8 Things You Learn Watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Never Has A Film Delivered So Well On What Fans Wanted
Its hard to remember a film that has delivered so emphatically on what the fans wanted. After the polarising prequel trilogy, which many believed strayed too far from the space-opera/western-in-space style of the originals, J.J. Abrams and co. have returned the saga to its nuts-and-bolts roots, supplying a film more in keeping with A New Hope than it is The Phantom Menace. The Force Awakens is of course still CGI heavy, but, unlike the prequels, the CGI here is a return to the grubby, uncleanliness of the originals, awash with rusty transporters and broken machinery and blasters that actually kick when they are fired. There are sleek new elements (the Stormtrooper lightsaber shield, for instance), but for the most part Episode VII is on the contrary to the pristine action of Episodes I-III (look at the lightsaber battles, which shun the agility and athleticism of the ones in the prequels for something closer to the straight-up sword fights of episodes IV-VI.) Add to that the genuinely spine-tingling moments of franchise nostalgia (which I'll get on to later), and the deviation from the insipid bureaucracy and trade-talk of the prequels to a war film which actually focuses on the war, and the not the machinations behind it, and you have a picture that presents Star Wars fans, young or old, with their dream new instalment.
