Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Official Movie Review (SPOILER-FREE) 

"This movie felt more grown-up than any of the other 6" All I really need to hear.

I'm amazed to see Ben enjoy 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' the most out of the critics here AND enjoy it more than any of the previous Star Wars movies. J.J. Abrams, you are a genius!

Here is a list of 33 issues I have on the film (in no particular order). I'm a filmmaker and a huge fan of the original trilogy. The original script was written by Arndt but they didn't like it and Disney refused to change its release date so JJ had to rewrite it in only 8 weeks so of course the writing is a little off in places! It was a fun film, but hard for me to really get into because of the poor character development, sloppy craft, lack of soul, contrivances, and logic issues. It's just a movie but it's fun to see where it went wrong. 1) Why is there a treasure map to Luke Skywalker???? It makes no sense and feels childish. Who made the map? Did someone give it to both sides like a contest? Is Luke waiting with a prize??? What does it matter if a tiny piece is missing, I mean if I was in Los Angeles and had to get to New York, if you took like Washington DC off the map, I'd still find my way! 2) It feels like Luke has been standing on a hill staring off into space for the last 10 years just waiting to lower his hood and look like a bad ass. “You solved my treasure map quest. Good for you! Do you know how long I’ve been standing here waiting for someone to freaking figure it out?!??!!” 3) I realize BB8 having the map to Luke was meant to be a copy I mean er homage to A New Hope's death star plans but come on, the death star plans were crucial and held the fate of the galaxy in the balance, whereas bb8 has a tiny piece of a treasure map to find a hermit. 4) The opening crawl is 90% about finding Luke Skywalker which actually does not set up the plot of the movie which has nothing to do with finding Luke until the last 5 minutes. 5) The entire film rehashes old scenes from Ep4 and then cuts and pastes them together with questionable logic. Let’s see a new original story. See, what the film needed to do was capture the tone and world of Star Wars and tell the next chapter, not cut and paste old scenes into a modern version. It’s like the film is worshiping Ep4 and plagiarizing it, as opposed to capturing it’s spirit and soul. 6) Threepio is not shiny or very gold in this version. Either because they didn’t want to have to deal with reflections or because it’s expensive to make shiny action figures affordable (this is true). Also, did they give him a red arm just so they could sell red armed action figures? Because collectors already have the threepio figure so by adding a red arm they need to buy him again. Also it’s very bizarre that threepio would say “maybe you don’t recognize me with my red arm”, I realize it was an attempt at humor but it be like your friend saying “maybe you don’t recognize me in my new sweater”. 7) There was no mysticism surrounding the force. It was just some ability some people have access to. Oh, I have the force? Cool, let me use the "Jedi Mind Trick TM" 8) We’re doing the death star thing for the third time??? How lazy is that? Even the characters seem amazed by the bad writing. It’s just the death star but BIGGER! And Han makes a comment that “Hey, lets just blow it up, I’ve done this before”. Talk about lowering the stakes for the final sequence by making a joke out of it. So the entire resistance of the Republic is like a handful of x-wings and a rusty old Millennium Falcon? 9) How does Han Solo just conveniently out of nowhere stumble upon the Millennium Falcon again in the middle of outer space??? It’s so ridiculously contrived. 10) What happened to Rey and Finn’s use the poison gas strategy when Han came on? 11) Why was Rey able to take the B88 unit without a fight from that guy who captured him in the desert? How does she even know he was captured or what the story was, there. What gave her the right? And what was that ridiculous thing he was riding? It was an excuse to show a practical non CGI effect by JJ. That thing was awkward as heck and moved like slower then a snail. 