Poe disappears for a huge portion of the movie, you immediately remember him when he comes back.

His chemistry with Finn during their escape is fantastic.

I really wish Rey, Finn, and Poe had actually been allowed to function as a trio more during this trilogy, because their personalities bounce off one another naturally whenever they’re together.

Kylo Ren – Adam Driver

Kylo is complicated for me.

His introduction is fantastic. He walks into this village wearing the mask, freezes a blaster bolt in midair, interrogates Poe, and immediately feels dangerous.

Then we discover that underneath all of that intimidation is an emotionally unstable young man obsessed with Darth Vader.

And yes, sometimes he’s basically throwing a temper tantrum with a lightsaber.

😂

But I actually think Adam Driver gives one of the strongest performances in the sequel trilogy. Kylo isn’t supposed to simply be Darth Vader 2.0. He’s someone desperately trying to become Darth Vader while struggling with the fact that there is still good inside him.

That’s an interesting reversal of Vader.

Vader was a fallen man slowly rediscovering Anakin Skywalker.

Kylo is Ben Solo desperately trying to murder whatever remains of Ben Solo.

I still don’t find him particularly intimidating once that mask comes off, but as a character, there’s more going on here than I originally gave him credit for.

Han Solo – Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford slips back into Han remarkably naturally.

Han is older and more tired, but he’s still Han. His relationship with Chewbacca remains wonderful, and watching him encounter the Millennium Falcon again provides some of the movie’s strongest nostalgia.

He essentially fills the Obi-Wan Kenobi mentor role for this new generation, which is another example of the movie borrowing heavily from A New Hope.

But Ford makes it work.

Leia Organa – Carrie Fisher

Leia is now General Leia Organa and leader of the Resistance.

Carrie Fisher doesn’t get nearly enough material here, but seeing Leia again carries emotional weight, particularly whenever she’s interacting with Han.

Supreme Leader Snoke – Andy Serkis

Discount Emperor.

Sorry. 😂

Snoke is deliberately mysterious here, and in 2015 that mystery worked because we assumed future movies would eventually explain who the hell this giant holographic raisin was and how he ended up controlling the First Order.

Within this movie alone, though, he’s basically Palpatine’s narrative replacement.

Captain Phasma – Gwendoline Christie

What a fucking waste.

Fantastic armor.

Great actress.

Cool voice.

Excellent marketing.

And almost nothing meaningful to do.

Phasma feels like somebody designed an awesome Star Wars action figure and then remembered they needed to put her into the actual movie.

General Hux – Domhnall Gleeson

Hux is the fanatical military face of the First Order.

And subtle he is not.

His enormous Starkiller Base speech is deliberately modeled around fascist rally imagery, with gigantic banners, endless formations of soldiers, screaming rhetoric, and the destruction of political enemies.

You understand exactly what the First Order represents.

Pros & Cons

The strongest thing about The Force Awakens is simply how enjoyable it is to watch. The pacing rarely drags, the action is exciting, John Williams’ score gives the movie that unmistakable Star Wars identity, and the combination of practical effects and CGI has aged remarkably well. BB-8 is adorable without becoming unbearable, Han and Chewie’s return works emotionally, and the new cast brings enough personality that the movie doesn’t survive purely on nostalgia.

And I cannot overstate what seeing a new Star Wars movie in theaters meant in 2015. Hearing that opening theme and seeing STAR WARS appear on the screen after ten years was special.

But the movie’s biggest weakness remains impossible to ignore: it is terrified of moving too far away from the original trilogy.

The First Order resembles the Empire.

The Resistance resembles the Rebel Alliance.

Jakku resembles Tatooine.

Snoke occupies Palpatine’s position.

Kylo visually evokes Vader.

And Starkiller Base is basically:

“What if the Death Star were even Death Star-er?”

We’ve destroyed two of these fucking things already! 😂

There are also mysteries that the movie introduces without providing satisfying answers of its own. How did Maz get Luke’s lightsaber?

“A good question, for another time.”

Okay.

WHEN, MAZ?!

R2-D2 conveniently spends most of the movie inactive before waking up when the plot needs the remainder of Luke’s map. The Knights of Ren receive an incredibly cool tease without doing anything meaningful here. And C-3PO walks in with a red arm that gets called attention to without the movie itself giving us much reason to care.

The film plants an enormous number of seeds.

The problem is that it largely leaves somebody else responsible for deciding what grows out of them.

Rating: 8/10

A New Hope wearing a new jacket?

Absolutely.

But it’s a damn entertaining jacket.

