Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Well Star Wars fans, here it is!  Finally!  Oh, wait, it came out like a month ago.  Sorry, I finally got around to seeing it after introducing my son to the first 6.  I want to warn anyone reading this who hasn't seen the movie that there are major SPOILERS because, I just don't care.  I want to start by saying, I really liked this movie and appreciated it for what it was, Star Wars.  I had low expectations because after parts 1,2,and 3 I have lost some faith in the franchise.  I will break it down with good vs bad in my opinion of the movie.  First off is Good:  Rey was great!  She was a good actor which is rare for the franchise, and her character kicked ass.  The introduction of the original characters was goosebump style cool, especially Han and Chewy.  The new light saber was pretty awesome and showed some originality.  Abrahams gave his good flair and "Star Trek" style to it which worked. All the flying fight scenes were great as well.  And last, the imagery was outstanding, as expected.

Now for the Bad (deep breath everyone):  Abrahams, way to kill off the only good actor in the films history!  Why didnt they use more force.  It was cool when they did, but it only showed up a few times.  Kylo Ren was supposed to be this total bad ass and when faced with a battle, he is almost beat by a sanitation engineer with no powers and first time light saber user.  Then, he does get beat by a new to the force, also first time light saber user!  Finn, poor Finn, he was just terrible.  How many close up shots of him can there by of him mouth breathing?!  Also, did he have a love at first sight bro-mance with Poe?  Luke?  Anyone seen Luke?  Oh there he is, you know the top billed actor with 3 seconds of screen time.  I really wished he would have shown up to fight Ren in the end.  

Thats enough for now, but in all, well worth the watch!  I am really glad that the series continues and am hoping for the best in the next one.  To be fair, I am 40, but my son who is 8 absolutely loved it!  Even though he said Revenge of the Sith is still his favorite????

FYI:  Gary Oldman has been snubbed twice trying to get into the Star Wars franchise.  My point confirmed!

***1/2