Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Rey: "There are stories about what happened."
Han Solo: "It's true. All of it."

original title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
directed by: JJ Abrams
written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt
photography by: Daniel Mindel
edited by: Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey
music by: John Williams
cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford
imdb

Allow me to begin, with what I wrote back in 2009 about JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot: "When George Lucas was preparing his Episode I of the Star Wars saga he surely dreamed of joining the legend of the original characters in a new spirit of adventure; combining tradition with modern times; and, something that seems increasingly difficult, seize the opportunities of the current special effects for an absolute show without completely distorting the plot with it. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and his second Star Wars trilogy will go down in film history as one of its biggest fiascos.

JJ Abrams has achieved all these goals with its reboot of Star Trek. As low intensity Trekkie I must say that this Star Trek is totally respectful of Trekkie tradition. Screenwriters have certainly taken some licenses (the rebellious youth of James Kirk...) but not involving any treachery to the spirit of the original series."

So I can say now that JJ Abrams has done it again. He did it with Star Trek, and he has done it again with Star Wars. He has brought the artifact that we were all waiting for.

The Force Awakens has everything we expected it to have. It will satisfy the fans of the original movies and the new generations. In fact, the only criticism that occurs to me is that he didn't risk at all. But when you deal with Star Wars (or even more, when you deal with Star Trek fans) any risk can become an heregy. We will develope this point at the end of the article, not to reveal anything from the plot at this point. Just note that Lawrecence Kasdan (cowriter of The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of The Jedi, collaborated in The Force Awakens), in an obvious attempt to link with the original movies (by the way, Lawrence Kasdan was the writer and director of neo-noir classic Body Heat).

TFA hommages indeed the original movies, but in an emotional but elegant way. Probably this is the biggest success of TFA, how it links with the originals story, and our beloved characters.

TFA also brings some impressive images, as the teasers and trailers already revealed. Hommages to other movies, like the X-wings flying over the lake or the Tie against a downing sun, reminding of Apocalypse Now's iconic scene, or that giant ship sunk in the sand, like the one in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And there is also the dark side... This new Sith (and his crossed laser saber) brings a charismatic dark character, not like happened with the almost ridiculous Darth Maul from Episode I, even with the more intimate moments.

There is another dark character, Supreme Leader Snoke, about which we will not reveal more at this point, but let's say that it was not completely satisfying to me.

Another important move from JJ Abrams is to the bet for models instead of CGI (computer-generated imagery), in clear opposition to George Lucas's CGI orgy on the second triology (clearly shown in this image). 

About the plot. A fair chriticism of The Force Awakens is that it could be described as a remake of the Episode IV, the original movie from 1977. I can't say that this was a problem for me, because it was more like a structure of the plot only remake, but it is a fair chriticism.