The Force Awakens

At number three is the Force Awakens.

Let’s just jump into it.

This movie is amazing. First, let’s talk THAT scene in the movie. Well, THOSE scenes in fact.

We have, in no particular order: “Traitor!” Ren and Han, the lightsaber dual in the snow, The Falcon’s introduction scene. The Rebellion saving the day, Han and Chewie showing up. There are just SO. MANY. SCENES.

The whole film is well shot, well paced, the dialogue, for one of the first times in a Star Wars movie, is really good. Acting is fantastic. The new heroes are great, Rey is an interesting, likeable character. Finn is a fresh take and a new angle on the Stormtroopers we haven’t seen yet and it’s interesting to watch him turn from coward to hero. For the short time we see him, Poe nails the confident “best pilot” role.

And Kylo Ren. Kylo damn Ren. I love him. Ever since I first saw that cross-guard Lightsaber in the first teaser I fell in love.

His costume is awesome, his lightsaber is kickass and him as a character, is great. A lot of people say he’s just an “Angsty Vader wanna be” and sure, that’s a fair assessment. You’re right; partially.
Kylo Ren fascinates me as a character because of what’s under the surface. Deep down, he can feel the light guiding him, this is shown so many times to the viewer, but he doesn’t want to embrace it. Partially due to the way Snoke has control over his mind, the other due to his love for Vader. He decides to kill his Dad at the end to try and finally push himself away from any potential desire to come back. His constant anger and his moody nature SHOULD be common in a Sith. Their power comes from their own emotions, they fuel themselves with hatred and pain; hence why he keeps hitting his wound at the end.

As for the dual, he doesn’t win, and here’s why. He was wounded from the start. He toys with Finn and gets injured again because of it. When his next opponent steps up to fight he toys with them a little too, but realises they’re far more powerful than Finn. Kylo does not want to kill them, he wants to take them to Snoke to make them a Sith too. That should be obvious. He’s fighting to disarm and capture his opponent; using restraint but also crutched and handicapped by his injuries and a lack of practice in sword fights. It’s been years since he had his last dual someone, that being when he was with Luke. He’s rusty, his opponent is clearly shown being skilled in melee combat, and uses the force at the end to win.

I don’t want to ramble on and on about this movie but I could easily. It’s a brilliant movie, one of the best in this series. Sure, it’s SIMILAR to a New Hope, but that’s the point. They did it on purpose. They wanted to test the waters, gain the trust of the Star Wars fans again, make sure everyone was ready before doing new, crazy ideas. See Rogue One for an example. A Star Wars movie with no Jedi and none of our already existing characters?! Woah! The movie was supposed to be similar and I honestly am okay with that. They showed us what the universe is now and I’m excited to see more of it.

Now, of course, this movie isn’t perfect. It has some flaws, but nothing that’s really worth mentioning in this quick review. If you like Star Wars, you should love this movie. Seeing Han Solo and Chewbacca again to help guide this movie and give the fans a sense of familiarity and slowly fade them out and replace them with our new cast, it all blends and works so well.

For all these reasons, The Force Awakens gets an 8/10 from me, and is third on the list.