There are lots of reviews out there now of The Force Awakens (Christopher Orr at The Atlantic, Mark Kermode at the Guardian, and the rest). The general consensus seems to be that it’s possible to find flaws if you try, but that it’s a good piece of cinema.
I liked that the gender dynamics were distinctly different from the earlier films. There were moments when Finn went to interact with Rey as a star wars character might have thirty years ago – protectively, assuming that she’s in trouble because she’s a woman. Her responses, something like ‘Of course I’m fine – what an odd question’ feel like a healthy breath of fresh air.
Overall, it was a fun movie. Sure, it’s a redo of the old movies – a pastiche of the same fights and scenes and relationship tensions, repasted in different ways. Almost as if they’d commissioned someone to recreate A New Hope. But you know what? Episode IV was pretty great – and A New Hope is a lot of fun.
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