Movie Review - Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

I am not a hardcore fan of the Star Wars franchise, meaning I do not know the names of all the characters like the back of my hand, though I do know the names of all the main ones. I have seen all the 6 movies, played a few videogames but my knowledge of the universe is quite limited. I do love the old Star Wars movies more than the new ones, but the action and the set pieces in the prequels are obviously far better. Having said that, here is my review of Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens.

Firstly, the story is not too complicated like the prequels. I've heard from people who have never seen a Star Wars movie that they did not have any trouble in following the plot and I totally agree with them. That being said, it would help if you have seen all the movies. If you are expecting a fun roller-coaster ride and have never even heard of Star Wars (you must be living under a rock), you can jump right in. In fact, the story actually is very similar to the old movies. A group of misfits join together to stop the evil Kylo Ren and find Luke Skywalker (who is like the protagonist from the past movies for those of you that don't know). There is more to it than that, but that is all you need to know if you are not a Star Wars fan. As far as the plot is concerned, it was nothing new - just the usual good vs evil story with a few plot twists. Some of the plot points never made sense, but the title of the movie is 'Star Wars', so I'll let that slip in. But the movie never felt boring and I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. 

All the characters, however, felt like replacements for the old characters - a sort of "passing the torch", if you will. Rey is the new Leia, Poe is the new Han, Finn is very similar to Luke in that he doesn't understand what is going on around him, BB8 is the new Artoo Deetoo, Kylo Ren is the new Darth Vader and so on. Speaking of Kylo Ren, this guy was menacing much like Vader. His voice sounds very cool, even better than Darth Vader, in my opinion. It is like if Darth Vader replaced his vocal chords with  Bane from TDKR. In my opinion, this guy should have been what Anakin Skywalker was made to be. Anakin felt like a cute college guy (no homo) who is a Jedi, who suddenly snaps one day to become a Sith. Kylo Ren, on the other hand, is still very young but you can see the evil and the malice in his eyes. Kylo Ren convinced me that he was more evil than Anakin was in 'Revenge of the Sith' in just one movie and that is a testament to the actor playing the character. The acting was nothing short of great, especially John Boyega, the actress playing Rey and the guy who played Kylo Ren. These guys take the cake in terms of performances.

The cinematography is absolutely astounding. During some of the flight sequences, I actually felt dizzy. I watched it in 3D, which was actually pretty good and that just added to the effect. Some of the shots actually looked like posters that you could use as your desktop wallpaper.

In the end, I can say without a doubt that Star Wars 7 was very entertaining than most of the movies this year. A complete family entertainer that can be enjoyed by any and everybody. Do yourself a favor...watch this movie with your family. Just make sure you watch it in 3D. May the force be with you and wish you all a happy new year!

                                                                         Score - 7/10