The replacement of the Empire, the First Order,
hunts for
the missing Luke Skywalker and they capture a pilot who has a vital clue to
where Luke has disappeared to. The
pilot’s droid, BB-8, befriends Rey (Daisy Ridley) who was left stranded as a
child and waits for her parents to return to Jakku one day. One of the First
Order’s Stormtroopers has a
change of heart and plans his escape along with breaking out the captured
pilot. The ex-Stormtrooper is named Finn
(John Bogeya) and he teams up with Rey as they race to get the important data
that the BB-8 has while they avoid the pursuing forces of the First Order led
by the dark warrior Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
They meet some familiar faces along the way as the stage may be set for
a new battle between the dark and light sides of the Force while the First
Order looks to crush the Resistance (funded by the Republic) once and for all.
The new STAR WARS movie
which continues about thirty years after RETURN OF THE JEDI is a mixed bag
since it does as many things right as it does wrong. It nails the original
trilogy characters
spot on in terms of how they speak and react in this movie. Harrison Ford is
really having fun as Han
Solo in THE FORCE AWAKENS as his long term friendship/ partnership with
Chewbacca really is a great thing to see.
Daisy Ridley is one of the stand outs as one of the new characters as
you wonder who her parents are as the latest movie never really answers that
(to probably be revealed in a future movie by a certain character). John
Bogeya is underwhelming as Finn while
Adam Driver is more impressive as Kylo Ren with the mask on than without it. Snook
is the mysterious power behind the
first Order which they are going to reveal more in the next two chapters of
this new trilogy. Some characters you
don’t get enough like Poe Dameron where other characters like Captain Phasma
seem like glorified cameo lip service along with other actor cameos you will
recognize.
Then you have a story that is a mix of a greatest
hits
package of the STAR WARS saga along with
being a repeat of past films. It does
set the stage for some new myth building along with borrowing from other myth
building you have seen in the other six STAR
WARS movies (which George Lucas borrowed from other sources anyway). You
also have the big giant weapon that
happens to have vegetation and snow on it which makes you wonder if this
Nazi-like evil empire called the First Order even bothered to learn from the
mistakes of the empire when they had their two Death Stars blown up. THE
FORCE AWAKENS is impressive with its
nostalgia and small details along with bringing back many of the old
characters. Hopefully, Rian Johnson
will bring many new things to say to Episode VIII along with a story that
doesn’t have so many plot holes that the Sarlaac can’t digest them all. No
matter what I say in this review, I do think people will highly regard Episode VII
despite its narrative flaws.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
All of the physical extras on the blu-ray
bonus disc and yet
there is a large amount of extras not included on this blu-ray edition which
makes me think they are saving it for a double dip to be released in time for STAR
WARS: ROGUE ONE or STAR
WARS EPISODE VIII. The extras not in
this edition include the theatrical trailers, the TV spots, up to possibly
additional deleted scenes (including the one which is digital only when you
enter your digital movie code), the Force For Change spots, the online
featurettes, audio commentaries, and art galleries. The previous STAR
WARS DVDs and blu-rays released under 20th Century Fox deliver
better in the extras department and I hope Disney/ Lucasfilm abandon this
double dip nonsense and go all out special edition with future blu-rays of STAR
WARS movies since fans really appreciate not having to buy the thing all over
again of movies that will keep on selling anyway.
SECRETS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS: A CINEMATIC JOURNEY
(69
minutes)- a four chapter making-of documentary
THE STORY AWAKENS: THE TABLE READ-
BUILDING BB-8- a behind-the-scenes look at how
they built
the BB-8 prop which is sometimes moved by people and sometimes just by radio
control
BLUEPRINT OF A BATTLE:
THE SNOW FIGHT- a behind-the-scenes look at
the lightsaber fight which they built a set for
JOHN WILLIAMS: THE SEVENTH SYMPHONY- John Williams
talks
about various themes he created for various scenes in THE FORCE AWAKENS
ILM: THE VISUAL MAGIC OF THE FORCE- interviews
with the
artists of ILM, the director of the movie, and producer Kathleen Kennedy; and
behind-the-scenes footage showing the various elements that go into the various
special effects sequences. This isn’t
quite the in-depth special effects piece which it could have been.
Six deleted scenes (about five minutes total)
which I hope
they remove the time code in time for the special edition double dip and there
is the before mentioned additional deleted scene which is a digital only extra
(I hope Disney doesn’t split up the deleted scenes like this for future STAR
WARS blu-rays).
FORCE FOR CHANGE featurette about the Force For
Change
charity initiative which talks about the campaign while showing clips from the
Force For Change spots not included on the blu-ray and the impact the charity
campaign had for various charities
A code to download a digital HD copy of the movie
and access
the digital only deleted scene
STAR WARS: THE FORCE
AWAKENS movie on DVD in standard definition
FINAL ANALYSIS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is a better
STAR
WARS movie in some aspects than the prequels, but in other ways it doesn’t have
a solid plot follow through like the prequels and original trilogy did, but the
emotional storylines for the characters are as good as the original trilogy. I
think I like the movie better on my second
viewing (I saw it once in the movie theater). The extras are incomplete which
means
Lucasfilm/ Disney have a special edition double dip planned for the future.
This
review is ©3-29-2016
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
to feedback@enterline-media.com
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