By: Katelyn Kohane

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” Han Solo once spoke those words in a galaxy far, far away.

A few weeks ago, they had the premier for The Force Awakens in Los Angeles at the TLC Chinese Theater. I watched the event online and it was spectacular! The set up they had for the event was supposedly twice the size of the Oscars Red Carpet event.

There were fans that waited at least a week or longer to try to win tickets for the premier. I heard that Anthony Daniels showed up one night and talked to the fans waiting.

As I watched the premier, I saw that George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, John Williams, Billy Dee Williams, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and many more show up to the event.

About a week later, the movie opened in theaters to the mass public. I went on opening day, December 18. I took the day off from work and met friends at the theater. As I was waiting for the movie, I received a message from a good friend of mine who works in one of the restaurants in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, she was standing five feet from George Lucas.

I also received a few messages from my friends asking why I hadn’t gone the night before on the 17th. You know it’s a big event when you’re already behind for seeing a film on opening day instead of the night before with seemingly everyone else.

My friends and I waited in line at the theater for a couple of hours ahead of time because we wanted to make sure we got good seats. When we sat down I had a troubling thought, “Guys what if the movie sucks?” Except, it wasn’t an original thought, I was totally referring to Eric’s line in the movie Fanboys.

SPOILERS AHEAD!! Read at your own RISK!!

The Force Awakens takes place 30 years after Return of Jedi. Where we meet Poe Dameron, a fighter pilot for the Resistance, who is sent by General Leia Orgainana to retrieve a map with the location of Luke Skywalker. Which, the First Order, and Kylo Ren are also looking for.

The First Order sends Kylo Ren and the stormtroopers to Jakoo to retrieve the map from Poe and the Resistance. Before being captured trying to save a village from Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren, Poe made sure to give the map to his droid BB-8. BB-8 escapes and eventually meets up with the story’s main protagonist Rey and, eventually, Fin.

Fin, a former stormtrooper, aids Poe in escaping from the clutches of Kylo Ren and the First Order.

Before Poe escaped from the First Order, Klyo Ren tortured him to find out where he hid the map. Ren learns of the maps location in a BB-8 droid still back on Jakoo. So, he heads to the planet to retrieve the droid.

During the attempted retrieval, BB-8, Rey and Fin are attacked by stormtroopers and end up stealing the Millennium Falcon to escape. Once far enough away from Jakoo, the ship is caught in a freighters tracker beam. Assuming the worst, Rey, Finn and BB-8 hide in the bowels of the Falcon. However, this is when we first meet the old starts as Han Solo and Chewbacca have stolen back their old ship!

The story now has a new gang with Rey, Fin, Han Solo and Chewbacca. The group makes a stop to one of Han’s friends, and while they are there, Rey finds Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber and starts to realize that she is Force sensitive and that there may be more in her background than meets the eye.

Eventually Kylo Ren shows up, crashes the party, and a battle ensues. Rey tries to run away but Kylo Ren hunts her down and captures her to take to Starkiller (a new and improved Deathstar) for further questioning.

Finn, Chewbacca, and Han head to Resistance headquarters with BB-8 in tow to meet with General Leia Orgainana. We learn that Han Solo has been away from Genera Leia Orgaiana for quite some time. Their son, Ben, had trained to become a Jedi with Luke Skywalker, but he was seduced by the Sith and Supreme Leader Supreme Leader Snoke.

Ben Solo was no longer Ben, he was now Kylo Ren!

Back at the Resistance, Poe and Finn meet again, and Poe takes Finn to General Leia Orgaiania and they formulate a plan to get Rey back and destroy Starkiller.

Back on Starkiller, Kylo Ren interrogates Rey and tries to get into her mind to read the map to Luke’s location. After failing, Kylo Ren leaves the room flustered and confused as to why he couldn’t access Rey’s mind. Rey then uses the Jedi Mind Trick on the stormtrooper in the room to unlock her bonds and escape.

Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Fin eventually make it onto the base on Starkiller to rescue Rey and blow up the base. As Han Solo and Chewbacca set the charges to later detonate, Han sees his son and attempts one last time to save him from the Dark Side.

Han desperately wants his son to come back home, and for a second it seems Ben (Kylo Ren) wants the same, but in an instant that feeling is gone and Han finds himself falling down an endless shaft. Kylo Ren has completed his transition to the Dark Side.

The charges are detonated and the Resistance finishes the job, destroying the Starkiller just as Rey, Fin and Chewbacca escape. With the Starkiller destroyed, and the leaders of the Resistance back together at headquarters, R2-D2 and BB-8 provide both pieces of the map to Luke Skywalker. In the final scene, Rey and Chewbacca set out to follow the map and find the final remaining Jedi.

Personally I give the movie a B+. I have already seen it twice. I enjoyed more the second time. Out of my about 30 of my closest friends, the most amount of times any of them had seen it was 5! Even on Christmas, my cousins one by one asked me what I thought and wondered how many times I had seen the movie. By the time I’d gotten back to work on the 19th, the guys were surprised I had only seen it once up till that point. Some friends thought I’d be on round 9 by now.

There were two big cameos in the film that were fun to spot. One was Daniel Craig as the stormtrooper Rey used the Jedi Mind Trick on to escape her cell. The other cameo was Simon Pegg as Unkar Plutt who bartered with Rey for food on Jakoo.

There are still some unanswered question from the movie, many of which are about Rey. Who is Rey’s family? Most believe she is a Skywalker. Some wonder who is Finn’s family? Is he possibly the child of Lando Calrissian? And who is Supreme Leader Snoke? One discussion at work, was brought up, that Snoke could possibly be Darth Plagueis?

Why did Luke Skywalker leave? In the movie they say he went looking for the first Jedi Temple. Since Kylo Ren was also looking for it, is it possible that Luke went to protect it from Kylo Ren? So, then what is Kylo Ren searching for?

To quote Han Solo once again…”It’s True. All of it. The Dark Side, the Jedi. They’re real.”

Katie works in the film industry as a camera operator and has worked on films like ‘All You Can Dream’, ‘Set Up’ and a TV show called ‘American Fallen Soldier.’ She loves helping WKTV with the Citizen Journalism team and working as a tech at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Katie loves working in the film industry and loves watching movies just as much!

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