It would be hard to oversell how much Star Wars changed cinema forever when it was released in 1977. Throughout the 70s, Hollywood favored morally complex adult fare influenced by the counter-culture movement; Star Wars harkened back to a simpler time, when brave heroes battled dastardly villains in the name of entertainment. People celebrated the return of entertainment-centred cinema. Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon because it gave us characters we could root for. We first fell in love with the Star Wars universe because we could relate to the wide-eyed innocence of Luke Skywalker, the roguish charm Han Solo, and the pluck and grit of Princess Leia. This grounded the spectacle in relatable human drama. One major strike against the prequels was a lack of memorable characters that interacted in an entertaining way. Now, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford are reprising their roles from the original trilogy, bringing back the characters that made us fall in love with the series in the first place. If the trinity of Luke, Leia and Han can recreate the chemistry that made the original films memorable, Episode 7 is already well on its way to producing a higher quality entertainment than the prequels.
