‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Delivers the Thrills, With a Touch of Humanity
The big news about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is — spoiler alert — that it’s good! Despite the prerelease hype, it won’t save the world, not even Hollywood, but it seamlessly balances cozy favorites — Harrison Ford, ladies and gentlemen — and new kinetic wows, along with some of the niceties that went missing as the series grew into a phenomenon, most crucially a scale and a sensibility that are rooted in the human. It has the usual toy-store-ready gizmos and critters, but it also has appealingly imperfect men and women whose blunders and victories, decency and goofiness remind you that a pop mythology like “Star Wars” needs more than old gods to sustain it.
J. J. Abrams, the director of “The Force Awakens,” may not have the makings of a god or an empire builder like George Lucas, but he turns out to be what this stagnant franchise needs: a “Star Wars” superfan and pop culture savant. Given that the fans have been doing much of the heavy lifting for a while, holding up the franchise even as the filmmakers let them down with some titanic clunkers (“Attack of the Clones” — why, George, why?), it seems fitting that the new film was directed by one of their own. Mr. Abrams was 11 when he saw the original “Star Wars” back in 1977; by the time he was a teenager, he had a gig cleaning Steven Spielberg’s old student movies.
You could call Mr. Abrams a love child of Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg, born to the blockbuster world they helped make. At its best, that world taps into the wonder that can come with new visions and realms, sending you into raptures with earthly delights or those in galaxies far away. Too often, though, this world gives privilege to special effects and anonymity over story, character, directorial vision or just a little creative intelligence. Instead, moviemakers bludgeon viewers, numbing them into quiescence with pictorial monotony punctuated by apocalyptic clamor, with the same repetitive story beats, explosions, close shaves and grindingly unsurprising saves. In these pictures, good invariably triumphs over every evil except moviemaking formula.
Mr. Abrams became a small-screen name with television shows like “Alias” before making a discouraging transition to film directing with the third, prophetically titled “Mission: Impossible.” He scaled down nicely for “Super 8,” getting his Spielberg on with a story about some kids who help an alien return home. Even better was his “Star Trek,” an enjoyable big-screen gloss on the 1960s series that he followed with a disappointing sequel, taking two steps back. Mr. Abrams is still trying to transcend the worst of the blockbuster imperative, but with “The Force Awakens,” he shows that he hasn’t stopped learning and that the lessons have begun to pay off. (He’s backed by some of his regular crewmates, notably the cinematographer Dan Mindel and the editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review.html?_r=0
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And as I wrote above, JJ can't possibly damage the franchise any more than George Lucas has already done. Only the first two films, (episodes 4 and 5) are any good. The first because it cut new ground in the space opera genre, the second because it was a tight direction and had some good story telling and plot twists. The rest of them, Lucas jumped the shark. Star Wars product placements abound. The movies took a back seat to marketing. That is why people hate Lucas so much. He killed his own golden goose.
That is the only reason why I would want to see this one. Although all the hype makes me want to throw up, I may still see it, just to see if it can be resurrected to something reasonably good. I am not to optimistic. But it can't possibly be worse than episode 1 of the second trilogy. One hopes.
My best to you.
Amazing.
I was wondering how the hell you guys managed to get in so early and see the thing and still be posting on DU. Impressed, really. 
