By Olivia Malone
SO STAR WARS ANYONE?
Unless you've been quarantine for the last two months, you've probably heard about Star Wars Episode VII dropping in December. 'The Force Awakens' dropped on December 18th to absolute monomania. Immediately taking the record for highest income on the release date from Harry Potter, The Force Awakens has already earned over $900,000,000, and successfully climbed up to a spot as the third highest grossing film of all time. It's a worthy successor to the original trilogy, achieving a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and the approval of the overwhelming majority of existing Star Wars fans.
The Force Awakens picks up around forty years from where Episode VI left us, where the New Republic has been formed after the fall of the Empire. However, from the remnants of the destroyed Empire, the 'First Order' has risen. While mirroring the Empire's goals and wishes, the First Order is primarily different in how they get what they want. Unlike the Empire, the First Order is completely satisfied to incorporate the Force into their plans, even powering their ships with Kyber crystals (those things that power lightsabers!). This is an interesting choice, as while we know that the commander, Supreme Leader Snoke, is a Force user, exactly who he is or where he's come from is completely unknown.
As the New Republic shuffle in their places and debate about whether they should leave the First Order alone, Leia, preferring to be referred to as General now, recreates the Resistance in order to take control and stop the First Order before everything gets out of hand. Although she may have some personal reason for getting involved...
The main plot revolves around three main protagonists, the first being Poe Dameron, the resistance's best pilot, played by Oscar Isaac. When Poe goes to Jakku to retrieve the last piece of map to find Luke Skywalker, (Who went into self-induced eremitism because of an event I'm not going to elaborate on. Spoilers people!) his team is ambushed by the First Order, searching for the same piece of map. Led by Kylo Ren, a powerful Force User and apprentice of Snoke, the First Order kidnap Poe but lose map, as Poe managed to get his astromech BB-8 away with the map before they were found.
While Poe is in captivity, we find out that Kylo Ren can use the Force to the extent where he reads Poe's mind. He reads Poe's mind! We've only seen that done once, by Darth Vader, and even then all he did was pluck information from the top of Luke's mind while Luke was concentrating on it. Not to mention the fact that Kylo Ren stopped a laser beam in mid air, another ability of Darth Vadar himself. If it feels like Kylo is a bit of a Darth Vadar fan, that's explained in the movie. As much as I'd like to delve into it, it counts as spoiler.
Traveling as fast as they can, BB-8 meets (and refuses to stop following) a scavenger named Rey. Rey is an orphan, surviving by searching for and selling parts in ancient ships crashed during a battle that happened on Jakku ages ago. From what we can see, she lives in a crashed AT-AT and wants to travel away from Jakku, but is worried that if she does, her parents will come back for her and she won't be there. She's very much intended to feel like a mirage of Luke Skywalker, but she's very much a great character in her own right.
Meanwhile on Jakku, a stormtrooper named FN-2187 is starting to panic. He doesn't want to hurt people, he never wanted to, but if he rebels and refuses Bad Things will happen. In a burst of uncharacteristic bravery, FN-2187 frees Poe and together they steal a TIE Fighter in a glorious scene of shouting and cheering and the occasional screaming. In this scene, Poe decides that FN-2187 isn't a name and dubs our third protagonist Finn.
The ship crashes, and Poe is nowhere to be found. Disheartened, Finn takes Poe's jacket and goes searching for water, eventually meeting Rey in the market place as BB-8 gets angry and worried over the fact that Finn is wearing their best friend's jacket. After a little bit of squabbling, the First Order show up (again) and the group decides to put away their differences and leg it.
The Force Awakens is definitely a film worth seeing even if you've never watched a Star Wars film before. Watching the original trilogy will always reveal some references you might otherwise miss, but if the reason you don't want to watch it is because you don't want to watch the first ones than please don't let that stop you. The film has an amazing cast, with actors such as Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie and Adam Driver, not to mention a plethora of previously unknown but incredibly talented actors such as John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Not only new actors as well, with Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels reprising their iconic roles, the movie is bubbling with characters.
So see it! And enjoy it! Because you definitely will, whether you like Star Wars or not. Filming for Episode VIII has already begun, and we wait in baited breath for its release in 2017. Thanks for reading!
