Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a really darn good film… and it’s so awesome to be able to say that. 33 years waiting for another GOOD Star Wars movie… a movie where every second of it is better than every second of the prequel trilogy films (even Revenge of the Sith which had the good grace to just be a decent movie). Better yet, this film, being directed by JJ Abrams, is better than pretty much anything Abrams has directed and that includes his two Star Trek films which were said to be his attempt to make a Star Wars film. Force Awakens has the restraint than those movies failed to have. My worries about him bringing the sizzle but not the humanity were unfounded.

Now, I don’t plan to spoil anything here – the trailers went out of their way to not reveal all the plot points. I’ll just talk vaguely about it. First off, the smile on my face through 90% of this film is proof that it’s fun… and funny without being childish (looking at you, Jar Jar). Second, it’s surprisingly emotional and moving, even beyond that which comes from the nostalgia of seeing some of the old actors back. Third, it’s not a perfect film – there are some problems with it. The big action set piece with the X-Wings doing the things they do was not half of what it was in the original film… but that’s almost ok because it’s intercut with human drama that is almost better than anything done previously.

One thing that you’ll see quickly and throughout the entire film is that they largely filmed on real locations. The use of CGI is kept minimal for most of the human interactions. It’s used for background details and for spaceships (and some creature work including one or two characters who don’t hog the screen time). It’s so nice to watch actors not just sit there and spout dialog or walk awkwardly along what’s obviously a green screen while the FX guys, months later, add in the location. These actors know where they are, they know how to interact with the world they are in. The movie looks real and feels real in a way we haven’t seen in a long time.

Now, as to the cast… Harrison Ford (and Chewie) are in this movie a lot. And Harrison Ford is great… he’s back and he’s not playing cranky old Harrison Ford, he’s playing Han Solo with 30+ years on him. And Chewbacca has some great moments too and it’s so nice to have him back.

Carrie Fisher had emotional heft in her more limited role… whether she’s back for future movies or not (Carrie Fisher, not the biggest Star Wars fan), she at least brought professionalism to this film.

I won’t say much about Mark Hamill since the marketing is deliberately leaving him out.

As to the new characters – I will say that not all of them from the trailers have the screen time I’d have liked and I hope we get to see more of them in the next film. In a few cases, I was left disappointed and in one specific case, I had to remind myself the actor actually was out promoting the movie at all since his character seemed so unimportant.

That said, Daisey Ridley as Rei is just marvelous… I need more of her smile in my life. She’s a kick-ass character, fully competent and capable. She’s the star of the movie and earns it. There’s perhaps too modern “women can save themselves” nods going on but it worked fairly well and led to some laughs. It’s not unwelcome, but it’d be nice to not have to nod to it and just let her be.

I really dug Oscar Isaac as hot-shot pilot Po Dameron… his swagger and humor were top notch. He has one character moment early on when facing off against a villain that was risky in that it could have turned all the serious drama into a joke, but it was kind of just his character being a rascal. It worked. He worked. Need more Po Dameron.

Joe Boyega as Finn is kind of an interesting character for Star Wars – the closest thing we’ve gotten to an everyman since Luke in the first flick. Even if his character has more backstory to tell, his presence had a kind of Han Solo-ish vibe to it, even if his personality was quite different. Not everyone wants to save the galaxy.

Adam Driver as villain Kylo Ren is certainly a unique take on a bad guy for these films. Very human and almost believable in a way that at first is kind of disconcerting in that it feels a little out of place. But, by the end, what they were going for ultimately made sense and he turned into an interesting villain we can all love to hate (just for different reasons that, say, Darth Vader).

Oh, and BB8 – the droid – adorable. Great moment involving a thumb’s up. Best bit in the movie. Is this little droid worth all the marketing push they’ve put into him? Sure. They gave him a lot of charm. And he’s also proof that you can make a family or kid-friendly Star Wars character and not include a bunch of dumb fart and poop jokes and leave the kids loving him. And the adults.

OK – that’s enough. I’ll just leave it here that this is a really fun, pretty great film. It’s not perfect and I wish the action set pieces were more exciting or brought more tension but that’s only in comparison to the original trilogy. They are worlds better than the prequels and most other big FX movies. I had nothing but fun watching this movie, partly because it’s a great film, but also because it’s just so nice to not have to cringe at bad dialog or try to ignore awkward acting and baffling storytelling. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is worthy.

Score: 90