Four stars. Rated PG-13, for intense sci-fi action and violence
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.18.15
No question about it: J.J. Abrams
definitely is one with The Force.
The writer/director/producer who
so smartly revived the Star Trek franchise has done the same with Star
Wars.
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| With nasty First Order storm troopers hot on their heels, Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) do their best to survive long enough to get a valuable little droid into the hands of good-guy Resistance fighters. |
After the most recent trilogy
prompted a blend of disappointment, disgust and outright hostility — Jar Jar
Binks, anyone? — fans could be excused the raised-eyebrow wariness that
initially greeted news of fresh doings in that galaxy far, far away. But maybe
there really is something to the all-pervasive Force, because — for several
months now — we’ve been part of an escalating global awareness that Something
Great was in the offing.
Indeed.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t merely a 30-years-later continuation of the universe-spanning saga that
(technically) left off back in 1983, with Return of the Jedi. Abrams and
co-scripters Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt have delivered a new chapter that
simultaneously advances the ongoing narrative, while strongly evoking, echoing
and honoring everything that we loved about that wonderful debut, back in 1977.
Abrams sought out the best:
Kasdan will be recognized as the writer who worked on both The Empire Strikes
Back and Return of the Jedi (not to mention Raiders of the Lost Ark). He
lives and breathes this stuff; he also understands the delicate art of
imitating Hollywood’s Golden Age serials — with their alternating dollops of
melodramatic angst and cliff-hanging action scenes — without crossing the line
into overly broad farce.
And, as befits the 30-years-later
scenario, we’ve been granted a fresh — and fresh-faced — cast of new
characters, possessing varying capabilities, and thrust into ghastly events
with either reluctance or grim resolve. At the same time, fans will cheer the
return of old friends, whether human, droid or Wookie.
It can’t have been easy to
deliver a film that will please both newcomers and longtime fans with
light-sabers drawn; Abrams and his crew pulled it off, and then some.
• Buy Blu-Ray: 
, 
, 
), having also demonstrated his big-screen chops by helming 
, has revived the Trek franchise with a bravura thrill-ride that should please longtime fans while also attracting plenty of newbies. 
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