Peter Suderman on How Star Wars Changed Movies

After much anticipation and build up, J.J. Abrams “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has finally screened and fans can breathe a big sigh of relief.

Kate Muir of The London Times agreed, suggesting that “while George Lucas came up with the brilliant idea, Abrams is a better action director, and takes “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” into more sophisticated territory”. Disney plans to release five more “Star Wars” movies after this. However, even though it clocks in at just over two hours in length, the movie fairly rattles through a relentless succession of battles, lightsabre duels, cataclysmic explosions and reversals of fortune.

J.J. Abrams did not seem to nervous about the film’s critical reception: “I feel very confident about the work that was done by the actors”.

Actor Domhnall Gleeson attends Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” on December 14, 2015 in Hollywood, California.

In the meantime, The Force Awakens is nearly a Han Solo movie unto itself.

The “real star of the show”, he declared, was British actress Daisy Ridley, whose performance as scavenger Rey should “send her career into orbit”.

“I’ve been watching Star Wars since I was old enough to understand what Star Wars was”.

Are you getting exhausted of reading about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens?”. The others couldn’t be more starry-eyed at the premise of the always discussed, but never confirmed Star Wars: Episode VII.

As Rey and Finn are established as new franchise leads, they embark on a journey that finds both old and new characters often harkening subtly to the past.

Abrams has brought back as much of the original Star Wars cast as the passage of almost 40 years since its first production allows: grizzled, lined, but effortlessly charismatic Harrison Ford re-appears as Han Solo, once more at the controls of the Millennium Falcon, emerging as still functional junk from under a tarpaulin.

It boasted a quarter-of-a-mile-long red carpet and a party held in a massive tent-turned-Star-Wars-museum.

“I want to tell you everything but I can’t because I can’t do that but it was awesome”.