Star Wars: The Force Awakens

This weekend, I finally saw 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'. I'm familiar with the Star Wars franchise, like most people, as I saw some of the films and played the video games when I was younger. Over the Christmas holidays, I had a marathon of all six films, as I had never seen every film before all the way through and in the release order, starting with the original trilogy. After familiarising myself with the lore of the series, I thought it was finally time to see the newest installment.

I went with my friend, who is a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy and who had already seen the film. His verdict was that it was good, but not as good as what he'd heard it was, as the film has been highly acclaimed by many Star Wars fans, unlike the prequel trilogy that came out around fifteen years ago. Although the film has been out for almost a month now, the cinema was still relatively full, which created an excited atmosphere and built my anticipation for the film.

The film itself is about Finn, an ex-Stormtrooper who after his first battle decides to run away, and Rey, a scavenger from an sparse planet. They're brought together by BB8, a droid that holds an important map for the resistance, a team fighting against the First Order, a surfaced version of the Dark Side lead by Kylo Ren and General Hux. In their adventures they are joined by rebellion fighter pilot Poe, as well as characters from the original trilogy such as Han Solo, Chewbacca and Princess (now General) Leia.

I loved this film. I thought it was one of the most charming and enjoyable blockbusters I've seen for a long time, as well as including all the things about Star Wars that made it great. The audience also seemed to enjoy it, laughing at the jokes and quips between characters, and I heard a cheer when Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, is first seen. When I came out of the cinema, my friend said that their opinion of the film had gotten better seeing it a second time, as first he expected a different film, but now he knew what was going to happen he'd found a new appreciation for it. As I had heard spoilers on social media about the film, I wasn't as suprised about some of the plot points, but I don't think this changed my enjoyment of the film.

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', and it has stuck in my mind for the past few days, as well as making a bit more of a true Star Wars fan out of me.