Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars movie to come out since the prequels, and it takes place 30 years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire. It all starts when the First Order and the evil Kylo Ren attempt to take the place of the Galactic Empire and take over the galaxy. Kylo's main goal is to capture a secret map that holds the location of the great Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedis. However, the Resistance has obtained said map, and one of the members put it inside of a droid. When the droid, BB8, befriends Rey, a local scavenger who's just trying to get by, the duo soon has to run away from the First Order. When a defector, Finn, crashes on the same planet as Rey, the trio soon discovers that they have a common enemy in the First Order. The trio then flies away on a ship, and they eventually team up with Han Solo and Chewbacca to ensure that the map gets put in the hands of the Resistance. 

 Although the movie isn't quite on the same level as the three original movies, the movie is extremely entertaining and is sure to keep audiences engaged. The beginning of the movie is fairly straight forward, but it jump starts things quickly and manages to send the viewer to a galaxy far, far away. Parts of the middle start to get over-complicated, and there are a bunch of plot holes with certain parts, but the newly introduced characters begin to grow and develop in these phase, which is an important task, since they are going to be leading the next few movies. The enticing ending of the movie is probably the best part, and there are a few thrilling twists and turns that come up. The light saber battles towards the end are definitely some of the movie's finest and showcases why people fall in love with the Jedi way. 

 The vividly outstanding visual effects are spectacular, and this is definitely one way that this new movie improves over the originals. These superb special effects are able to capture the essence of fan-favorite characters and make them even more realistic looking, which adds a nice punch of science fiction-esque to the film. The conflict in the movie begins to get a little confusing, but the movie's main goals were to introduce new characters and create a bridge between the new Star Wars movies and the old ones, and that is something the movie accomplishes triumphantly. 
 Seeing R2D2, C3Po, an older Han Solo, and an also older Princess Leia is just absolute fun. Although the movie attempts to be one of the more emotionally enriched movies in the franchise, and there a few parts that are heart-warming and heart-breaking, it seems that if there was more of a build up for certain scenes, there would be a much greater amount of suspense and intensity. 

 Even though there's an argument to be made that this movie isn't entirely on the same level as Episodes IV-VI, the movie is exciting and manages to suffice fans who avidly awaited this sequel. Star Wars is finally back, and they finally put away all of the negative connotations of Phantom Menace out of the picture, as well as dramatically shift from old Star Wars movies to modern ones. 
 

Not only does Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens suffice viewers' needs, but critics were eagerly satisfied with this one. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie an insanely impressive 93%. However, only 83% of Google users liked the movie, which is fairly low but a still decent score. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is a must see for just about anyone and everyone, especially die-hard Star Wars fans, who will be more than pleased to know that the movie shines some light on the original classics.