SO STAR WARS ANYONE?
Unless you've been quarantine for the last two months, you've probably heard about Star Wars Episode VII dropping in December. 'The Force Awakens' dropped on December 18th to absolute monomania. Immediately taking the record for highest income on the release date from Harry Potter, The Force Awakens has already earned over $900,000,000, and successfully climbed up to a spot as the third highest grossing film of all time. It's a worthy successor to the original trilogy, achieving a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and the approval of the overwhelming majority of existing Star Wars fans.
The Force Awakens picks up around forty years from where Episode VI left us, where the New Republic has been formed after the fall of the Empire. However, from the remnants of the destroyed Empire, the 'First Order' has risen. While mirroring the Empire's goals and wishes, the First Order is primarily different in how they get what they want. Unlike the Empire, the First Order is completely satisfied to incorporate the Force into their plans, even powering their ships with Kyber crystals (those things that power lightsabers!). This is an interesting choice, as while we know that the commander, Supreme Leader Snoke, is a Force user, exactly who he is or where he's come from is completely unknown.
As the New Republic shuffle in their places and debate about whether they should leave the First Order alone, Leia, preferring to be referred to as General now, recreates the Resistance in order to take control and stop the First Order before everything gets out of hand. Although she may have some personal reason for getting involved...
The main plot revolves around three main protagonists, the first being Poe Dameron, the resistance's best pilot, played by Oscar Isaac. When Poe goes to Jakku to retrieve the last piece of map to find Luke Skywalker, (Who went into self-induced eremitism because of an event I'm not going to elaborate on. Spoilers people!) his team is ambushed by the First Order, searching for the same piece of map. Led by Kylo Ren, a powerful Force User and apprentice of Snoke, the First Order kidnap Poe but lose map, as Poe managed to get his astromech BB-8 away with the map before they were found.
While Poe is in captivity, we find out that Kylo Ren can use the Force to the extent where he reads Poe's mind. He reads Poe's mind! We've only seen that done once, by Darth Vader, and even then all he did was pluck information from the top of Luke's mind while Luke was concentrating on it. Not to mention the fact that Kylo Ren stopped a laser beam in mid air, another ability of Darth Vadar himself. If it feels like Kylo is a bit of a Darth Vadar fan, that's explained in the movie. As much as I'd like to delve into it, it counts as spoiler.
Traveling as fast as they can, BB-8 meets (and refuses to stop following) a scavenger named Rey. Rey is an orphan, surviving by searching for and selling parts in ancient ships crashed during a battle that happened on Jakku ages ago. From what we can see, she lives in a crashed AT-AT and wants to travel away from Jakku, but is worried that if she does, her parents will come back for her and she won't be there. She's very much intended to feel like a mirage of Luke Skywalker, but she's very much a great character in her own right.
Meanwhile on Jakku, a stormtrooper named FN-2187 is starting to panic. He doesn't want to hurt people, he never wanted to, but if he rebels and refuses Bad Things will happen. In a burst of uncharacteristic bravery, FN-2187 frees Poe and together they steal a TIE Fighter in a glorious scene of shouting and cheering and the occasional screaming. In this scene, Poe decides that FN-2187 isn't a name and dubs our third protagonist Finn.
The ship crashes, and Poe is nowhere to be found. Disheartened, Finn takes Poe's jacket and goes searching for water, eventually meeting Rey in the market place as BB-8 gets angry and worried over the fact that Finn is wearing their best friend's jacket. After a little bit of squabbling, the First Order show up (again) and the group decides to put away their differences and leg it.
The Force Awakens is definitely a film worth seeing even if you've never watched a Star Wars film before. Watching the original trilogy will always reveal some references you might otherwise miss, but if the reason you don't want to watch it is because you don't want to watch the first ones than please don't let that stop you. The film has an amazing cast, with actors such as Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie and Adam Driver, not to mention a plethora of previously unknown but incredibly talented actors such as John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Not only new actors as well, with Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels reprising their iconic roles, the movie is bubbling with characters.
So see it! And enjoy it! Because you definitely will, whether you like Star Wars or not. Filming for Episode VIII has already begun, and we wait in baited breath for its release in 2017. Thanks for reading!