Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review (Strictly Non-Spoiler)

This is it! The Fanboy SEO presents the Star Wars: The Force Awakens review! Directed by J.J. Abrams and stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver.

So here we are. Hours after seeing TFA days before the local release and I am left catching my breath and asking for more; because not only did J.J. Abrams deliver on his promise of breathing new life to the Star Wars movie franchise, he also managed to keep it tight and fresh and interesting for the new audience without turning off the old fans.

Don’t be shy in reading this Star Wars: The Force Awakens review, as I’m not intending to spoil things for you. Just giving you a rundown of what worked for me and what didn’t plus some comments here and there.

Tone – following the Original Trilogy in terms of seriousness and sci-fi-ness, the movie straddles between a morality play (Finn) to a story about family (the Solo-Skywalker husbando and waifu) to anger (Kylo Ren) and to this sense of wonderment and apprehension (Rey). The Force Awakens can be dark at times, and when I say dark, its dark as in it’s throwing shades at you and make you go through #feels.

Visuals – Should I even write about the visuals for Star Wars? Well you’d be surprised to know that there are still things that could be discussed when it comes to visual effects like how awesome that scene with the Millennium Falcon is from the trailer when completed. Most of the aliens look great, the backgrounds look legit as hell and even ships look more realistic now (especially if you see the movie in IMAX 3D). EVERYTHING LOOKS GREAT!

Action Scenes – action scenes are intense and aplenty. Whether you’re a big fan of lightsaber fights or blaster fights, you won’t be found lacking with Star Wars. There’s also unique new “fights” here like they shared ideas with EA’s Battlefront game. But man, the first time the lightsaber is ignited once more will send goosebumps down your spine.

Acting – Terrific acting is what I can say especially for the chemistry between Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) with the two complimenting each other in so many scenes.

While I’m still very much confused as to how things escalated for the life of Stormtrooper Finn I do find him a lovable and endearing character, noble actually. Though we still badly need backstory not just for him but for most characters in this film, yes even the old guard.

Massive props also to Domhall Gleeson who plays Prince Hans  General Hux who, in one point became so unnerving, that I checked if I was really watching Star Wars or streaming an old Adolf Hitler propaganda speech for the third reich; and he delivers it with those my-soul-is-dead eyes.

Adam Driver isn’t so bad and I liked how circumstances (and good writing) forced him to ditch the helmet. I actually loved umasked Kylo Ren regardless of how cool masked Kylo Ren looked like. Totally gave him more breathing room for his acting and his dark side demeanor.

As an old Star Wars fan, I really didn’t even expect the old guard to act but they do and its like our old friends drop by after 30 years and things are still the same, particularly for Han Solo (Harrison Ford)

… even the banter with Carrie Fischer was amusing and touched me as a fan.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens L to R: Leia (Carrie Fisher) & Han Solo (Harrison Ford) Ph: David James © 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Right Reserved.

Musical Score – One of the under-appreciated things about Star Wars is the incredible use of music to convey emotion. We had Luke’s theme in the original trilogy and now for TFA, we get that again to goosebumps level and then get introduced to some new themes for important characters. Actually scratch that, Pay attention to the themes and you get a clue about which character is connected to who. I’ve said enough.

Easter Eggs/ References – this movie is chockful of that. From one character asking another “who speaks first” to smaller “items” that suddenly pop up in a scene. The film is just so engaging in so many ways and levels.

VERDICT: 10/10

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is definitely a return to form for the biggest cinematic franchise and director J.J. Abrams gets to keep his name and not go down in history as Jar Jar Abrams. The movie was fantastic and enjoyable and you definitely SHOULD NOT miss a single second of this.

More importantly, I believe that the movie has achieved one of its major objectives, which is to introduce / reintroduce itself to new and old audience as well as get a strong female lead to go in this epic space journey.

That’s it for my Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review be sure to check back tomorrow for the spoiler review.