Star Wars The Force Awakens Movie Review

Okay.

So Disney really set itself up for a possible critical failure.  I knew that the movie would be critic proof in the sense that it would have made at least $500 Million if it sucked.  What with R2D2 on huge planes and the hype and the commercials and trailers and all I knew opening weekend it would shatter $200 Million.

But...

It is actually a great movie.  Well done, JJ.  Well done.

Writing
The writing is bang on with well done proverbs of wisdom and new humorous and quotable Star Wars fodder for Geeks like me who still quotes something from one of the original SW Trilogy every week. If not every day.

Special Effects
The special effects have a new reality and weight to them I have never seen before.  The special effects wizards made the Millenium Falcon look like it was big and that it was there.  The lack of over the top CGI effects and the marriage of the CGI and practical effects (like its puppets and animatronic costumes), was perfect.

Music
At 83 years old John Williams cranked out another signature score that is masterful combining new themes and old ones into a memorable sound.  I got the CD for Christmas.  Love it!  It is interesting to see how his sound has changed a but and yet stayed the same over the years.  He has been composing music for LONG time.

Story
The story is the part that some have criticized but I don't have a problem with.  Any empire comes up with a weapon that they try to use as the thing that will make them supreme.  JJ and Lawrence Kasdan came up with a story that would grab the new fans by their imagination and seize the nostalgic souls of the first generation SW fans.  There are unexpected twists and turns that spice up what you think would be just the same old same old.  None of it is that.  Not to me.  It kept me guessing what was next.  I was on the edge of my seat.

My friend put it right when he said that it felt like a Star Wars movie.  That is something that is hard to do.  While we know that it is impossible to recreate the magic of the first three movies (1977-1983). But this movie comes pretty darn close.

Cast
The cast from past and present were great in their roles and acting and JJ was right: He found another spunky newcomer in Daisy Ridley who played Rey. She is a fantastic female hero that our girls can look up to.  Finn, played by John Boyega, is a lost soul character as well in need of family and he finds it.  And Poe Damaran played by Oscar Isaac, while not getting enough character development, is a solid swashbuckler.  I enjoyed his role as Joseph in the Nativity Story.
Harrison Ford was great at his job in reprising his role as Han Solo.  His cynical Ford humour and now his aged character comes out in the film.  Carrie Fisher is perfect in her role as General Leia. Carrie is beautiful and I was glad to see her in the film.  Kylo Ren played by Adam Driver is a deep villain with a tortured soul who has allowed anger to fester in him and poison his soul.
Maz is a great little Yoda type character and her wisdom is played well by Lupita Nyong'o.  Her performance comes out wonderfully in the CGI.
BB-8 is a swell little guy and a good character.  Lucas had Artificial Intelligence down when it wasn't even a thing and Abrams and his team came up with an iconic little fella that has captured everyone's heart again.  My only criticism of the cast was JJ's choice to use some old acting friends from Alias and Lost in supporting roles.  I think besides the vintage cast you gotta go with complete unknowns and newcomers because then they are just their character and not "Oh, there's that guy from Lost and Alias".  Forgiveable though.

Thoughts
I haven't included any of the many lessons from this new movie because I have friends and family that haven't seen it yet and I don't want to "spoiler" anything.  So that will be another time.

The second time I saw it and saw it sold out I realized something.  Just like the first Stars Wars film in 1977 where Hollywood was gone dark with the times, this new movie has once again been something to lift people out of the bad news bleakness that surrounds us in all news and social media. Christ said to have child-like faith in Him and in His goodness and in the power of Light that the darkness has not and will never overcome.  Star Wars has the ability to temporarily fire up those child-like faith engines and fly us above the fray.  The cynics aside. This movie, using themes of boldness, unrelenting parental love, faith, friendship and sacrifice this movie has given old and young some new cinematic joy.

'Nuff Said.

Spiritual Maturity

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that one of the signs of maturity in Christian faith is that we aren't             "tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching."  As a pastor I see a lot of Christians who are tossed about like waves driven by the wind of some latest bandwagon of teaching or a new Christian craze or the latest "Christian" politician who is capitalizing on fear and adrenaline. They are ordering the latest book in multiples and trying to give them out to me and others to sell this new stuff.

A lot of these guys online and on YouTube are making a ton of money off this stuff.  They hold weekend conferences and sell a lot of books that line their pockets.  In Ephesians 4:13-14 Paul warns of these guys.  He says I want you to be "growing spiritually to become a mature believer so that we are no longer children, spiritually immature, tossed back and forth like ships on a stormy sea and carried about by every wind of shifting doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of unscrupulous men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything for personal profit."

We are a culture of the latest and greatest.  We are attention deficit Christians who are surfing the latest wave that is about to crash like all the others.

If you want solid teaching that will help you grow then keep your money and try just reading half of a chapter of one of Paul's letters to the churches or the words of Jesus from a Gospel instead of the latest book.

Or read an old book like "Morning and Evening Devotions" by Spurgeon. Something that has stood the test of time.  John Piper says we are chronological snobs when we ignore the ancient paths.  Much of this "new stuff" is going to blow away within months or even weeks.  Don't be a trendy Christian. It is exhausting trying to keep up with the latest thing.  Jeremiah tells us that to find rest for our souls we need only look one place.  God and his Word.

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."  Jeremiah 6:16


'Nuff Said.