Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Dir: JJ Abrams
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In 2015, the world witnessed the beginning of a new Star Wars trilogy, the first under Lucasfilm's new Disney ownership and the final trilogy of the George Lucas envisioned 9 film saga.
Now, being a lifelong fan if the galaxy far, far away, I had a certain amount of skepticism before I went to watch this in the cinema. However, what I saw was far more than I had expected.
First off, the film's cinematography is genuinely incredible. The use of colour and setting is so well used to create immense images and scenes. The familiar and legendary composition of John Williams allows for the on-screen action to truly flourish and have the maximum impact it can.
The story may be remarkably familiar to fans of Star Wars, particularly the original trilogy, but that is not to say it isn't still extremely solid and enthralling. It also contains one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Star Wars that brought genuine tears to my eyes.
Director J.J. Abrams still manages to include enough new substance to avoid this being a full copy and paste job, though you cannot deny that he and Disney played it pretty safe narratively.
Daisy Ridley, the new face of the franchise, gives a reasonably good performance, though at times she could be a little grating for my taste.
John Boyega also has a substantial role, and for this film at least, he is well utilised and has an intriguing character arc - in my view, he gives the best performance of anyone.
Adam Driver is introduced as the new antagonist of the trilogy, but fails to fill the extremely large and imposing boots of Darth Vader. However, he still had some excellent moments, and clearly had potential as a character.
Oscar Isaac is another new face, and whilst his forced comedy is not the best, the rest of his acting is very entertaining.
Then we have a number of familiar faces, starting with the legendary Harrison Ford, who reprises his role as Han Solo. I thoroughly enjoyed him here, he had that iconic wit, but also had some decent character development, which you wouldn't necessarily have expected to see.
Additionally, we see the return of Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca - he had arguably his best ever showing as the character here in my view.
Furthermore, the icon that is Carrie Fisher returns to the saga, also bringing her legendary blend of snappy remarks, wit and boldness.
Finally, for the sake of length, I'll summarise some noteworthy performances, all who had at least some great moments. Those being; Andy Serkis, Lapita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie and, of course, Mark Hamill.
Overall, I would say this was miles better than most could have hoped. It may not be the most original film, but I actually didn't mind that - it was a solid and entertaining start to a trilogy which would be perhaps infamous for its inconsistencies. That said, this film did its best to give it the best possible start.
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