Star Wars: The Force Awakens

— SPOILER-FREE! — PG-13  |  135 min  

As a fan of the ONE AND ONLY trilogy I’ve already cried tears of joy over the first trailer – because of seeing old friends again that have been an important part of your life since childhood, and because director JJ Abrams has already successfully revived the Star Trek saga. Therefore no wonder that even a middle-aged person suddenly feels like a little kid again, anxiously awaiting THE BIG DAY…

As the  premiere graced Finland on this December Wednesday, two days before the official US release date, I can give you my impressions right away, almost directly from the movie theater…

What I can tell to all you fellow fans from “way back then” – take a good supply of tissues with you (yes, even the boys should do that). Although I found myself crying my eyes out as soon as John Williams’ fantastic legendary score blasted through the speakers, and continued to do so through 2/3 of the movie, at some point you will no longer cry tears of joy, I can guarantee that…

But what you really want to know – YES, YES, YES, this is indeed what we fans had been waiting for: a good story, with characters who make sense, who feel real, with dialogue that feels natural, and you actually care for them, and a lot!

The young cast (e.g. Daisy Ridley – Red, John Boyega – Finn, Oscar Isaac – Poe Dameron, Adam Driver – Kylo Ren) do a fantastic job to bring their characters to life. Even the new cute robot BB-8 feels “real”… There is breath-taking scenes,  action, CGI effects seamlessly blending into live action so even as an adult with lots of movie experience you will hold your breath several times, or find yourself open-mouthed…

Besides plenty of action and light sabre fights there’s humour and plenty of references to the original movies, and then of course seeing your old heroes again (Han Solo – Harrison Ford, Chewie – Peter Mayhew, Leia – Carrie Fisher, Luke – Mark Hamill, C3PO – Anthony Daniels, R2D2 – Kenny Baker) will surely make an impact (remember to take a tissue supply with you).

Excellent cinematography (Daniel Mindel) has to be mentioned here, and excellent choice of location  (e.g. Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Abu Dhabi, New Mexico).

In order to avoid spoilers, I will not go any further into the story line – set 30 after the original trilogy  (Return of the Jedi) and continuing from there. Only so far, that the only major let down is related to it, and that I had wished the writers Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt plus George Lucas (characters) had rather followed the example of “The Empire Strikes Back” … u get me? Not sure how much disturbing this aspect will turn out for all the other fans out there; at the moment I am still too emotionally instable and way too impressed by what this movie did right, after all …

Still, because of this “seriously? You could not think of anything else?” effect, not the full points here, although otherwise “The Force Awakens” deserved a 12 out of 10.

As I could only capture a ticket for a pretty bad seat on this premiere day (theaters were sold out quickly also in Helsinki), I have to watch it again from a better position next week, to make sure that I got all the facts right.

And – for mere scientific reasons, social field study, of course – I probably go and watch it a third time, in case I still get tickets …

Hope that tells you everything, fellow Star Wars nerds. May the force be with you.