The first time I saw ‘Star Wars’ was when I was in school. In fact we were taken by the school Kendriya Vidhyalaya –I, GCF Estste, Jabalpur to the theatre ( I think Sheela Talkies) in 1978-79. It was an awesome experience as was watching my first bond some years later. That was soon followed with Empire Strikes Back ( International release 1980) and Return Of The Jedi ( International Release 1983). Then I missed out on `The Phantom Menace’, `The Attack Of The Clones’ ,’ Revenge Of The Sith’ – which never had much of a buzz around them. Maybe I was real middle age working male for whom such fantasy films masquerading as science fiction were not cool. Even my kids were too young to appreciate or push me to take them to these movies.
Now, when the kids have their own priorities, when they feel they have missed on the franchise and may give ‘Star Wars, The force Awakens’ a miss , I found excitement building up and went for the movie first day. The charm was enhanced by the decision for going to the 3D version. The start with those long winded opening crawling titles merging into distant planets took me back to school. The sub-titles handing midair between the action were a dampner for me. They were good quality but I never needed them to distract me. So when you watch- check if there is a screen playing without subtitles.
Watch ‘The Force Awakens’ , even if you have not been part of the frabchise and definietly don’t miss if you have even an ipta of Star Wars in you. So as always there are those characters who are with the light and some misguided who are with the dark forces. There are those lightsabers and the mental readings. The swashing fast paced aerial fights and the last big blast. All signature modules of the Star Wards.
The new lady introduced to us is . Rey (Ridley) a smart warrior scavenger in an deplete border in the deserted planet
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Jakku. Who lives waiting for er family- ‘woh eek din zaroor ayengey’- style. Poe ( Isaac) is a pilot accompanied by BB8, a cute ball type robot. Finn ( Boyega) is a runaway agent of dark forces who can not make himself shoot to kill. Kylo Ren ( a miniature version of Darth Vader) is the chosen leader by Snoke,- who heads the ‘First Order’ and wants everything under him.
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Han Solo ( Harrison ) still good enough to sleep walk through his role. He steals the show- though he is for a far shorter time on screen. He and his loved Millenium Falcon- the ship are references to the past and yet they bring newness to the franchise.
In between the attempt to stop Snoke to destroy Resistance, there is a cyptic message drive that has the clue to Luke. A map that evryone is after – as return of Luke can give birth to new Jedi and that is something the ‘First Order’ does not want. Resistance believes that is their last bet and want it. The cat mouse game continues till the very last when the last piece of the puzzel is delivered in a very fitting way by the ever loveable R2-D2.
All this smartly dressed up with enough chases- human-deroid exchanges- a tinge of love and respect- some life saving gyan- a father son confrontation- a wife-husband yearning and acceptance of roles that govern their life. And yet I believe that the sheer size, scale and space that the movie playes with, it will still not disappoint the new generation which is much tech and visual savy.
GO and WATCH IT. The FORCE IS BACK.
CAST : Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill
