Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens - Review

Episode VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS

:: Rated "S.S." for "Strong Spoilers" - Read at your own risk ::
Please take note before reading I'm a huge Star Wars fan for more than 20 years...

"We're home"

Thirty years after the events of "Return of the Jedi", a young stormtropper called Finn helps a pilot from the resistance to escape from the First Order (the new Empire) and a mysterious man called Kylo Ren. This pilot has information about the whereabouts of the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker, who has been missing. This map is in the possesion of a BB-8 droid who is running from the First Order but found by a young woman named Rey in a dessert-like planet calld Kaboo.

After soem events, Finn finds Rey with the droid and they decide to work together to bring the map to the resistance. Taking a stolen "Millenium Falcon" they go out to space and found by Han Solo and Chewbacca who decides to help them.

After some events running away, they find a misterious one-thousand years old creature called Maz who can read people by looking at their eyes and has the original blue lightsaber Luke had. Rey is called by the lightsaber and shows her some of Luke's memories claiming it now belongs to her but she refuses to take it.

Back to the First Order and Kylo Ren, we discover the man behind the mask is actually Han Solo's son who entered in the dark side after being a pupil of Luke. They show the power of a new station called "Starkiller" that uses the energy of the suns to destroy planets at the same time (much like the Death Star but stronger and much bigger) by erasing the entire Republic system in one single shot.

That lightsaber...

The First Order shows up and fight against them and a new and stronger Resistance but Kylo Ren takes Rey hostage knowing she has seen the map of Luke's location. She's imprisoned in the Starkiller and discovers she has the Force inside her as she can see inside Kylo's mind.

Back to the planet, the Resistance, ruled by General Leia Organa, join forces with Han Solo and Finn to get there and destroy their deathly weapon. Han tells Leia he has seen their son but she claims he still has light inside him and asks him to bring him back.

Meantime, we get a change to see our favourite droids C3PO and R2D2 who is in a coma status since Luke has been gone. There's a very sweet moment where the new BB8 tries to wake him up asking him if he has the rest of the map they need to find "Master Luke".

Back at the Millenium Falcon and with the help of the X-Wings, they starts the mission to save Rey and destroy Starkiller. Meanwhile, Rey discovers more of her force powers by escaping herself.

After Han, Chewbacca and Finn find her, they decide to help the Resistance by setting some bombs in the station to make their work easier but Han finds Kylo Ren face to face and decides to help him out (calling him by his real name: Ben) but ends brutally killed by his own son.

Witnessed by Rey and Finn, they run away but get easily spot by the dark lord and the final fight beings. Finn tries his best with the lightsaber but fails after Kylo's anger raises after killing his father but it doesn't last long after Rey uses the force to get the legendary weapon and wins the battle at her best but not killing him.

After that, the First Order runs away after taking Kylo with them and the Starkiller is destroyed. Leia gets the news of Han's death by Rey and sadness invades their (and our) hearts until R2D2 finally wakes up and reveals the rest of the map. Faster than ever, Chewie and Rey get aboard the Falcon and find a lonely Luke filled with grief.

The movie ends like that, waiting to reveal more in Episode VIII...

The Force Awakens is not like the prequels but feels more like the original trilogy with some old school special effects mixed by visual effects and very little CGI. The same goes to the amazing soundtrack, made by the great master John Williams who delivers another masterpiece with some old tracks we already love mixed with new pieces that makes it feel like they have always been there. It's far better than the prequels, it feels like the right Star Wars movie we've been looking for.

Rey and BB 8, the real stars of the movie!

J.J. Abrams has done an amazing work making this film, while it feels like an updated version of "A New Hope" with some elements changed, better special effects and more action scenes. It's true that the plot feels like the original movie; a young person alone in a planet (Rey / Luke) who finds a droid with revelant information (BB8 / R2D2) and gets help by an old legend (Han Solo / Obi Wan) while the bad guys (First Order / Empire) ruled by a dark lord (Kylo Ren / Darth Vader) who works from a mysterious master (Snoke / Sidious) go after them until the dark lord kills their friend (Han Solo / Obi Wan again). It has so many elements that make it the same movie but it kinda works, maybe it's nostalgia but still looks amazing and the new elements work even better. It also has its comedy moments like in the previous movies, most of them by Finn's personality and BB8 cute moments, it will make you laugh out loud.

We have better special effects mixed with the old visual elements from the original trilogy. The spaceship fights look amazing and intense. The final fight Finn & Rey versus Kylo Ren is just amazing, it's so intense and frightering gives you chills and amazes you how it's going to end. But there are two special moments in the movie will make you breathless (I said spoilers, remember?); The scene Han Solo is killed by Kylo Ren (aka. Ben Solo) is totally unexpected and will leave you speechless, you will never be ready to say good-bye to a character as loved as him. The other scene is at the very end when Rey finds Luke Skywalker at last, he only gets like 20 seconds of screen time but that's just the best moment of the entire film, the entire theatre started cheering!

The final fight was just amazing!

The new cast is surprisingly good and likeable; Daisy Ridley does a great job as the new heroine and future Jedi Rey, she may be a better leading role than Mark Hamill was. Then there's John Boyega as the stromtropper Finn who is very likeable and funny always, I kinda feel bad for him at the end at not becoming the next Jedi but I'm sure we'll see more about him in the future. Then there's Adam Driver as the new villian Kylo Ren, he has already become one of the worst enemies ever by killing our Han, he's not as menacing as Darth Vader but you have to understand he's still learning during the movie, he's not a Darth Lord yet, but he has one of the most badass lightsabers ever, we still have to wait to see more from him...

The rest of the cast is great, Andy Serkis as Snoke, Lupita Nyong'o as Maz and Oscar Isaac as the best X-Wing pilot in the universe, Poe Dameron!

But the real stars here are Harrison Ford as the pirate Han Solo, he has the major role here almost a main cast. Carrie Fisher as General Leia is a nice touch, sweet as always and the great Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker...while he has just a cameo part of half a minute, his scene is the best, I cannot wait to see more from him in Episode VIII!

Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 come back as well but the nicest surprise of all is BB8, the new droid who has win my heart. It's charming, funny and cares about others, it almost has a real personality the way it moves and "talks". Sorry R2D2, but BB8 is my new hero! He/she steals the show in every scene it appears!

· What I liked most: Star Wars is back! - Amazing mix of special effects and old visual effects brings back the magic from the original trilogy - Entertaining, fun and intense plot filled with emotional and speechless moments - Final saber fight between Rey & Fin versus Kylo Ren - Last minutes of the film! - The new characters, especially Rey and Finn who work great together and the new villian - The fact to see the old cast one more time even if...

· What I didn't like: ...Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) only shows up the last 30 seconds of the movie, I expected to see more from him... - The movie is like and updated version of the original film (Episode IV).

9.8

"Pure fun with great plot that looks like an updated version of "A New Hope" but way more entertaining, fast-paced and emotional with likeable new faces, an amazing new villian and the same old characters we missed so much. Great special effects mixed with the old school and spechlees actions sequences with one of the most intense final fight and ending I've seen in a while, this is the Star Wars we've been looking for!"

:: Top Movies 2015 ::

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (9.8)

2. Inside Out (9.5)

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron (9.2)

4. The Martian (9.0)

5. Jurassic World (8.6)

6. Ant-Man (8.5)

7. The Imitation Game (8.5)

8. Mr. Holmes (8.2)

9. Cinderella (8.0)

10. Kingsman: The Secret Service (8.0)

11. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (7.8)

12. Paddington (7.5)

13. Terminator Genisys (7.2)

14. Tomorrowland (7.0)

15. Minions (6.5)

16. Spectre (6.4)

17. Mortdecai (6.0)

Glad to see Luke's back (my favourite character from the entire saga) but sad I have to wait for next Episode to see more...