Star Wars Argumentative Essay
Star Wars is one of those film franchises that literally everyone knows about. Actually, I'm not sure you can even draw a comparison with any other franchise out there. I'm not sure that there's anything that can quite compare to the lasting impact that the Star Wars film series has. The original trilogy, the last film being released 32 years ago, has since spawned endless novels, video games, TV series, prequels and most importantly a rabid and devoted fan base who hold those original films very dear to their hearts. So, when Disney announced that it was planning on bringing back Star Wars for a seventh chapter, the hype was unimaginably high. In fact, I can't recall any other film that had exactly this amount of anticipation. Does it deliver the goods? Will it satisfy the endless craving for Star Wars that seemingly everyone in America has right now? In a word: yes. It is fair to enter this film with a degree of caution and uncertainty after watching the much-maligned Prequel trilogy. But, you can put those fears to rest. Episode 7 is miles better than Episodes I,II, and III and is even comparable with the original trilogy.
The film tells the story of a new set of youthful and unlikely heroes who get swept up in an intergalactic adventure of a lifetime. …show more content…
Namely, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger living on the desert planet of Jakku and Finn (John Boyega), a Storm Trooper of the First Order who decides to abandon his duty after witnessing the fascist like activities that the First Order takes part in. Along with a brand new, cute-as-hell droid unit BB-8 , these two end up in the middle of a conflict between the First Order and the rebel Resistance, both of whom are trying to find the sole remaining Jedi, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his ever faithful Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca also show up, helping Finn and Rey on their journey. To say too much else about the plot of this movie would be a disservice, but for clarity's sake, imagine the plot of A New Hope but with new characters (more on that later). Also joining in on the fun is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a Sith apprentice under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke (a CGI Andy Serkis) who desperately wants to find Skywalker.
Now that I've put down the basics of the movie, lets get into what I liked about the film.
Which, thankfully, is a lot. Without beating around the bush, the movie is just a whole ton of fun. There's a consistent energy here that made the original films so much fun and which was so obviously lacking from the Prequels. There's witty banter aplenty, along with just the right amount of humor coming from BB-8 that's perfectly reminiscent of beloved R2-D2. Seriously, for how essential BB-8 is to the plot (and he's VERY essential), I'm so glad that the Abrams decided to limit his moments for humor with him. It's indicative of the balanced screenplay and provided us with a fresh new droid that we all love to
love.
Speaking of Abrams, he's on the top of his game here. Both he and cinematographer David Mindel give this film a slick visual style that both keeps in line with some Star Wars traditions while giving it enough of it's own flair to differentiate it. The visuals are all astounding and the actions sequences are perfectly directed. My favorite has to be the first time we see the Millennium Falcon back in action. The whole fight is perfectly paced and has one of the most outright awesome endings to a spaceship fight ever. P.S. Prepare to have a nerdgasm the first time you see the Falcon appear onscreen. Solo's ship is but one of the dozens of callbacks to the previous films in Episode 7. Some are there as essential elements of the plot and other are merely one-off lines about one character's escapades. But none of it ever feels shoehorned in or unnecessary. It all feels in line with the mythology of the film series and adds to the overall enjoyment of the film.
On the flip side of things, where do you draw the line when it comes to callbacks? As I mentioned before, the plot of this film not only bears heavy resemblance to A New Hope, but to all of the original films. This was obviously a deliberate choice, but it also feels somewhat lazy. Almost like the powers that be couldn't come up with a fresh place for this film to go. I don't necessarily believe that's true. I think that perhaps Abrams was trying a bit too hard to pay homage so as to service older fans of the series, in the process retreading very familiar ground, but I also think that at the very least this film leaves a lot of doors open for new and exciting directions.
The film tells the story of a new set of youthful and unlikely heroes who get swept up in an intergalactic adventure of a lifetime. …show more content…
Namely, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger living on the desert planet of Jakku and Finn (John Boyega), a Storm Trooper of the First Order who decides to abandon his duty after witnessing the fascist like activities that the First Order takes part in. Along with a brand new, cute-as-hell droid unit BB-8 , these two end up in the middle of a conflict between the First Order and the rebel Resistance, both of whom are trying to find the sole remaining Jedi, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his ever faithful Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca also show up, helping Finn and Rey on their journey. To say too much else about the plot of this movie would be a disservice, but for clarity's sake, imagine the plot of A New Hope but with new characters (more on that later). Also joining in on the fun is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a Sith apprentice under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke (a CGI Andy Serkis) who desperately wants to find Skywalker.
Now that I've put down the basics of the movie, lets get into what I liked about the film.
Which, thankfully, is a lot. Without beating around the bush, the movie is just a whole ton of fun. There's a consistent energy here that made the original films so much fun and which was so obviously lacking from the Prequels. There's witty banter aplenty, along with just the right amount of humor coming from BB-8 that's perfectly reminiscent of beloved R2-D2. Seriously, for how essential BB-8 is to the plot (and he's VERY essential), I'm so glad that the Abrams decided to limit his moments for humor with him. It's indicative of the balanced screenplay and provided us with a fresh new droid that we all love to
love.
Speaking of Abrams, he's on the top of his game here. Both he and cinematographer David Mindel give this film a slick visual style that both keeps in line with some Star Wars traditions while giving it enough of it's own flair to differentiate it. The visuals are all astounding and the actions sequences are perfectly directed. My favorite has to be the first time we see the Millennium Falcon back in action. The whole fight is perfectly paced and has one of the most outright awesome endings to a spaceship fight ever. P.S. Prepare to have a nerdgasm the first time you see the Falcon appear onscreen. Solo's ship is but one of the dozens of callbacks to the previous films in Episode 7. Some are there as essential elements of the plot and other are merely one-off lines about one character's escapades. But none of it ever feels shoehorned in or unnecessary. It all feels in line with the mythology of the film series and adds to the overall enjoyment of the film.
On the flip side of things, where do you draw the line when it comes to callbacks? As I mentioned before, the plot of this film not only bears heavy resemblance to A New Hope, but to all of the original films. This was obviously a deliberate choice, but it also feels somewhat lazy. Almost like the powers that be couldn't come up with a fresh place for this film to go. I don't necessarily believe that's true. I think that perhaps Abrams was trying a bit too hard to pay homage so as to service older fans of the series, in the process retreading very familiar ground, but I also think that at the very least this film leaves a lot of doors open for new and exciting directions.