The beginning of yet ANOTHER trilogy?!

So when most hear the words "Star Wars" they usually think Jedis, lightsabers, epic battles, good vs. evil, so on and so on. But Star Wars it's much more, it was a cinematic breakthrough that took movie special effects to a whole new level and made sci-fi something not just for geeks. Without that revolutionary direction, it's really nothing TOO different from stuff like Final Fantasy or the tale of King Arthur... Just INNNN SPAAAAAAACE...

"Well duh... The name 'Star Wars' should give THAT much away..."
-Captain Phasma

Story starts with a pilot finding some guy about info about how to find Luke Skywalker, but the village is attacked and the pilot sends his droid away with the info. Droid finds a girl who's past is shrouded in mystery and strangely is adept at machines and has a fiery hunger for action... Hmmm... That sounds a LOT like a young boy who liked to race pods that winds up nearly destroying everything in his path. The pilot is saved by a Stormtrooper that has a change of heart and they flee, but in a crash the Stormtrooper finds himself alone in the desert and coincidently finds the girl. Shit hits the fan they happen across the Millenium Falcon which they escape on and coincidently get captured by Han Solo and Chewbacca. More shit hits the fan that they deal with before running away, finding a lightsaber and deal with MORE shit just thrown at them.

"This isn't war, it's just falling into mishap after mishap! Chewie, what the Sith spit have we gotten ourselves into?!"
-Han Solo

From there, there's actually a lot of talk of running from all the problems... Luke ran from his problems, Han ran from his problems, Chewie's running away from a old orange lady that has the hots for the furry beast, the Stormtrooper wants to run away, and the girl fears the Force and everything evil and tries to you guessed it, run away from the actal lightsaber. That is AFTER she tries asking the Stormtrooper to stay... Jesus, Disney... Did you guys try and take lessons from Wolverine and Spider-Man when it comes to whining and running away? Luke ran away in the first movie, purposely to fight the Empire! Anakin ran away from being a slave and chase his dream of being a great warrior! This movie, as much as they are forced (no pun intended) to deal with their problems, everyone seems to think running is the damn answer! What the Hell?!?!

"So I say let them run, we'll just blow up their planets and burn down villages. Hahaha... Ugh, I'll never be as cool as you, Vader. Even as just a destroyed mask you're like, 10 times as sinister as I am."
-Kylo Ren

Not throwing in spoilers, moving on to effects... They're good but nothing really seems new or groundbreaking which is kind of a shame for a Star Wars movie. Sure it's got some cool scenes and they did a good job making things true to the retro Star Wars while also using modern technology and getting really detailed about the effects, but it doesn't seem that much different than Avengers: Age of Ultron or Batman v. Superman. Now, does the graphics make the film? No, it's how it all flows together. Force Awakens just doesn't seem to push the envelope, it tells an entertaining story, the visuals do their job of bringing that story across, but it doesn't feel like the masterpiece it deserves to be either. It is good though and for that I give it 4 out of 5 AWOL soldiers that are too busy running away and not blasting shit like they should... I'm sorry but I just can't let that go.

"Now the key to being a hero of legend like me is to run away as much as possible, yet make everyone around you think you're awesome... Good show, the future Jedi and that ex-Stormtrooper are doing a fine job at following my advice."
-Brave Sir Robin