J.J. Abrams owes his career to Steven Spielberg, with each of his films chasing that sense of awe and wonderment Spielberg consistently evoked in the ’80s. Abrams’ own films (franchise rehab attempts, mostly, like Star Trek and Mission: Impossible) have all built to this—a chance to right one of the biggest missed opportunities of that decade. Spielberg never made a Star Wars film, but with Abrams at the helm, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is as close as we’re gonna get to that Spielberg in this toy box.
Thanks to cultural osmosis and frequent abuse of the monomyth, this toy box is a very familiar one, even if you’ve never seen a star war. And if you have, the familiarity crystallizes: The Force Awakens starts like Star Wars, has a middle like Empire Strikes Back, and ends like Return of the Jedi. It’s a best-of Star Wars mixtape mashed up with Spielberg’s greatest hits album.
