The Force really has awakened and it’s on a roll in the seventh installment in the Star Wars series, The Force Awakens. Only opening on Dec. 17, it has already becoming the highest grossing film in North America and broken numerous records, including biggest domestic opening, biggest global debut, and fastest to hit $100 million. It doesn’t look like people are going to stop going to see it anytime soon.

The Force Awakens is a love letter to the original Star Wars movies. It ties the movie to the originals, but the amount of references to earlier movies, especially A New Hope, are a little ridiculous. In the very beginning of the movie it seems like almost every other sentence is a reference to the older movies. At first, it brought about a strange kind of nostalgia that even people who saw the movies for the first time only a few years ago felt. Half way through the movie, it started getting a little annoying.

The movie brought some new elements to the series including a female protagonist and jedi, the first female stormtrooper, and the first black and latino protagonists. It also brought the new villain, Kylo Ren, the over-dramatic sith and his master Snoke. The characters are fleshed out and interesting. This movie gives more of a sneak peek at their backstories than the full story, which has lead for a lot of speculation, especially in the case of the main character.

Probably the only big problem was Kylo Ren as a villain. His backstory seemed like it could be more interesting, hopefully it will get more in depth in later movies. He seems more like a whiny teenager than a fearsome villain. He frequency throws what only can be a called “temper tantrums” and starts breaking things everytime he gets angry. He makes long rambling speeches that seem unnecessarily dramatic and kind of strange. He is an interesting character, but hopefully he’ll be a better foe in the next movie.  

The storytelling was magical; the jokes were well timed. All in all, the movie was great. It retained some of the elements that made the originals great, even if it was a bit of an overkill, as well as adding new characters and a story for the younger generations.