The Force Awakens is visually excellent, energetic, nostalgic, funny, and filled with enough likable characters and intriguing ideas that I still enjoy watching it despite its frustrating lack of originality.

And I think an 8/10 better represents how I feel about it now.

It’s flawed.

It’s painfully safe.

But I have too many good memories of this movie—and still enjoy too much of the movie itself—to pretend it isn’t a good time.

SPOILERS

Okay, nostalgia goggles off.

Let’s get into this thing.

The movie opens on Jakku, where Resistance pilot Poe Dameron receives part of a map supposedly leading to the missing Luke Skywalker.

The First Order attacks almost immediately.

And this is where Kylo Ren gets one hell of an introduction.

Poe fires a blaster at him.

Kylo turns around and freezes the fucking bolt in midair.

Even now, that’s cool.

It instantly communicates:

This guy can do things with the Force we haven’t really seen presented this way before.

Poe is captured, but his droid BB-8 escapes with the map.

And if you’re thinking:

“Wait, didn’t A New Hope begin with the Empire capturing a Rebel while a droid escaped carrying important information?”

Yes.

Welcome to The Force Awakens. 😂

Finn Awakens

One of the stormtroopers participating in the Jakku massacre is FN-2187.

Unlike everyone around him, something snaps.

He can’t do this.

He doesn’t want to murder civilians. He doesn’t want to fight for the First Order. And when he realizes Poe might provide his way out, he helps Poe escape in a TIE fighter.

Poe gives him the name Finn.

Their chemistry is immediately great, which makes it unfortunate that Poe apparently dies shortly afterward.

Except, of course, he doesn’t.

Finn ends up stranded on Jakku, where he encounters Rey and BB-8.

Rey, BB-8 and the Millennium Falcon

Rey has already encountered BB-8 by this point, and circumstances eventually force Rey and Finn to flee the First Order.

And conveniently sitting there is:

The Millennium Falcon.

It’s absolutely shameless fan service.

And I absolutely smiled.

Both things can be true. 😂

The Falcon chase through Jakku is one of my favorite action sequences in the movie. It’s fast, visually clear, and uses the environment wonderfully.

Eventually Han Solo and Chewbacca find their old ship.

Again:

Convenient?

Yep.

Did hearing Han and Chewie walk onto the Falcon again make millions of people happy?

Also yep.

Maz Kanata and Luke’s Lightsaber

Eventually everyone arrives at Maz Kanata’s castle, where Rey somehow encounters Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber.

The same lightsaber Luke lost along with his hand on Cloud City.

How did Maz get it?

Well…

“A good question, for another time.”

J.J.

COME BACK HERE AND ANSWER THE QUESTION.

🤣

Touching the lightsaber triggers a series of visions involving Luke, Kylo Ren, the Knights of Ren, and Rey’s childhood.

This is where the movie really starts leaning into the mystery surrounding Rey.

Who are her parents?

Why was she abandoned?

Why does Luke’s lightsaber call to her?

What is her connection to everything happening?

In 2015, these questions were genuinely exciting.

Rey vs. Kylo Ren

Rey is eventually captured by Kylo, who attempts to extract the map from her mind.

Instead, Rey begins resisting him.

And eventually she pushes back enough to glimpse his fears.

That’s an interesting scene because Kylo’s intimidating persona suddenly collapses. Rey discovers that underneath everything, he’s terrified that he’ll never become as powerful as Darth Vader.

Rey later attempts a Jedi mind trick on a stormtrooper and, after a few attempts, succeeds.

This is where my issues with her Force progression really start.

She’s essentially discovering these abilities in real time and adapting remarkably quickly.

Then she escapes.

Han Solo’s Death

And now we get to the scene everybody remembers.

Han confronts Kylo Ren—his son, Ben Solo—on Starkiller Base.

Han isn’t trying to kill him.

He’s trying to bring his son home.

And for a brief moment, it looks like he might actually succeed.

Ben removes his mask. He talks about being torn apart. He asks Han for help.

Han reaches for the lightsaber.

And Kylo ignites it through his father’s chest.

Fuck.

Han touches his son’s face one final time before falling from the bridge.

It’s heartbreaking, and Harrison Ford and Adam Driver sell the hell out of it.

And I think this scene actually makes Kylo more interesting because killing Han doesn’t accomplish what Kylo thinks it will.

He’s trying to destroy Ben Solo.

Instead, he emotionally destroys himself.

Starkiller Base

Then there’s Starkiller Base.

sigh

Guys.

We’ve done this.

The Death Star was destroyed in A New Hope.

