Movie Review - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens ****½ (out of 5) (PG-13) The following comments come from one who hated the last three entries in this hallowed franchise almost as much as he loved the original trilogy.

Those who’ve been feverishly salivating over the promise of J.J. Abrams’ picking up the action 30 years after Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and their heroic chums conquered Darth Vader and The Empire likely have expectations ranging from unrealistic to ridiculous. Nothing today could match the WOW! factor of ground-breaking computer effects when the Jedi first hit our theaters in the late 1970s. The tech and tools have improved, but the sights and sounds they generate have become a new norm for space and other sci-fi fare. Even superhero and other TV series outpace the fx from those days on our HD screens. Even so, Abrams comes about as close to fulfilling reasonable levels of optimism as any sane fan could ask. The return of original stars, the script, the pacing and the introduction of this next generation add up to a thrilling fantasy flick that seems much shorter than its 135-minute running time. Always a good thing.

I won’t go into detail about the plot. All you need to know is that you’re getting a satisfying stand-alone adventure, that bodes well for the next round. It’s obviously written for franchise fans, but could easily embrace newbies with little advance prepping from their veteran Friends of the Force. Familiar elements mesh nicely with the new, playing more as homages than retreads. BB-8, the next generation of android co-star is cuter and more agile than R2-D2, conveying a broader range of emotions with its bleeps and blorps, as if the progeny of R2 mating with WALL-E, assuming such were possible in that galaxy far, far away, yet finally at a theater near you.
(12/18/15)