‘The Force Awakens’ Is The Best ‘Star Wars’ Movie, And Here's Why
It is a fair statement to say the highly controversial sequel trilogy has caused something of a large schism between fans of Star Wars. Each side is capable of putting forward a fairly good argument to support their claims, but are they as bad as many fans make out? Some of older fans will no doubt remember a similar issue raised when George Lucas brought out his prequel trilogy. Just like the new movies, a lot of fans did not like them, but many changed their minds as time passed. Those who hated them have actually gone on to say one or more of them is now their favorite in the entire series. Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective on things. With that in mind, today we are going to look at the first movie of the sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens, and highlight why it is a contender for the best Star Wars movie.
Bringing Back The Original Trio
The absolute best thing to come from The Force Awakens was that it brought the original trio back to the big screen. The last of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi, was released way back in 1983. Although we have had numerous new shows and movies focusing on the galaxy far, far away since then, The Force Awakens was the first to bring back Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker (even if they did not appear on screen together). When it was announced that the original cast would be reprising their characters after all these years, fans went into an absolute frenzy. Seeing Han and Chewbacca back in the Millennium Falcon just felt like they were, as Han put it, "home.” When the movie ended with Luke being handed the lightsaber that he had lost during his duel with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, fans were left with an excellent cliffhanger that keep them screaming for more.
New Characters
As much as it was great seeing the old gang back together, this movie also introduced us to some new and interesting characters. We met the scavenger Rey, a seemingly random girl from the planet Jakku who ended up discovering her link to the Force. We also met Finn, a stormtrooper who turned his back on this trilogy's Empire, the First Order, and the dashing Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. On top of that, we were introduced to our new villain, Kylo Ren, and discovered that he was none other than the son of Leia and Han who fell to the dark side just like his grandfather before him.
Rounding our new characters off, we had Captain Phasma and Supreme Leader Snoke. The original heroes intermingling with the new characters created a perfect merger of the past and the future. It was almost like an intriguing passing of the torch. Fans could not wait to see how these characters would grow and how they would all connect.
Major, Tragic Twist
It is a well known fact that the world of Star Wars likes a good twist. After all, they gave us one of cinema's most famous twist back in Empire Strikes Back. No one was quite prepared for what happened in The Force Awakens. Small Spoiler Warning. Our favorite smuggler Han Solo unfortunately would bite the dust in this movie.
As we mentioned previously, we learned that the villain of this movie was actually the son of Han and Leia. The fight against him and the First Order resulted in Leia and Han finally reuniting after many years apart, with Leia begging Han to bring their son home with him. Towards the end of the movie, Han came face-to-face with Ben Solo, now Kylo Ren, and attempted to bring him back to the light. At first it seemed like it was working. Good always prevails after all. However, it was not long before you notice something was not quite right. Just when we thought that Kylo Ren was handing his saber over to his father, he ignited it through Han's stomach ,and allowed him to fall into the large chasm below them. I actually remembered the absolute uproar from fans in the cinema, with loads of them genuinely crying at what just happened in front of their eyes. We always knew Harrison Ford was in favor of Han meeting his end, but to actually see it done in such tragic circumstances was completely unexpected. The assumption was that the original cast would see out the entire new series of films. This one scene set the precedent that no one was safe and gave us a real sense of danger. If Han could die, then realistically, so could anyone.
It Gave Fans What They Actually Asked For
The new films of the sequel trilogy tried to resolve some of the grievances raised by fans in regards to the prequel trilogy. One of the big causes of complaints was regarding the overuse of CGI, in contrast with the extensive use of practical effects in the original trilogy. The Force Awakens tried to go back to the roots of Star Wars. Gone were all the massive green screens and CGI. Instead, we went back to good old-fashioned effects, much like the original trilogy. For me, this one change made the new movie appear closer to the originals, and made it more believable. While I do personally love the prequels, sometimes they do feel a bit cartoonish with all the CGI going on. You cannot help but lose the immersion sometimes.
I fully appreciate that I will not win everyone over with this article. With everything The Force Awakens has given us, it really did try to please everyone, and definitely brought back so much nostalgia for fans of the original trilogy, more specifically A New Hope. Therefore, I believe it to be a fine contender for the best Star Wars movie.
What do you think? Do you agree? Do you have different reasons for it being the best? Be sure to let us know.
Until next time!