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Two Views of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

The latest Star Wars: Han and Chewie

The latest Star Wars: Han and Chewie

By: Anton Massopust III

“Help me grandfather, help me see the true side of the Force so I can finish what you started.” Kylo Ren

The spirit of 1977 lives. J.J. Abrams who brought us “Lost” and a new branch of “Star Trek” brings us, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” This is exactly what fans have been looking for – a direct sequel to Return of the Jedi.

A young Stormtrooper named Finn does not want to continue in the fierce life that the New Order demands of him, so he helps a rebel pilot escape capture to find BB-8 a small droid with information of the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. After crash landing on a dessert planet, Finn finds a young scavenger named Rey. The two form a friendship and decide to return the droid and information to the Resistance. Along the way they steal the Millennium Falcon and run into two familiar figures: Chewbacca and Han Solo. Hot on their trail is Kylo Ren, a man who is obsessed with Darth Vader and wants to track down Luke Skywalker.

This movie has plenty of great characters and just enough of old favorites and great spaceship battles. Any fan of the Star Wars franchise, or if you’re just a sci-fi fan, you’ll enjoy the movie. Each Character brings something interesting to the table including Finn, who struggles to find out where he belongs in the universe. Rey, a young woman is desperately trying to find her family.

The droid, BB-8 is cute, just like his predecessor R2-D2. Probably the most interesting character was Kylo Ren, who is complicated and mysterious.

Everyone I talked to loves this movie. Do I like it? Yes. It’s fun and never boring. Go see it.

 

Star Wars: The force awakens.

Star Wars: The force awakens.

By: Katherine Massopust

I’ve been a fan of the Star Wars movies since I was 10 years old when I saw Star Wars when it first came out in 1977. I’ve seen every Star Wars movie, most of the Clone Wars episodes (which are excellent); I’ve seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, two Ewok movies and I’ve bared with a few episodes of the new series: Star Wars: Rebels.

“The Force Awakens” is a fan driven movie. Director J.J. Abrams gives the fans exactly what they wanted and waited to see: space battles, Jedi Lightsaber battles and a visually beautiful movie. The film barely even acknowledges the prequels and has a lot of scenes and dialogue to pay homage to the original three movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi).

Many fans do not like the 3 prequels: (Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith). I actually liked the prequels. The prequels explained why Jedi Anakin Skywalker did what he did and how he became the evil Darth Vader. I’m okay with that.

What I liked about “The Force Awakens: 

BB-8: The little droid is cute and fun to watch.

The Presence of Women: As much as I love Star Wars, there are only two women in the first film that have any lines (Luke’s Aunt Beru and Princess Leia). At least in “The Force Awakens” there is a 50/50 ratio of men/women. There are female Stormtroopers, (Captain Phasma – (Gwendoline Christie)) and many other female characters.  Rey (Daisy Ridley) is a young scavenger on the dessert world of Jakku. Rey has the power of the Force behind her and can handle herself in a fight. Carrie Fisher reprises her role as Princess Leia, now a General leading the Resistance against the rising Empire (now called the First Order)

Visually Beautiful: The Space battles, Lightsaber battles and variety of worlds are visually gorgeous.

What I didn’t like: 

Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) – This character is so over the top, he’s annoying.

The Overall Feel of the Movie: I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but there is something to a film or any work of art that is missing when the genius (the artist) is not present. (The best way to explain it is through the Halloween Movie Series – The first and second movie is all John Carpenter. When associate producer Moustapha Akkad took over the series, there just was something missing as if the film were just going through the motions.) The absence of Star Wars Creator George Lucas takes away from the overall tone of “The Force Awakens.” Because of this, there is an element of commercialism, that big business feel of Disney. The film is less about having something to say and more about fan satisfaction.

As much as I liked the film, there were a lot of gaps to be filled. Much is left unexplained, hopefully to be revealed in Star Wars VIII to be released in 2017.  Disney plans to release a Rogue One movie coming out at the end of 2016 as well as a Han Solo and a Boba Fett Movie.

Should you go see “The Force Awakens” – absolutely. Enjoy the show and decide for yourself.

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