Re-awakening the original Star Wars is only half the fun

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Director Kevin Smith described the latest Star Wars film as the equivalent of being transported back to 1977. I have heard other fans describe the experience the same way. Being 44 years old, I do not expect to feel like a rambunctious adolescent or to repeat the experience of seeing "Star Wars" back in 1977 the same way now. We all grow up, we mature, and we can still look back with nostalgia if we happened to love "Star Wars." I have and once I sat down to watch "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the seventh installment in the franchise, and saw the famous scroll telling us a new story (though no 20th Century Fox logo this time) about the disappearance of Luke Skywalker, I was hooked but not sold. No, not until we saw Stormtroopers killing a bunch of villagers with flame throwers, seeking a droid called BB-8 with information on Luke's whereabouts in some planet. Then we see a cloaked figure named Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), armed with an evil-looking lightsaber equipped with a hilt, who has such an overpowering voice that it is sure to send chills to your spine. And when this Kylo freezes a laser beam shot from a blaster, then I was sold. I felt like I was seeing Star Wars back with some measure of glory, something more epic and threatening than what we have seen since 1983.

But was I completely sold? No, the film critic in me still has to watch the rest of the movie. John Boyega is a reluctant stormtrooper who is not too keen on how the First Order operates, call it the Empire 2.0. This First Order also has a massive weapon at Starkiller Base that can destroy several planets at once! Death Star 3.0, sort of (well, we had two Death Stars in the original trilogy), except its massive weapon operates with power from the Sun and it is actually in a hazardously snowy planet (call it Hoth 2.0). The stormtrooper has a conscience and decides to save a daredevil Rebel pilot named Poe (Oscar Issac), who is actually with the Resistance (the Rebel Alliance 2.0). Why the sudden change in the stormtrooper with a blood-stained helmet? Well, the stormtrooper sees how fearsome and relentless Kylo Ren is, especially when ordering the decimation of a village. The stormtrooper is eventually named Finn by Poe and they escape in a Tie-Fighter before crash-landing in a desert planet called Jakku (Tatooine 2.0). Finn survives but he can't locate Poe, which leads Finn to a junk shop of sorts where spare parts from presumably the former Empire's destroyed Imperial Cruisers are sold for food portions. The fearless scavenger, Rey (Daisy Ridley), is a loner who lives inside a destroyed AT-AT (nice touch) and she can take care of herself against anyone. Rey befriends BB-8 and Finn (who is wearing Poe's jacket). Before one can say it is "A New Hope" all over again, First Order's Tie-Fighters attack our new heroes before fleeing in a "piece of junk" called the Millennium Falcon (amazingly, Rey has no idea it is the famous ship Han Solo once commandeered).

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" dovetails into various action scenes of explosions and blaster fights and, on occasion, a couple of lightsaber battles. We also get the rousing return of that reliable space smuggler, an older, spry Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and his co-pilot, an older, grumbling Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). Han still owes money to others but he wouldn't be Han if he didn't. The plot eventually deals with Luke's lightsaber and the search for Luke, heck, everyone in this movie is looking for Luke Skywalker! Where is Luke? I will not tell. General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) also returns and there is a family crisis I will not reveal here. Suffice to say, it is a crisis on par with past revelations from the original Holy Trilogy.

But the best surprise about "The Force Awakens" is that it is a rousing, applause-worthy lollapalooza of an epic and it is so much adrenalized fun that you pretty much feel Star Wars has returned to its most basic fundamental raison d'être - to wow us with pure entertainment. Still, it doesn't mean it is all fun and games without touching on the Dark Side of the Force. Adam Driver makes the most of a tortured Kylo Ren who keeps Darth Vader's burnt helmet nearby to refocus his energy on the Dark Side and not be intimidated by the light - when Kylo's helmet is taken off, we see a troubled young man who has gone astray (thankfully, not as wooden in characterization as Hayden Christensen's Vader). For the light side, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley make a formidable team against Kylo Ren, giving us much needed buckets of humor and flashes of emotion and humanity that this series has been lacking for some time. Speaking of humor, it is a distinct pleasure to see the return of Ford's Han Solo who has many of the best one-liners in the film. Ford proves he is still the Han Solo of our cinematic past, giving us that gleam in his eye we haven't seen in a while. But it is really Daisy Ridley who moved me the most, delivering a tough, sympathetic heroine from the wrong side of the Bantha tracks who doesn't need a man to hold her hand when evading incoming stormtroopers. Her final elegiac scene is so beautiful and tender, it will make most jaws drop.

For spectacular, large-scale action and terrific escapism minus all the political intrigue of the prequel trilogy, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ranks high. And for peak moments of emotional intrigue and its firm understanding of that mysterious Force and its implications in the hands of those who treat it with restraint and those who misuse it, "Star Wars" gives us ample story with new touches on familiar material and refreshing new characters that dazzle and involve us. The film is joyously surefooted, has scary villains (look out for that Supreme Chancellor Snoke), is thrillingly divine in every department and has a level of tragedy that will give the most jaded Star Wars fans goosebumps. J.J. Abrams, the director and co-writer along with Lawrence Kasdan (who co-wrote "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi"), has made Star Wars into a treasured piece of escapist movie history all over again.