Star Wars

Star Wars is a global franchise that has its roots stuck in the hearts of people from all the generations since the 1970s. Its audience is composed of hundreds of millions of people from the age of 10 to the age of 50 and the whole franchise is worth around 42 billion dollars, which is more than the combined franchisees of Harry Potter and James Bond. All of the movies were hits when they premiered on the big screen. This is why the anticipation for the new film of the Star Wars saga is so high.

When I heard the news that a new Star Wars film is going to come out at Christmas, 2016, I was hyped again. It was the Phantom Menace I watched for the first time when I was five or six years old. I had not seen anything like this before. The idea behind the film grabbed me, it was magnificent! A boy around my age changed his life completely and was on the way to become the greatest Jedi ever. Before the Force Awakens there are two trilogies – the one from the 70s and the 80s and the one from the beginning of this century. Of course different people will have greater affection for the films that they grew up with taking into account that there is a sixteen-year gap between the two trilogies.

The teaser trailer, aired around one year ago, really reminded me of the past movies. I felt a little bit nostalgic but simultaneously I was excited to see what Hollywood had prepared for us. When I watched the film a few days after Christmas I found myself feeling like a 6-year-old, reading for the first time the words: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, hearing John Williams’s fanfare theme and discovering what all the fuss was about. But after around one hour all the fuss was gone. I don’t know; maybe I have grown up or I was not that big of a fan or because of the fact that I prefer the prequel trilogy over the original one from the 70s, but the fact remains that I was not amazed by what I saw. I can’t simply ignore the fact that the moment Harrison Ford said: “Chewie, we are home…” was one of the few things you should watch the movie for. But many other things were missing, as it was not complete. The main actors made some awkward facial expressions and the whole acting somehow wasn’t on point. The point where I knew that there was something wrong was when the main antagonist removed his helmet and the audience saw a young guy who neither looked scary nor inspired any sort of respect. The whole casting was messed up as it wasn’t for a film with more than 200 million budget but for a kids’ movie which you don’t know why you are watching at all. However, there was one thing in the storyline that made my affection for this particular film vanish forever and it was the fact that the main character was a traitor. Yes, some will say he was on the dark side and choose the light or something like that, but the fact still remains: he betrayed his own kind, which I found really disappointing. On second thought, the reason for this might have been that all of the action happened really fast, the process of transition was accelerated and I could not get into his shoes and understand him.

Nevertheless, the film is worth seeing especially if you have watched the previous ones. The effects are great as you are there and you might enjoy it. It is precisely what you expect. Nothing more, nothing less. There isn’t anything wrong with it but for me it was not enough. Let’s hope the next one coming out in 2017 and 2019 will be much better.