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Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
USA 2015
produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Kathleen Kennedy, Tommy Harper (executive), Jason D. McGatlin (executive) for Walt Disney Productions (Lucasfilm), Bad Robot
directed by J.J. Abrams
starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Peter Mayhew, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Max von Sydow, Gwendoline Christie, Joonas Suotamo, Pip Andersen, Simon Pegg, Kiran Shah, Sasha Frost, Pip Torrens, Andrew Jack, Rocky Marshall, Greg Grunberg, Emun Elliott, Brian Vernel, Yayan Ruhian, Sebastian Armesto, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Warwick Davis, Cailey Fleming, Mark Stanley, Ken Leung, Iko Uwais, Anna Brewster, Harriet Walter, Tim Rose, Mike Quinn, Erik Bauersfeld (voice), Kipsang Rotich (voice)
written by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt, based on characters created by George Lucas, music by John Williams, special effects by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Base FX, Halon Entertainment, Hybride Technologies
Star Wars, Star Wars 3rd Trilogy
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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In a far distant future and a galaxy far far away: Finn's (John Boyega)
a Stormtrooper for the new evil empire, the First Order, but his first
mission even proves to him he's on the wrong side, when he and his fellow
Stormtroopers are ordered to massacre some innocent villagers after a
rebel, Poe (Oscar Isaac), was found among them. So he frees Poe ... but
during their escape, their spacecraft crashlands on a desert planet, and
only Finn survives the crash. Poe though was no ordinary rebel, he was
carrying a droid back to the rebel stronghold as this droid held the only
map to the whereabouts of mythical Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). This
little droid, BB-8, has in the meantime been found by trash metal
collector Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has adopted the little fellow as her
sort of pet, not knowing the information it's storing. Incidently she
lives on the planet Finn has crashed onto, and it's only a matter of time
before their ways cross ... and when they do, they (with BB-8) find
themselves on the run from the Stormtroopers who are after the droid, and
somehow get their hands on Han Solo's (Harrison Ford) Millenium Falcon and
leave the planet ... only for them to be captured - by Han Solo and his
trusted sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) eventually, but after some
misunderstandings they all figure they're on the same side, and even
though Han has left the rebellion long ago to go back to smuggling, he
agrees to get Finn, Rey and BB-8 to the rebel base ... even if that means
he has to meet with his ex General (former Princess) Leia (Carrie Fisher)
again. Of course, the rebels are a little nervous as the First Order has
a new superweapon, the Starkiller, a planet that sucks all energy out of
any sun it might fly by to then shoot another planet out of existence. Han
Solo and Leia have a personal score to settle with the First Order, too,
as their leader, Snope (Andy Serkis), has turned their son Kylo Ren (Adam
Driver) to the dark side. Finn wants to leave the rebellion (he has
never officially joined anyways) and run as far away as possible, but then
Rey is captured by stormtroopers and delivered to Kylo Ren, and now he
sees it his duty to free her - even if that means that he and Han and
Chewbacca have to destroy the Starkiller in the process. Once on
Starkiller, the inevitable conflict between father and son becomes
inevitable as Han and Kylo cross paths, and Han tries to win over his son
to the good side again - but is killed in the process, which makes
Chewbacca more than a little angry. Rey in the meantime has discovered the
"force" in herself, and she has freed herself, and ultimately,
she and Finn fight Kylo Ren using Luke's lightsaber, and of course they
win even if Finn is gravely wounded, then the rebels led by Poe, who has
somehow survived his death, destroy the fleet of the First Order. So
good defeats evil once again, and with that settled, Rey, now accompanied
by Chewbacca, goes and finds Luke ... After the almost
generally disliked prequel trilogy, Walt
Disney Productions (who has since bought out George Lucas) and
director J.J. Abrams managed to give fans what they longed for with The
Force Awakens: A fun ride that's big spectacle and ticks off
everything Star Wars fans could have hoped for, inclulding appearances by
the major players of the original trilogy, some bigger some smaller of
course. And what's really good about this film is that the ride never
stops, there are no boring bits in this, no padding or the like, or
over-convolution or lengthy explanations. That said though, The Force
Awakens is really just that, a fun ride, and not a perfect film: For
once, in the hands of J.J. Abrams this has become more of a fan film with
maybe too many references to the original trilogy, while at the same time
telling a story that's lacking innovation, on the other hand, too many
plot elements seem under-developed: The Starkiller is never milked for its
full potential, Kylo Ren lacks a proper backstory, he seems to be just
there to mirror Annakin/Darth Vader's turn from good to evil, Han Solo's
sudden demise was a bit too anti-climactic, as was the demise of Kylo Ren on the crumbling Starkiller, it seems to have
been dreamed up just out of necessity to have a lightsaber duel since this
is Star Wars. That all
said, the film's still fun and caters well to fans and uninitiated alike -
but greatness it isn't.
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