12) The characters in the film act as though they saw the original trilogy. You're Han Solo! This is the Millennium Falcon! It's a map to find Luke Skywalker! These characters are just one of billions of life forms that inhabit the galaxy, but because they were important to us the audience in the original trilogy it's assumed some how everyone's heard of them. Han in A New Hope says "you've never heard of the Millennium Falcon" and Ben responds "should we?" meaning of course they haven't heard of it, Han is just trying to sell his services but in this new movie it's like everyone is a fan boy! 13) After they return to the resistance Rey and Leia hug over Han's death. She hugs the freaking girl she just met for like 5 minutes and not Chewbacca who was by Han's side every minute for the last 50 years! But I guess Leia must have read the script and found out that Rey is the new protagonist. 14) Chewie and Han were not too excited to see Threepio again! After all they’ve been through together. Threepio’s characterization was a huge disappointment. He was just annoying and the original trilogy gave him character this film makes him a caricature of himself. 15) Finn has never had freedom in his life and was raised in a cult yet there is no evidence of this in his characterization other than wanting to "run" or something. I mean, here's a human being who has probably never had a meal of his choosing, seen a beautiful sunset, made choices of his own, kissed a girl etc. This universal human experience we could have seen was utterly ignored. 16) Han and Leia immediately forgive and love each other. Then why the hell have they been separated all this time? On that note they apparently both went "back to what we knew". Seriously? So after Han goes through a major character arc during the original trilogy, we throw that all in the garbage and make him back where he started? Talk about having no new ideas as to where to take his character. He's an asshole all over again who doesn't want to help. Well, I guess that's safe territory, good work guys. 17) Why is Han Solo acting like he's never seen Chewie's weapon in his life???? Chewie has been using that weapon for almost 40 freaking years!!!! 18) Rey states that Han was like a father to him. What? Because she spent five minutes with him??? How's that for contrived. 19) Why the heck does Kylo Ren use a mask? He has no breathing issues! Because his grandfather did? If I wanted to be like my grandfather I wouldn't go get his cane and walker! 20) How the heck did that yoda character get Anakin/Luke's lightsaber? It looked pristine. Wouldn't it have broken from the fall? Someone on cloud city found it (with a severed hand) in the sub basement and said "oh cool!!! Luke's lightsaber! I can sell this on ebay!!!!" NO! It would just be some old broken weapon. So illogical. 21) How can a lightsaber call to someone? It's just a weapon. What made the original movies so good is that everything was just organic to the world, now it has a reverence to the light saber so it's making it sentient. 22) How big is this First Order versus the resistance? The stakes are never clearly stated. It's just said that evil gives rise to bad groups, which is kind of an infantile explanation. And were they short on extras? It feels like the resistance is made up of about 30 people. They actually seem smaller than the original rebellion. Is the First Order in power? Is the Republic in power? If the Republic is in power why are they called the resistance? Shouldn't in fact the First Order be the resistance then?! What has the first order been doing? Controlling planets? None of it is clear. 23) How is Rey able to use Jedi mind tricks, moving objects with her mind, and defeating Kylo Ren untrained?! “Oh, I have the force? Cool, let me try Jedi Mind Trick TM like I saw in the original trilogy!!!” 24) In the final battle Kylo says that he can train her in the force and she’s like “the force? Oh, we’re supposed to be using that, cool let me try, wow you’re not very good at this! GIRL POWER!!!!”. He was trained by Luke and a Sith Lord for years. She kicks his ass, it’s ridiculous. Destroys the film’s credibility.

