“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the seventh feature length film in this seminal sci-fi franchise, has the distinction of being the first of the series to be made without any involvement from the creator of the whole thing, George Lucas. And the irony is that director J.J. Abrams et. al. tried their absolute damnedest to make this movie feel as much like the original 1975 film as possible.

The story very simply involves an underground resistance group waging political (and actual) battles against a large evil force determined to take control of the whole galaxy. Some young rag tag folks meet up with an older wise man with a history against the bad guys, lead by a shadowy figure who communicates with his minions via hologram, one of whom is a fella dressed all in black with a black mask and a distorted voice whom every one else fears due to his Force powers. The rebels and the bad guys race against each other to get the same piece of information, which leads to a big space battle at the end involving a large planet-like space station slash world-destroying weapon. Also there is a stop at a cantina-like establishment filled with all sorts of aliens and creatures as well as a live band, and there are cute android antics.

Continue Reading …