Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
'The Force Awakens' Brings 'Star Wars' Back To The Glory Of The Classic Films
The past looms large in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest installment in the most beloved film franchise of all time. Literal debris of the Empire clutters the Star Wars galaxy now—particularly a desert planet known as Jakku—and director J.J. Abrams has been burdened with creating a sequel that may as well be a reboot. Hearkening back to the original trilogy in heavy doses, its implied goal was the wipe away the stain of the much-maligned prequel trilogy, a wound that continues to fester in the mind of Star Wars geeks like one of Darth Vader's scars.
Any fans of Star Wars will be pleased to learn that The Force Awakens is quite enjoyable, and the film's design is so impeccable that it could hardly fail at delivering what they want. The plot, of which reviewers are mostly restricted from revealing, will be quite familiar, as it mostly revisits the bulk of the original trilogy's themes and condenses it into one film. A New Hope's droid with the secret cargo and escape from a desert planet, The Empire Strikes Back's run from the bad guys, and the epic space battles from both Hope and Return Of The Jedi make the message clear: Star Wars is back to its roots.
Abrams is in his wheelhouse here—as a filmmaker his greatest ability was to tinker with a familiar product and refine it to a modern palate. George Lucas' classical sense of filmmaking is given a modern adrenaline boost with swooping cameras, plenty of explosions, and, yes, some lens flare.
Fan-service abounds in The Force Awakens, with plenty of winks and callbacks and the casting of the original stars (Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill) in their iconic roles. The introduction of Han Solo, Chewbacca, General Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker may as well have each come with canned applause on the film's soundtrack. "Original" elements of The Force Awakens are essentially revisions or updates. Jakku is Tatooine except in name and less one sun, and the First Order villains and Resistance heroes are the Empire and Rebellion under new aliases 30 years after Return Of The Jedi.
Support for LAist comes from
Even new characters are composites of the aforementioned torchbearers of the franchise, but the young, talented cast (Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and an especially hammy Oscar Isaac) are all able to work within the archetypes to make them their very own. Ridley as Rey, a woman searching for her unknown past, brings a new spark to the the gritty self-reliance of Leia; while Adam Driver, who seems cast partly for his towering physical presence, as new bad guy Kylo Ren has an emotional intensity that is at once both terrifying and comically over the top.
Much has been made of the efforts to make The Force Awakens feel like it sits alongside the original trilogy. Reducing their reliance on digital effects does give the new worlds a lived-in feel that was lacking from the prequel trilogy, but also treading on familiar grounds limits the sense of wonder from the original films. Abrams strengths as a filmmaker are also his weakness, but for The Force Awakens he's more a shepherd than a storyteller. He's hit the reset button on a series loved by millions and set up subsequent films for greater adventures in a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens everywhere on Friday.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist