While no one expects Star Wars to disrupt cinema, the movie’s greatest weakness is in how it tries to look tall by standing on the shoulders of the giant original trilogy. The movie is reactionary-a reaction to the prequels and a security blanket that wants to give fans what they already love. The Force Awakens is a success, although it falls short of greatness because it never fully embraces the new, exciting energy Abrams and his cast bring to the franchise.
The Force Awakens is an exciting return to form for Star Wars. It extends the Skywalker saga while introducing some great new characters whose stories I think audiences will get really invested in. It’s not a remake or a reboot, but it’s a movie that tells a story not entirely dissimilar from the original Star Wars, except that many of the familiar beats and moments have a spin put on them. The Force Awakens is the Star Wars movie for remix and remake culture. The Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at an incredible 97% with 140 total reviews so far, making it the highest-rated Star Wars movie ever (three points ahead of Hope and Empire). The full-blown reviews went live at 00:01 this morning, with many worried that the initial thoughts were a result of the excruciating hype clouding their judgement, however it seems as if there was no such thing – The Force Awakens is really, really great. While we got the first reactions from the premiere on Monday night, those were only brief – and in tweet-form. Abrams succeed in revitalising Star Wars for a new generation?įortunately, the answer is a resounding yes. Will it actually live up to the hype? Will it deliver in any way, shape or form? Will J.J. Abrams’s film is due for release in December 2015.It’s a question which has been terrifying everyone, from the most hardcore fan to Disney themselves, since October 2012 when the Lucasfilm buyout was announced. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will see Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford returning to the classic roles of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo from the original Star Wars trilogy, with Oscar Isaac, Driver, Von Sydow, Boyega and Serkis joining the cast, along with British newcomers Ridley and Pip Andersen. Spoiler Boy described the new film as on a par with 1977’s Star Wars in terms of quality, but also suggested that Abrams is locked in a battle with studio Disney over key issues.įor more potential spoilers, including the identities of characters played by Daisy Ridley, Andy Serkis and Max von Sydow, visit the Reddit thread that first reposted Spoiler Boy’s offerings. The 3,000 words of information about the new film have so far been treated with caution by Star Wars experts, though the rumours do tally well with previous reports about the plot of the new film.
It is apparently Driver who is seen in the trailer for The Force Awakens, carrying a sword-like lightsaber (which is different to the usual weapon because he constructed it himself without formal training). He shot down rumours that Benedict Cumberbatch will play a role in the film but claimed Adam Driver would play a masked Sith-like character with cyborg elements. 4Chan user Spoiler Boy, who posted the original thread, described Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay as “too good for Abrams”.