I thought it was great.
The mythical girlfriend said it best when we were discussing it after the film, but we both agreed that it is best described as a true labor of love, by JJ Abrams. The film doesn’t try too hard, which was probably hard to not try and do, given the vast expansive canvas that would be the Star Wars universe, but in doing so, there’s a simplicity behind the plot and execution that is just so wonderful.
Really though, as cliche as it sounds, you can almost feel the amount of care and respect that Abrams has for the property, based solely on how smoothly and well-thought out the plot and pace of the movie went.
I went into the movie with almost no expectations, because I’d managed to avoid most teasers and preview clips, read absolutely no synopses or preview articles, and had quite literally, zero idea of the roles the faces I’d inadvertently seen. I knew there was a black character, a girl character, and the obvious heir to the Darth Vader role had a lightsaber with a lightsaber-y sword guard that the internet briefly went up in arms over. And BB-8. But that’s really about it.
And in doing so, I had a pretty clean slate emotionally going into it, and walked out the theater with a refreshed and feeling of amazement and admiration of knowing I’d just seen a really, really good movie.
The Force Awakens was a fantastic movie, and I’m glad I saw it on opening night, so that the threat of spoilers are gone, and I can simply sit back and hope that everyone else who eventually sees it also feels similarly to how I did afterward.
