The Force Awakens Nailed It

by Camela Thompson

No spoilers. Go see it - preferably in IMAX.

I appreciate my coworkers. They are thoughtful people who made an effort not to spoil The Force Awakens. In a sea of die hard fans who scrambled for the early ticket purchases, I was the jaded individual who decided to wait until a consensus was reached. Would the newest film do justice to the original trilogy? Or were we fated to relive the horror of the three that shall not be named?

I was a little nervous about J.J. Abrams' involvement. I enjoyed the newest Star Trek movies, but they weren't canon. The alternate timeline is a convenient device best left alone. On the other hand, Disney's involvement didn't bother me (can you say "budget"??) and the lack of George Lucas was an encouragement. He had proven a menace if left to his own devices. The remaking of the originals (4-6) were unnecessary. The grandiose but lackluster build in 1-3 plus the addition of some exceedingly annoying secondary characters made for a disaster. People looked for the magic from the original movies to carry over into the prequels. It didn't happen and generated speculation that Lucas was lacking the counterbalance to reign in his creative vision.

Perhaps we needed 1-3 to lower expectations. It was okay that The Force Awakens wasn't epic. I had no problem with it following the same formula as Star Wars. I'm a big fan of the saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The behavior of the original characters was consistent with the previous movies. There was enough overlap to bring back the old nostalgia that was missing from the prequels. I appreciated the updates and a female protagonist who wasn't helpless. The best part? The deaths (minus the red shirts) had purpose even if the one on my mind was really, really sad.

Was it perfect? No. But it was close enough.

Did you love The Force Awakens? Were you disappointed? What do you hope to see in the next?