Image from HERE

You are probably wondering what I did on the 30th of December 2015. Or probably not. But I am going to tell you anyway.

I went to see the new Star Wars movie, after I waited patiently for the storm to pass and actually be able to get a seat at the cinema. I did not go to see it because of my unbounded appreciation towards the series. Full disclosure: I only saw Episode 1. So there is nothing for me to be especially excited about regarding the series. I just made a promise to myself that I would try and jump on the Star Wars band wagon by watching all the movies once and for all.

I am a newbie to the series, so I won’t even try to make any references to previous movies because I do not own enough knowledge about that. I will treat this movie as I treat any other, as a sole entity and go further into laying down my opinions about it and how it felt to my “untrained” Star Wars eyes.

If I were to rename this movie I would call it “Finding Luke Skywalker” because that is what everybody is trying to here. Both sides, the good and the bad, The Resistance and the First Order respectively, have the same mission, but for a different purpose of course. Everyone is on the search for the map that will lead them to Luke Skywalker. The map is partly owned by a new introduction to the movie, a cute droid named BB-8 that requires protection because of that, until he gets to where the Resistance resides and where R2D2 has the rest of the map.

Of its protection are in charge two, also new, characters: Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, who if I were only to hear her voice I would’ve said, no doubt, that is played by Keira Knightly and she also looks a bit like her; the other newbie is Finn, a former Stormtrooper, played by John Boyega, who will probably be Rey’s love interest in the movies to come. Even though he was serving the biggest evil of them all, you really get to like him because he’s caring and funny and turns out to be very brave after all, in spite of hiding his true origin at first.

I think the alternative name that I mentioned earlier for the movie is also fit because of the fact that now Star Wars is in the hands of Disney. It sure feels like a transition movie if you ask me, because it is mainly a crowd pleaser, it almost says “please, like me!”. As a review in Time magazine said, the movie is adequate. It works for the to-be fans, the kids who, most probably, got Star Wars merchandise for Christmas. If that happened, it is more than clear that the strategy worked. They will obviously want to watch the next movie in the installment.

I admit that I went in the movie theater with the expectation that I will find that extra factor that will make me a fan of the series and that made others fans of this series created by George Lucas, but that obviously didn’t happen. I didn’t get too attached to the new characters except for BB-8, but that’s a case of emotional manipulations (and don’t get me started on the “who wore it better” discussion: Mark Watney for the win!). The main villain Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, didn’t convince me either and I mostly felt bad for the old characters that carried this series’ charm (from what I’ve heard) and will get less screen time as the series advances because they will probably be replaced by the new characters. But that shouldn’t be that bad, should it? Well, it surely felt like it for me.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is packed with action and good fun. But I am not sure in what way this movie will stick with you in the long term. To me it felt like good entertainment and a feel-good movie (if you are not especially attached to a specific character that says goodbye to the series. Maybe.) that mostly works for kids.

Did you see Star Wars: The Force Awakens?

Did you like it?