In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it all begins where the prequel ended; with the search for Luke Skywalker – the last Jedi ( a member of a Knightly order, trained to guard peace and justice in the universe) – who has been missing for about 30 years, after the Rebels destroyed the 2nd Death Star weapon (In Return of the Jedi)
But now, the Empire has morphed into The First Order, and Luke’s sister Leia (Carrie Fisher), is now the very experienced General Organa, and head of the Resistance. She has been searching the galaxy for her brother Luke without success.
When Resistance ace pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is sent by Leia to the desert planet, Jakku to obtain a map of Luke’s location. Stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) invade and ruthlessly destroy a village and everybody in it. They capture Poe, but his droid BB8 escapes with the map hidden in his memory. Wandering, BB crosses paths with Rey (Daisy Ridley), a smart scavenger who was abandoned as a child, and who feels sorry for him. Ren ( the evil enemy commandant) tortures Poe with the Dark side of the Force, and learns about the map in BB8.
But one of the Stormtroopers, FN-2187 (they don’t have names) is fed up with the “kill everything that moves” orders and he quits, and helps Poe escape. Poe names him Finn, and their stolen TIE fighter crashes back on Jakku where they encounter Rey and BB8. Shortly after this reunion,The First Order starts firing on them, but the three escape in the near-junked and abandoned Millennium Falcon, thus fleeing the planet.
Han, played by Harrison Ford (whom Poe and Finn met while stranded on Jakku) together with Chewbacca, take the new Falcon crew to planet Takodana so as to get help to move BB8 to the Resistance before the bad guys get the map to find Luke. Maz Kanata (voice of Lupita Nyong’o), a wise old bar owner will help them achieve this.
When the First Order and Ren arrive on Takodana (in search of BB8 of course); Han, Chewbacca, and Finn had to defend themselves with Anakin‘s (Luke and Leia’s father) lightsaber, and are saved by a squadron of Resistance X-wing fighters led by Poe.
Rey is captured by Ren during the battle, but Rey discovers that she can use The Force to her advantage. This enabled her resist Ren and escapes her cell with a Jedi mind trick. Han, Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8 arrive at a Resistance base, and are reunited with Leia and the droid R2-D2 (Luke’s droid), who has been sitting dormant since his disappearance.
Knowing their Rebel base is next for destruction, the Resistance plans to lower the shields on the Starkiller so fighters can disable it. Han, Chewie (nickname for Chewbacca), and Finn get to the Starkiller and find the escaped Rey. Together, can they disable the giant weapon? Can they kill Ren? Can anybody find Luke? And what strange personal discoveries are ahead?
Will you enjoy the movie? Definitely! Is it a good set-up for the Star Wars films scheduled to follow? Yes!! Will you be okay with some of the revelations and big emotional reveals?
Well, the taste of the pudding is in the eating, explore these possibilities yourself.
