Photo courtesy of Tribune News Service – Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
‘Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens’—starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Domhnall Gleeson
10 out of 10
By Jack McAuslan ’16 & Sam Romero ’17
THE ROUNDUP
Be warned, this review contains massive spoilers for ‘Star Wars VII,’ but to those who have not seen the movie yet, know that it has exceeded the massive expectations it came with.
‘Star Wars VII,’ directed by JJ Abrams, is now the fastest movie ever to $1 billion and it deserves every penny earned.
Every scene in this movie induced massive chills.
From the very first scene it was apparent that it was going to be exactly what it needed to be.
“Episode VII” takes place 30 years after “Episode VI” when The First Order rises from the ashes of the fallen Empire.
When Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, used the force to stop a blaster bolt from Poe Dameron, played by Oscar Isaac, everybody in the theater’s eyes were wide open.
Kylo Ren is one of the most well written and unpredictable villains in recent memory, and every scene that included him was extremely tense because of his unstable nature.
Throughout the movie he struggles with the the light side and the dark side of the force, and this truly shows when he does something so dark and unspeakable as killing his own father, Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford.
This scene was easily the saddest in the entire movie, and it left everyone in shock for the remainder of the film and for hours after the first viewing.
One of the most beloved characters in the “Star Wars” universe was suddenly brought to an end by a punk kid who wants to be big and bad like his grandfather, Darth Vader.
Carrie Fisher played General Leia Organa, Kylo Ren’s mother, extremely well and made her seem like a more war-hardened character than we saw in the original trilogy.
This makes plenty of sense considering her rank as general and the amount of time since ‘Episode VI,’ which she probably spent fighting the remainder of the Empire on the front lines.
Although Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, only had about 30 seconds on-screen and no dialogue, his scene was one of the most emotional in the film because hardly anyone expected to see him in the first installment since ‘Episode VI.’
Domhnall Gleeson played General Hux brilliantly, portraying undoubtedly one of the most evil villains in the movie.
As the general of Starkiller Base, a planet transformed into a super death star that drains nearby suns for power, he is similarly ranked with Kylo Ren.
The real stars of this movie, however, are not the old characters like Han, Leia, Luke, Chewbacca, played by Peter Mayhew, C3PO, played by Anthony Daniels, or R2-D2, played by Kenny Baker.
Oscar Isaac plays the new ultimate star fighter pilot of the Resistance, Poe Dameron.
Some of the best scenes in the movie shows Poe shooting down TIE fighters like they’re nothing.
Dameron is most definitely one of the new fan-favorite characters.
The big stars are Rey and Finn, played by Daisy Ridley and John Boyega respectfully.
Boyega played Finn amazingly and showed real human emotions that we would probably have if we got the chance to fly a TIE fighter around a star destroyer.
At the same time, Daisy Ridley wonderfully portrays Rey, a desert scavenger, abandoned by her family on the planet Jakku, working to survive and soon to be light side force user.
Throughout the movie Rey is confused and troubled by certain things such as her own power of the force and whether or not her family will ever return for her on Jakku.
She shows the same sort of emotions toward her newfound knowledge of her powers as Luke Skywalker did in “A New Hope,” frustration and impatience.
By the end of the movie she shows amazing powers with the force and, after defeating a greatly wounded Kylo Ren, goes off to find Luke Skywalker.
Ultimately, this movie is either the best in the whole “Star Wars” saga, or it is at least on par with “Empire Strikes Back,” which is almost unanimously considered the best in the first six movies.
It really is that good and it is certainly the best possible way to continue the “Star Wars” franchise, leaving a lot of excitement for the next few movies and for that it gets a 10 out of 10.
