Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) | Movie News & Review

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STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens-movie-2015-poster

star wars: the force awakens (2015) movie

Genre | Science Fiction

Classification | M

Running time | 135 minutes

Released | 17 December 2015

cast

Harrison Ford ... Han Solo
Mark Hamill ... Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher ... Princess Leia
Adam Driver ... Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley ... Rey
John Boyega ... Finn
Oscar Isaac ... Poe Dameron
Lupita Nyong'o ... Maz Kanata
Andy Serkis ... Snoke
Domhnall Gleeson ... General Hux
Anthony Daniels ... C-3PO
Max von Sydow ... Lor San Tekka
Peter Mayhew ... Chewbacca

director

J.J. Abrams

writer

Lawrence Kasdan ... (written by) &
J.J. Abrams ... (written by) and
Michael Arndt ... (written by)

George Lucas ... (based on characters created by)

cinematographer

Dan Mindel

music

John Williams

film editor

Maryann Brandon
Mary Jo Markey

box office result

Worldwide $2,068,223,624

Australia $67,326,713

North America $936,662,225

the best dialogue

Han Solo: This map's not complete. It's just a piece. Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him.
Rey: Why did he leave?
Han Solo: He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice, turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible. He just walked away from everything.
Finn: Do you know what happened to him?
Han Solo: A lot of rumors. Stories. People that knew him best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple.
Rey: The Jedi were real?
Han Solo: I used to wonder about that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good and evil, the dark side and the light. Crazy thing is... it's true. The Force. The Jedi... All of it... It's all true.

Rey: Are you offering me a job?
Han Solo: I wouldn't be nice to you. Doesn't pay much.
Rey: You're offering me a job.
Han Solo: I'm thinking about it.

Rey: What are you gonna do?
Han Solo: Same thing I always do. Talk my way out of it.
[Chewie growls a comment]
Han Solo: Yes, I do. Every time.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) MOVIE IMAGES

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STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) STORY SYNOPSIS

Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn (John Boyega) crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty | Review date 17 December 2015
Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

The Force is strong in this one! After the disappointment of the STAR WARS Prequel Trilogy, fans of the Galaxy far, far away can rest easy, as Writer, Director (and all-round nice guy) J.J. Abrams brings balance to the Force. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is really a love-letter to everything fans love about the Original Trilogy, as Abrams riffs on everything adored about George Lucas’s ground-breaking science fiction film that changed the way movies are made and created a pop culture phenomenon along the way. Clocking in at 135 minutes, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS feels just about right as Abrams and Co-Writer Lawrence Kasdan (who helped write EMPIRE and JEDI), based on story ideas from TOY STORY 3 scribe Michael Arndt, put something of a full-stop on the whereabouts of the Original Trilogy characters and open a new chapter with the next generation of intergalactic heroes and villains.

THE FORCE AWAKENS opens with the familiar opening crawl that gives the viewer a brief three paragraph update about the state of the Galaxy. Fortunately, there’s no mention of taxation or trade routes anywhere, as the writing team go for a more action-drive summary about what’s been happening in the intervening thirty-two years between RETURN OF THE JEDI and THE FORCE AWAKENS. The story opens with Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on a secret mission to the planet of Jakku; sent to retrieve a map that will help tip the balance in favour of the Resistance (standing in for the Rebel Alliance) against their fight with the First Order, who have supplanted the Empire as a new breed of intergalactic thugs. Things don’t go as planned and the First Order’s Number One Agent-of-Evil, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is not far behind in the quest for the map. Among the carnage that takes place, one Stormtrooper - FN 2187 (John Boyega) is having doubts about his place in the First Order. Back aboard Kylo Ren’s souped-up Star Destroyer, FN 2187 takes matters into his own hands and rescues the recently captured Poe; who decides FN should have a real name and decides on Finn. The newly-monikered. Finn and Poe steal a Tie Fighter and head back to Jakku in the hope of finding BB-8; into whom Poe has placed the schematic for the map, but they are shot down. The pair are separated, leaving the action to focus on Finn. Encountering Rey (Daisy Ridley), events take yet another turn for the deadly, as a squadron of New Order ships rain laser fire down upon the pair as they attempt to escape. It’s not long before a familiar spaceship and, soon after, some familiar faces arrive on the scene to help the pair out and the adventure gathers some serious momentum.

While it’s great to see all the familiar faces from the Original Trilogy, THE FORCE AWAKENS is really about passing the baton to a new group of actors who will help shape the course of the Galaxy for at least two more films after this one. John Boyega and Daisy Ridley are the heart and soul of the film and their on-screen chemistry is fantastic. Boyega’s Finn is a conflicted young man, uncertain of whether he should run or fight. It’s only when it becomes clear that Kylo Ren and the First Order are not going away any time soon that his character turns the corner to become one of the story’s heroes. Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron demonstrates his versatility (yet again), portraying the daring Resistance soldier who volunteers for General Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) dangerous mission. Of all the performances, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren must now rank up there with Darth Vader as one of cinema’s greatest villain. He brings a level of complexity to the character that is unexpected and it’s clear that his journey will be central to this new trilogy of STAR WARS films.

There’s a lot to admire about J.J. Abrams’ insistence upon the use of physical, on-set stunts in favour of CGI. As this is STAR WARS, viewers expect epic battles between Good and Evil, and there’s no shortage of either ground-based, air-based or space-based action. Abrams brought together many long-time collaborators to help him deliver the STAR WARS film he wanted and the result is a culmination of ideas that go all the way back to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III. The ground-based work is the stand-out, as Abrams and Cinematographer Dan Mindel (who has worked with the Director on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 and the two rebooted STAR TREK movies) stage and capture the action on a grand scale. Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon, on their fifth movie with Abrams, have done a great job to assemble the film in the edit suite, as THE FORCE AWAKENS is the best-paced STAR WARS film to hit the screen. A STAR WARS film, however, would not feel like a STAR WARS film without a John Williams score. Now 83 years of age, Williams delivers yet another memorable score, combining themes from the Original Trilogy with new signature tunes to help usher in this new era of STAR WARS films.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is not without some imperfections. Some of the plot contrivances feel like they were born out of expediency, with Abrams and Kasdan under massive time pressure to get a script completed so the film could begin production and meet its December release date. Fans, however, be forgiving, as the contrivances fit snugly into the Original Trilogy mythology and, in almost every case, pay homage to those three films. Unlike the original 1977 film, Abrams has been acutely aware that a sequel to THE FORCE AWAKENS is guaranteed and has had to ensure that he doesn’t spill all the secrets, as Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow are currently hard at work on Episode VIII and Episode IX. If those two films maintain the spirit of THE FORCE AWAKENS, in late May 2019, we’ll all be arguing whether this trilogy or the Original were the best of the STAR WARS saga about the Skywalker family.