Now, if you’ve been reading my reviews over the years, you know that I don’t do spoilers, but as a disclaimer I will say this: There Are No Spoilers! Are we clear? Good. Now, I know that it’s been 10 years since Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. I know that there was a new director assigned to guide the franchise forward, with J.J Abrams. I know that it’s been 32 years since Return of the Jedi from which this movie continues on from and there are a couple of generations that have been created since then, so I understand why there was so much skepticism coming into this movie, as well as the vast majority of advertisements to drive the anticipation. You literally could not escape an ad even if you tried. Anyone who hasn’t heard of the new Star Wars at any point leading up to the movie, they’re a liar and Jesus doesn’t love them (maybe that last part was harsh). However, I’m not one of those people who would go out of my way to dress up or be overly obsessed over the franchise, but I definitely did drag my mother out to see the movies when I was kid and I owned the original trilogy on VHS (yes, I’m real like that). There were a lot of things on the table from this movie that were so different and heavily scrutinized that it made my head hurt. I didn’t even want to look into any of the formalities; I just wanted to watch the movie.

Of course I was worried about just how the story would have been continued, but if you didn’t at LEAST watch the original 3, then you will be lost. Yes, it would be nice to watch the Prequels, but it’s not a necessity in order to know what’s going on. The purpose of The Force Awakens is to continue the legacy that was built between the struggle of power between the Jedis & Sith. It’s always been political, but there’s not a great deal of that dialogue for the duration of this movie. New characters are introduced, old ones are brought to life, and the consistency of pushing the story was clear & evident. The new faces were seen as an issue for the “protectors” because a Black Storm Trooper and a woman from the desert (think back to the discovery of Anakin in Tattooine), it made people question exactly what the direction was, but I liked that it stepped outside of the ordinary and made it something different. In a Star Wars movie, you have your humour, you have your tense moments, and most importantly, lightsaber battles (okay, and fighter planes). Everything that I expected for a Star Wars movie, I felt like I got it, and then some.

John Boyega, Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar Issac, Daisey Ridley, and Adam Driver do their parts in adding to the cinematic mythology that is Star Wars, and the connections between the old and new was great because of nostalgic purposes and the characters’ reactions inside the movie reflected what most people were feeling when they saw the old heroes. What people need to understand is that where the name of Star Wars remains the same, this is a new direction into following the stories of new characters, and major respect goes to J.J Abrams for taking on the task that most people thought couldn’t be done, but with episodes 1-3 being subpar compared to the originals, there couldn’t be a whole lot of harm done if the writing wasn’t done well or the actors didn’t play their parts right (Jar Jar Binks? Hayden Christensen? Mace friggin Windu? Come on now). I’m excited for the next installments, and there are certainly the surprises in this one that made it all worth the 10-year wait for a new Episode. The Force is definitely revived and very much alive. But for now, this is my opinion, this is my review

That’s My Word & It STiXX