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Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Yes, The Force is still with us.

And all these years later, the beloved and influential Star Wars remains an eye-popping space opera, a fanciful force to be reckoned with, in a galaxy not that far, far away, that changed the movie business forever as it made science fiction respectable again while it ushered in the era of the blockbuster.

George Lucas's singular vision, which kicked off in 1977 with Star Wars, now spreads into its third trilogy, having already earned close to $30-billion over four decades, not to mention the hundreds of books, the several animated TV series, or the ubiquitous store-shelf merchandise.

The science fiction epic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is the seventh episode (of a planned nine) in the sturdy franchise, following The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1980), thus completing the middle trilogy, leading us then to the first trilogy of episodes: The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005).

 

2½
(2½ stars out of 4)

 

Now the groundbreaking good-versus-evil saga continues thirty years later as we embark upon a new adventure, with the oppressive Galactic Empire evolving into the First Order and being opposed by the Resistance, which used to be the Rebel Alliance, for whom pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) flies.

Old friends such as Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess – that is, General -- Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) will also turn up to lend support to a scavenger named Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, and a disillusioned runaway stormtrooper called Finn, played by John Boyega.

And they'll need all the help they can get because of such formidable foes as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson).

Oh, c'mon now: does the plot even matter? Once again, it's a group of rebels taking on their society's authority figures. What else do you need to know?

Frankly, for much of the audience, it will be enough of a nostalgia kick just to see some of the beloved original characters back in action.

So if you're looking for freshness and originality, you've come to the wrong galaxy. That's because director J.J. Abrams, whose fondness for the material comes through from first frame to last, seems intent on either re-creating, or finding an equivalent substitute for, just about every iconic moment from the earlier films, as if to remind us of why we embraced the franchise in the first place.

Which is fine, but watching what is essentially a remix makes for a remarkably deja viewing experience.

Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8) works from a script he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan (who co-wrote episodes 5 and 6) and Michael Arndt that shifts into action mode almost immediately and then keeps the pacing breathless. It also recycles shamelessly but effectively. You may find much of this familiar, but that doesn't mean it's not both impressive and watchable, if occasionally on the childish side with its dependence on narrative coincidences.

Allowing for a quality dip in Return of the Jedi, the franchise has had an admirable aesthetic track record and has remained a crucial part of our collective consciousness and memory, for the most part technically brilliant, strongly imaginative, featuring arresting imagery, come-hither otherworldly settings, and exhilarating action sequences of various sorts.

And The Force Awakens falls near the midpoint of the quality meter, somewhere between the high of The Empire Strikes Back and the low of Return of the Jedi.

The cast is uneven but a word must be said about the ageless Harrison Ford, the film's Most Valuable Player by a mile, whose presence and sense of humor raise the film's game with every appearance or utterance. Nobody else up on that screen operates at his level.

So we'll rebel against 2½ stars out of 4 for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a literal throwback of a popcorn movie that won't make anyone forget the franchise predecessors – actually, just the opposite -- but also won't put anyone to sleep.

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