Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 12 Reasons It Lives Up To The Hype

10. The New Heroes Are Great

The original cast might be back, with varying amounts of screen-time in this film, but The Force Awakens and the rest of this new trilogy rests upon the shoulders of its new generation of heroes: Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). It's welcome news, then, that the galaxy has some very strong shoulders propping it up. If there's a lead of this film, it's Rey, and none of that first-day woodenness Ridley mentioned is present here. She's got a certain confidence to her, matched with a determination, bravery, and sarcastic sense-of-humour, that will instantly recall memories of a young Princess Leia. If there's a difference, it's in the awe she displays at meeting Han Solo; in those moments, she truly conveys that sense of this lost person who wants to discover the truth, and be something more. Boyega, meanwhile, is having a (laser) blast as Finn, or FN-2187, showcasing an idea of disbelief and ridiculousness that he's actually in a Star Wars movie, with a real wryness to his humour and a wonderful sense of being in way over his head, but figuring it out and trying to be heroic anyway. Finally, there's Poe. I'd predicted for a long time that he would be the guy to steal this movie, and alas that didn't quite come true. The only reason for that, though, is that he didn't get enough time on screen. In the moments we did get, Isaac was obviously fantastic, and Dameron is utterly charismatic, confident, funny, and exactly that type of charming hero an X-Wing pilot should be.