Star Wars: The Force Awakens

By Mike Ellis.

The latest in the Star Wars series of films, The Force Awakens, opened up on December 18 to worldwide acclaim.  For me, this was a chance to experience a first.  When the original Star Wars movies came out in the 70s and 80s, we didn’t go to many movies, and as a result, I didn’t see them in the theater.  Then, when the Prequels were released between 1999 and 2005, for whatever reason, I don’t believe I saw any of those in the theater either.  So today, watching Episode VII in the theater was a brand new experience for me.

This review isn’t so much about the movie itself, because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone by having some spoilers revealed when there are people that haven’t seen the movie yet.  Instead, this review is about the experience, the feelings the movie generated, the anticipation, and yes, even the trailers, which I will share below for you to watch if you wish to.

The Anticipation

To my recollection, I can’t remember a time when a movie was as highly anticipated as Star Wars was.  I guess perhaps the final book in the Harry Potter series had as much buildup, or at least, it attempted to, but to me, this movie, which has generated a ton of pixels all across the galaxy we call the internet, easily topped that.  The totals for ticket pre-sales far exceeded $100 million dollars, and for the weekend, I believe the movie was at $250 million; this movie topped all sorts of charts, and people across the globe were excited for it’s release.

The Experience

Having all six of the first Star Wars films in my library at home, watching them on the TV whenever I care to is good; but when you are sitting in a dark theater, and all of a sudden, that music starts with the Star Wars logo appearing in the middle of that big screen is pretty sick.  Then, as you see the opening introduction, it hits you; you are watching Star Wars in the theater, and it doesn’t get any better than this.

Everything is better at the theater, in my opinion.  The movie is better; the popcorn tastes better; the music is better; the special effects are better; the seating is better (our theater had reclining seats which were very nice).

The Feelings

In my opinion, director J.J. Abrams does an incredible job with the Star Wars universe.  The story is well developed, the characters rich and engaging, the merge between old and new characters is very well done, and this film does answer some questions I had going into the movie.  All in all, this movie had it all for me; suspense, intrigue, drama, laughter, sadness, you name it, it had it for me.  Were there things I would have done differently?  Perhaps, although I’m not a filmmaker so I can’t imagine right now what I would change; still, though, I was quite pleased with the way the film was presented, and I really look forward to Episode VIII, whenever it is released.

The Trailer

The Star Wars trailer is really well done, of course, the producers of the trailer certainly did a bang up job of drawing in even more interest for the movie.  The anticipation for the movie because of the trailer was even greater for my daughter and I, and we enjoyed watching the movie.  In summary, I would say that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a great movie, one that I recommend for everyone that enjoys the Star Wars saga, and I am certain that we will watch the movie again in the theater in the future.  To this writer, the movie earns 5 Stars every easily.  What did you think of it?  Let me know in the comments, and thanks!