Review of Ex Machina (2015) by Ryan B — 18 Jun 2018

Possibly no other movie in history had higher hurdles to clear than JJ Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. No matter how good it was, there is no way to escape the criticism from people with expectations impossible to meet. Obviously, it met the expectations financially, but I also think it passed them creatively. Full disclosure; I am some what of a Star Wars fan, I may own my own Jedi Robes and it's possible my text message tone is the sound of a light saber, but it was important to me to rank this movie fairly.

After thinking a lot about it I had to put it at the top of my list. It's just so much fun! Yes, the plot hits a lot of the same notes as the original Star Wars did, and there were one or two characters I thought could've been used more effectively, but if the biggest knocks against it are that it was similar to an other genre defining film or that not all of the characters were fully fleshed out, then I'd say that's a damn fine movie. I also assume that some of the things I consider weak points, will be addressed and made better in the upcoming sequels. What stood out most about this movie was its cast. It was wonderful to see Harrison Ford reprise his role as Han Solo, but it also seemed like he thoroughly enjoyed it. As opposed to the last time when he brought back Indiana Jones. Adam Driver was a compelling and conflicted villain, that showed much more depth of character than you got from Darth Vader in his first film. John Boyega's character, Finn, has a unique and interesting story arc and has excellent chemistry with both Daisey Ridley and Oscar Isaac. The action was great, too. One of my favorite spine tingling moments was just a shot of a group of X-wings flying in over the water, ready for battle.

The characters are genuine, the action is exciting, and the humor works really well. Simply put, The Force Awakens will forever be the most talked about movie from 2015.