Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Movie Review (Spoiler-Free)

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (It's finally here)

So Star Wars The Force Awakens is the seventh film in the Star Wars series, it's directed by JJ Abrams and follows the story 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Honestly, if you're hoping for anything more in-depth than that, and don't want any spoilers... Yeah I've got bad news for you. This is going to be a spoiler-free version of my review, I'll probably talk about the spoilers in a few days (once I've finished Star Wars week), so in the meantime I hope this will do.

So, without spoilers or anything, I'm sure people reading this want to know right out of the gate - is it good? Well, not only is Star Wars The Force Awakens a good movie, I think it's a great one. I'd go so far as to say this is probably my second favorite Star Wars movie, right behind Empire Strikes Back. This movie does everything the prequels should've (and maybe tried) to do, but didn't.

First off, the cast in this movie is fantastic. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher are both excellent in the movie, they played their roles in a way that made you genuinely believe these were what those characters would be like 30 years down the line. John Boyega and Oscar Isaac are both great in their roles, both have some really memorable moments, and they both give really great performances. Adam Driver did a surprisingly good job as the villain, and making Kylo Ren the most human villain in the Star Wars series (aside from Darth Vader, obviously). However, the real knockout here is Daisy Ridley, and for a couple of reasons. Mainly, for this being her first acting role in a movie (at least that I know of), this is an absolutely amazing performance.

The action in this movie is also outstanding, and is without a doubt the best example of action in the series. It's not flashy or heavily choreographed as to give the illusion it's more of a dance than a fight, like in the prequels, however it's still much faster paced and more engaging than the action of the original films. The action also looks better than any the six films, which is due in large part to both JJ Abrams creativity with action scenes, and ability to deliver sequences that are just really good action.

As for the story... I can't get into that so much, not without spoiling the film anyway. However, what I will say is that, like everything else in this movie, it's good. In a lot of ways, it mimics the plot of A New Hope which I thought were pretty clever and well integrated (ways I can't get into), and it has a lot of really good twists and turns (twists and turns I also can't get into). Not to mention, this movie does a good job of setting up a trilogy, something the prequels didn't at all do.

Now, when Jurassic World was in production, a lot of set photos came to light showing off the films practical effects. However, to my disappointment, those practical effects would later be replaced by CGI. To my relief, this film doesn't make the same mistake. The way this movie handles its blend of practical effects and CGI is much to the same degree of quality as Mad Max Fury Road, it's mostly costumes, animatronics, puppetry, and makeup to make the aliens and creatures look real. For the most part, the only uses of CGI are the times when a shot would pretty much be impossible to do without CGI, or a background effect. The CGI is rarely the foreground, which is really how it should be. If I had to pick any issue with the movie, it has to be the two motion capture characters in the movie. Not only is their CGI just kind of... Okay, but their clearly CGI presence in a film that is predominantly practical effects kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

Final Rating
This is a rare example of a movie I went into with high hopes, and was still totally blown away by. I loved the acting, I loved the writing, I loved the characters, I loved the cinematography, I loved the story, I loved the ending, I loved the music. Aside from two characters who probably take up a total of five minutes of screentime, there's nothing I wasn't absolutely in love with about this movie. Star Wars fan or not, go see it.