I like that Ben took John as his date. So cute.

Let me guess....Ben hasn't seen it

*I'M GOING TO POST A SPOILER AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!* The big boat sinks in the end.

Best discussion I've seen so far.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE TITLE! THERE ARE LOTS OF !!!!SPOILERS!!!! IN THIS REVİEW!!! P.S. I'm writing in all captions only to make sure everyone sees the warning. ;)

I'm glad you actually reviewed it properly. Some of these no spoiler reviews gloss over the film so much that the review is pointless. You did it right. Describing some of your best and worst bits but not totally giving away plot points.

Ben really came thru in this review, much like a movie like American Sniper, we had Ben engaging and not the Ben where he keeps telling us how much he doesnt care about a movie. Adored this review.

How this movie should end: Kylo Ren and Finn lock lightsabers in their climactic showdown. But rather than continue the battle, they pull back and extinguish their blades. "No," Kylo Ren says, "we have a mutual enemy." The two of them grab Rey and fly to Coruscant, and destroy a bust of Jar Jar Binks in a shot-for-shot remake of the printer scene from Office Space.

I like their point near the end about the narrow scope of this, obviously I haven't seen it but if it's anything like the originals (which it seems to be, a little too much if we're being honest) then we'll only see military facilities and small backwater planets. And that seems weird to me, it's supposed to be a space western but they have to meet them half way with that idea because the reality is that all the interesting stuff happening on planets nobody's ever heard of and the central planets being untouched is ridiculous. One thing the prequels are good about is showing a variety of places, like the urban metropolis of Coruscant, I don't know about anyone else but I liked seeing a city as interpreted by Star Wars. Sure it was almost all CG but there's no reason why they can't do it again and use a bunch of practical effects. It doesn't have to be Coruscant but show us SOME city. The most populous planet we see in the original trilogy is what, Tatooine? How sad is that?

so excited to see this flick!!!!!! It is such a relief that you guys are giving you your seal of approval! I was going to see it regardless! But I have been waiting for this movie for 32 years!!

She blossoms. I love when they blossom from nothing to a great warrior without any training.

da fuck? i had no idea that was leia's purpose -_- thanks Alonso lol. great review as always

I don't know why...but I'm really happy Ben enjoyed the movie as much as he did, LOL. XD

A lot of major critics are saying it bares comparison with the originals, which is good enough for me. The next two days won't go by fast enough.

Best Drink in Existence. Its effects are similar to "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick

Ben actually liked. Mind blown

I can already see the honest trailer: Star Wars Episode VII: Finding Luke. But seriously that was it.

You guys are right on top of it. Can't wait to see it.

My only tiny criticism would be the discussion in the resistance control room.

I don't think it's a flaw that everything is smaller. That's the point. In the 30 years since Jedi, the Rebel Alliance has shrunk to this small group called the Resistance, while the Empire has shrunk to a smaller group called the First Order. Much has been destroyed since Jedi, and we see much of the remaining damage. It is all intentional and makes sense. Glad Ben Mankiewicz liked the beginning with Max Von Sydow. Something tells me that Mankiewicz was being reminded of Bergman, which I am guessing is why he liked the beginning so much. Love Von Sydow, and glad he's still around.

What Matt is sensing is that Force Awakens is backing off from the difficulty and expense of presenting life in a real interstellar empire, with the tremendous wealth and infrastructure it would possess, would be like. Shooting scenes in backwaters is one way of doing that. To my mind, it detracts from the quality of Star Wars if it does that. it's the one place where Star Wars is superior to Star Trek, which never visually approached Star Wars' vision of the wealth and power of an intergalactic empire, even if Star Trek is a much more realistic interstellar empire..

So much better review than the others I have seen on youtube.

Fun, incisive, informative group review.

We get the pan galactic gargle blasters, Matt, it's not that obscure

Does Ben Mankiewicz ever actually wash his hair? I doubt my _car_ has that much oil in it.

It's great to see Ben and Alonzo enjoyed this movie!!!

I hate the Star Wars films with a passion, along the lines of Ben. I am still excited for this, and Ben's thoughts make me really excited. Also, every film should have Lupita Nyong'o.

All of my go-to film reviewers have scored this film an 8 or higher. Cannot wait to see it Saturday morning!

When can we watch the review that includes spoilers?

I agree with Matt about the scale. The middle part of the movie did feel pretty small scaled. Including parts of the last lightsaber duel. But it's the 1st of the new trilogy. I feel like they're building the bar.

Hitchhikers reference. Nice.

Amazing. A review of a Star Wars film where Ben doesn't start off saying how much he hates Star Wars.

Star Wars has always felt like a stage play. XD Thank u Ben!

Saw the movie, but I did not catch the "double-meaning" in the opening line (13:29) of the movie. Going to see this movie multiple times. Thanks for the comprehensive, yet not-spoiling review!

Just back from midnight screening in London (no spoilers) - I liked it, but I can't say that I loved it (yet). There is so much in this film that I'm going to see it again this weekend.

Is there plenty of action scenes?

Old Man Mankiewicz isn't paying attention to the screen: "How many new characters did we get introduced to? 2?" "5."

About 60 seconds in and spoilers start, viewer beware. I don't know how in depth it gets as I shut it down as soon as any plot point was discussed.I suggest forwarding to 17:10 like Dustin Tam mentioned.

what happens to jacen solo (darth caeder)?

Great review, guys. I just watched the movie and I agreed 100% with Matt's concerns regarding the film. While I enjoyed it immensely I felt like certain parts were rushed and the characters weren't given more space to breathe and be fleshed out. I feel like characterization was sacrificed for more action scenes. I definitely would have liked to see more of Rey and Finn's back story as well as more perspective into the lives of everyday people in this galaxy they're protecting.

i have read the starwars books and comics i was hoping of something along the line of New Jedi Order i hope i can get to see that in next movie

There's a difference between Rey "blossoming" and behaving like a fully-trained Jedi. I loved the film, but I found it ridiculous that she'd have any sort of chance against Kylo. Again, she might be extremely Force-sensitive, but that sensitivity still needs to be honed and harnessed through disciplined training. You just don't start kicking ass right off the bat as soon as you get a taste for it.

I wonder what Hitckhikers would say about either the movie or there Universe

Incredible how Ben was fair and balanced with Star Wars.

the elephant in the room is the badguys hold no candle vs vader and the emperor. 8/10

lol i turned it off about 10 seconds into Alonzo's intro.

One thing was weird is that they all get along right away (the new trio I mean) in the original Star Wars Han, Luke, and Leia don't get along right away, like real adults do. Eventually they become the best of friends in the galaxy, but right away they don't get along. The movie was really rushed everything went by really fast

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster: Effects similar to having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.

I understand why people don't like the prequels but you can't deny that Ewan McGregor fit and acted the role of a young Obi Wan really well. Also Revenge of The Sith was good. The Force Awakens is one of my favourites now :)

I would advise people who really don't want to know plot-points to just skip to 2:00 in

apartment living in the capital is covered in the novels.

Gargle-blaster, best drink in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Pan galactic gargle blaster. Great reference not really hard to get though. :D

6/10 probably for me. they sure didn't fuck up and it never felt prequel-y. still, the oh, 2 dozen(?) callbacks to the orig trig felt like a spur in my boot.

Ben's is the only perspective I care about because he doesn't bring any baggage with him to the viewing.

I have a feeling they did this review before they had a chance to let the buttery popcorn buzz wear off. I watched this movie for the second time a little while ago after seeing it in the theatre, and thinking it wasn't so bad. I watched it at home by myself, and without the audience... it fucking sucks. Characters aren't explained and if they are they're so shallow it's painful. Really, You were raised and brainwashed from a young age to be a killing machine for the Empire but as soon as one of your buddies die you're a hero? Give ma F-ing break. This movie would have made a better 1/2 hour cartoon.

I bet Matt expected the most from the movie and that's why he's the most disappointed.

The assumption seems to be that for all the things left unexplained that there will be explanations in the next or even subsequent films. I'm not so sure about that. I mean it stands to reason. But I think what really happened here was that yes we were given mystery and intrigue, particularly in Rey's case, but it was really handled quite clumsily. The filmmakers understood the storytelling tropes well enough to implement them, just weren't disciplined enough to leave enough of the proper bread crumbs to lead us to the potential answers to the questions they intentionally raised. That may be a little difficult for some people to understand but I think that's what's at the heart of so much of the negative reaction to the film. They understood all the storytelling and narrative tropes they wanted to invoke...they were just mishandled and poorly executed.

Okay I trust these guys more than anybody else on the tube if they say it's good I can breath a sigh of relief.

Is yoda in it

I can't believe the hype on this film. People are giving this perfect scores, you have to be kidding me?? Only Empire was perfect or the closest thing to it, and in no way is this film on the same level or near-perfect as Empire. I'm a huge, lifelong fan, and I can unbiasedly say its ok, and not a great film. First of all, John Boyega is just annoying and totally miscast in this film. I'm sorry, but his out of place comedic timing was cringe worthy, and he was just running and yelling the whole time, I was never emotionally invested in him as a character. Captain Phasma.....what a wasted character, nuff said. Carrie Fisher just seemed like she was thrown in here for nastolgiac purpose, nothing more. They gave her little to no dialogue, and what was there was just depressing. Kylo Ren never comes across as a menacing villian at all. Yes, i know its impossible to equal Vader or the Emperor, but he was just a small step above a whiny Hayden Christiansan, sorry folks, thats the truth. And we come to yet another Death Star as a secret weapon.......are you kidding me?? Is this the best you can come up with after 32 years? Harrison Ford and Daisy Ridley as Rey really carry the weight of this movie, as they have to. The film starts off very promising, but is dragged on way too slow in the middle, and then the final act is anti-climatic and "ok"......They could have edited the middle so much better. I dont hate the movie, but its not the masterpiece by any stretch people are calling it. I appreciate that JJ Abrams has gone back to the look and feel of the original trilogy, but there are so many flaws in this film for me, sorry....

I did have a blast, but in my rankings it's: 1 A New Hope 2 Revenge of the Sith 3 The Empire Strikes Back 4 Return of the Jedi 5 Attack of the Clones 6 The Force Awakens 7 The Phantom Menace

Got the reference, yess..

I haven't had this much fun in a movie theater in SO long. Such a good movie.

spolers: did you guys notice that is was luke that took over rey body to fight kylo at th end thats why she kicked ass

I saw Star Wars for the first time in 1984 After watching "The Force Awaken" I really enjoyed the movie, it brings in a new generation of fans but also keeps old generation happy. My Ranking. 1. Empire Strikes Back (9.6) 2. Return of the Jedi (9.4) 3. Star Wars (9.2) 4. Force Awakens (9.0) 5. Prequels no higher then 7.

I have a feeling this will be the first J.J. Abrams movie that I will like. I had my doubts about this for the last year, but the trailers and reviews seem to be legitimate...

@ 6:45 Christy Lemire and Ben Mankiewics try and counter Matt Atchity's comment regarding Rey's blank slate and how she just keep pulling things out of a hat. How is that blossoming? What kind of development is that? We're given very, very vague, if not non-existent plot elements or details as to here even having any connection to any of this stuff at all. Other than the blatant, heavy-handed, ham fisted way the filmmakers wanted to make it obvious that she's a "kind of Luke Skywalker like character". In a way, what they chose to do works for Christy and Ben, because of all those Luke Skywalker tropes they ladle in on us, but that's the crutch they put on a leg that hadn't been injured yet. It's so unnecessary to dress Rey up in so many Luke tropes, when whoever she's related to or not related to she should be 100% her own character, without having to so heavily dress her up as being closely related to whomever or whatever else is going on in this first new installment. The filmmakers leapt across a narrative chasm far to quickly and with too much aggrandizement for their lead character. It's a franchise, people, meaning more than one, and of course many more than three or nine, which means...they have much, much more time than they realize to properly develop these characters over properly drawn out arcs for several movies to come. I have a bunch of theories on what they may have intended or wanted to do, but all their mistakes, to me, seem to point to choices in editing and a rush to make sure Rey really stood out as a great good guy and a great character.

Just got back home from watching it ( european ) and its very good. Really captures the spirit of the original and tons of fun.

seeing it on IMAX on Friday :D

Pangalactic gargleblaster? Hitchikers ;)

Captain Phasma was massivaly underused :( But the movie in general is great!

we need ben, he's a troll but he's actually making a point for the smallest complaint

1. The Empire Strikes Back 2. A New Hope 2. The Force Awakens 4. Return of the Jedi 5. Revenge of the Sith 6. The Phantom Menace 7. Attack of the Clones

I just skipped to the end for the scores. Not taking any chances.

HHGTTG reference ftw by Atchitty

8:12 it's like drinking a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick...

I would give Force Awakens a 7/10. 1. Empire Strikes Back 2. Return Of The Jedi 3. Attack Of The Clones 4. A New Hope 5. A Force Awakens 6. Revenge Of The Sith 7. Phantom Menace

5:00 the mystery is they had no idea.

Ben likes a Star Wars movie?

Characters in this are fantastic.... Just as well developed as anybody in the original. And... Not developed enough story? Too much mystery? Too much like A New Hope? Are you for real..... Star Wars fans need to get that original trilogy off of its impossible pedestal. Star Wars fans are impossible to satisfy. This was great.

Bill Hader did BB-8s voice...kinda

should I see in imax

1)Empire Strikes Back 2)A New Hope 3)Force Awakens 4)Return of the Jedi 5)Revenge of the Sith 6)Attack of the Clones 7)Phantom Menace

saw the movie maximum 6/10 (personally it was a 3/10)

I thinks matts nit picking yeah the film wasn't perfect but it had a real plot going on and character development. I really enjoyed it and thought it was great

2d vs 3d. Any recommendations? I didn't care for it (to say the least) in all three 3d movies I saw.

I think that Rey was lukes daughter and had her memory wiped like Revan in Kotor

without spoiling anything, finn is a comic foil for rey, rey is a mary sue and the big bad bad guy isn't scary and brienne of tarth was completely pointless seriously she did nothing and could have easily been replaced by a standard storm trooper i couldn't even tell you if she lives through the movie she is that pointless 6/10. slight spoilers below if the villain was actually built up like Vader i.e ends both movies at a high so that when he falls in the 3rd its actually an accomplishment, but instead he gets his ass kicked by someone how only just woke up to the force a few hours before and it was their first time even holding a light saber.... what the fuck, especially because just before the fight he should have been had a huge power jump because it finally cast off all remains of the light side. but no mary sue is a mary sue and even teaches Han mother fucking Solo how to fly the Millennium Falcon.... fuckers dont know how to write a strong woman without making her a mary sue and ends up killing the movie because showing off her as strong is more important that creating a villain that is an actual threat, they even make him comic relief at one point! could you imagine Vader being the butt of a joke?? FUCK NO

thx for this ha bisky review you should also review spaceballs when all of this is done just so you can have everything star wars uploaded

What if Stanley Kubrick was giving a past Star Wars film to make? O_o insane!

General Hux's speech was scary as fuck

LOL, when she said "I'm No one." I thought of Arya Stark...

That Matt is a nit-picky guy but thank god he said not to watch this if you don't want spoilers. THIS IS NOT SPOILER-FREE. If I didn't stop the video a day before seeing the movie, this would totally have ruined it for me. I love What the flick BTW.

Not really a fan of the Star Wars franchise, but I thought TFA was excellent. The new characters are all stellar, (Kylo Ren a standout), so much so, I thought the original actors, Carrie Fisher in particular, were comparatively weak and could have had screentime trimmed back. All in all though, the most complete Star Wars film

I had a blast. A great time at the cinema. I'll probably go and see it again actually.

Maybe I'm alone, but I really hated this movie. I expected it to be good based on the reviews, but I was disappointed from beginning to end. If you ignore the special effects, it's basically a soap opera in space, with the same level of acting and writing that you would get on daytime television. And that ending is just ridiculous, they were searching for him for years, was he standing there the whole time waiting to do the dramatic turn + stare ?