Then the second Death Star was destroyed in Return of the Jedi.

So naturally Episode VII gives us…

BIGGER DEATH STAR.

Except now it’s built into an entire planet and can destroy multiple worlds simultaneously.

The First Order uses it to obliterate the Hosnian system and devastate the New Republic.

Visually, it’s horrifying.

Conceptually?

Death Star III.

And eventually the Resistance launches an attack to destroy it.

Because of course they do.

It’s probably the single clearest example of how desperately The Force Awakens wants to reproduce the original Star Wars formula.

Finn and Rey vs. Kylo Ren

After Han’s death, Finn and Rey confront Kylo.

Finn uses Luke’s lightsaber against him.

And just to clarify something from my older review: Finn using a lightsaber isn’t inherently ridiculous because someone doesn’t need to be Force-sensitive merely to activate and swing one.

And Kylo ultimately beats the absolute shit out of him.

But Finn does manage to land a hit before Kylo slices his back open.

Then Rey gets the lightsaber.

Kylo tries pulling it toward himself.

It flies past him.

Rey catches it.

That moment is fantastic.

The actual duel is where things become more contentious.

Rey ultimately defeats Kylo despite having no formal Jedi training. However, the circumstances matter: Kylo has been shot by Chewbacca’s bowcaster, he’s bleeding heavily, he’s emotionally shattered after murdering his father, and he’s already fought Finn.

So no, Rey isn’t simply defeating a completely healthy Kylo Ren at his absolute best.

I still think her progression happens too quickly, but the movie does provide mitigating circumstances.

R2-D2 Finally Decides to Wake Up

Meanwhile, R2-D2 has basically been taking the galaxy’s longest nap.

Luke disappeared, and R2 went into low-power mode.

Then suddenly:

BEEP BOOP I’M AWAKE.

And wouldn’t you know it?

He has the rest of the map!

🤣

This has always felt incredibly convenient.

But now the Resistance finally knows where Luke is.

Luke Skywalker

Rey travels with Chewbacca and R2-D2 to Ahch-To.

She climbs the island.

She reaches the top.

And there he is.

Luke fucking Skywalker.

After an entire movie built around finding him, we finally see Luke.

He turns around.

Rey holds out his father’s lightsaber.

Luke stares at her.

John Williams’ score swells.

The camera circles them.

And…

CREDITS.

Goddammit. 😂

But in 2015?

That ending worked.

Because everyone walked out asking the same thing:

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!

The First Order and the Complete Death of Subtlety

George Lucas obviously drew heavily from real-world fascism and Nazi Germany when constructing the Empire. Star Wars has never exactly hidden its political influences.

But I think The Force Awakens cranks the visual language up considerably.

The First Order abducts children and indoctrinates them into becoming stormtroopers. Hux stands before enormous military formations surrounded by gigantic red-and-black banners and screams a fanatical speech before Starkiller Base annihilates the New Republic’s capital system.

They’re not merely suggesting fascism.

They’re basically holding up a flashing sign saying:

THESE ARE THE SPACE FASCISTS.

😂

The imagery is effective, but subtle it ain’t.

Final Thoughts

Looking back at The Force Awakens now is strange.

I can see the problems much more clearly than I did in 2015.

It’s derivative.

It resets much of the galaxy back to the familiar Empire-versus-Rebels status quo.

Starkiller Base is another Death Star.

Several characters are underused.

And J.J. Abrams introduces mysteries that the movie itself makes very little effort to answer.

But I also can’t ignore what works.

Rey and Finn are likable leads. Poe is charismatic. BB-8 is adorable. Kylo Ren has an interesting internal conflict. Harrison Ford gives Han Solo a surprisingly emotional final chapter. The action is excellent. The effects are strong. John Williams is John fucking Williams.

And above everything else:

This movie made Star Wars feel alive again.

For those couple of hours in 2015, we weren’t arguing about The Last Jedi. We weren’t trying to understand how Palpatine somehow returned. We weren’t debating whether the sequel trilogy had a plan.

We were wondering who Rey was.

We were wondering who Snoke was.

We wanted to know what happened to Luke.

We wanted to see the Knights of Ren.

We wanted to know where this new story was taking us.

There was an excitement surrounding Star Wars that I genuinely miss.

Unfortunately, many of the possibilities established here would either be abandoned, radically redirected, or awkwardly rewritten by The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. And that’s probably the greatest tragedy of The Force Awakens.

It wasn’t an incredible new story.

But it was an incredible opportunity to begin one.

And for all my criticisms, I still have a soft spot for the movie that made me feel, if only temporarily: