Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 19, 2015 | 5 comments

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Seriously.

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NOTE: PLEASE ONLY COMMENT ON THIS PAGE. DO NOT PUT SPOILERS ON SOCIAL-MEDIA THREADS. THANK YOU!

NOTE 2: For ROB KELLY’S in-depth review, click here.

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Now. It was magnificent. And here are my 13 QUICK THOUGHTS:

1. Oh, Han. It wasn’t exactly a surprise since there’ve long been stories that Harrison Ford wanted to kill off his most famous character, but still. It was a beautifully done scene with clear echoes to when Luke saw Obi-Wan “die” in Star Wars.

2. Of course this was a movie filled with echoes to the Original Trilogy, especially the first movie, which I will never call A New Hope and will only call Star Wars, because that’s what it is, Star Wars.

3. But where the callbacks in, say, Star Trek Into Darkness crippled that movie because they were handled so poorly, Abrams and Co. walked the line perfectly here. The references and Easter eggs were sources of humor and depth. They made you feel what you should feel.

4. Rey is pretty as a daisy — and tougher and smarter than Katniss. She’s my new favorite action hero and may end up the greatest female action hero ever if the sequels are handled properly.

5. Not that I want to get ahead of myself with sequels or anything, but now my fingers are crossed that those will be as good as this and the producers resist the obvious traps. Speaking of traps, didn’t you want Admiral Ackbar to warn the pilots to watch out for any traps?

6. Leia! Oh, Leia. How wonderful to see you, General. The Han/Leia scenes were wonderfully written and acted. Two weary soldiers and war horses and conflicted soul mates who still love each other even if they were never going to really belong together. This is exactly how you’d imagine they’d be. And the added tragedy of what happened with their son added a whole new level of poignance. The prequels failed because the characters were types. The Force Awakens succeeds because, finally, we have characters who are characters again, people we care about, old and new.

7. My son’s theory is that Snoke is Palpatine, who boasted that he knew how to cheat death. Certainly a legit idea. And while the producers wisely steered far, far away from the prequels, they’ll have more latitude next time to gently pick from the best aspects of those movies if they want.

8. Not that I really think that’s necessary or even something I want. Though Star Wars: Return of the Emperor would have a nice ring to it …

9. If Kylo Ren goes full-on Sith Lord, I recommend … Darth Mewl.

10. Finn! So great! Man, I so wanted Daisy and him to plant one on each other, but there’s always the future. Also: A trash compactor! John Boyega was winning all the way around.

11. Poe! Now did anybody else get the idea that Kylo Ren may have planted some sleeper post-hypnotic suggestion when he went all Vulcan mind-meld on him? I kept expecting Poe to exhibit some Dark Side tendencies, but maybe that’s because of the way some of the trailers were edited and because Oscar Isaac plays darkly complex characters so well. He’s hot too.

12. Anybody for a BB-8 and R2-D2 buddy road comedy? Think of the one-liners!

13. In a thousand years, I never thought that Luke Skywalker wouldn’t have a single line of dialogue. He out-Brandoed Brando! But it was perfect. Just perfect. The movie elevated Luke to where he always should have been: the top of the mountain of the Star Wars Saga. Not Darth Vader. Not Anakin. Luke.

Not an official poster, but great job by the person at the bottom of the poster.

NOTE: PLEASE ONLY COMMENT ON THIS PAGE. DO NOT PUT SPOILERS ON SOCIAL-MEDIA THREADS. THANK YOU!