Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

A Galaxy Far, Far AwayWell, it's set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. We're pretty sure everyone's figured that out by now.Beyond that, though, things get a bit more complicated. One of...

Third-Person OmniscientIt's pretty hard to escape third-person omniscient when you're telling a story about the Force. It's everywhere and everything, which means that we, the privileged audience,...

Science Fiction, Adventure, FantasyFirst and foremost, Star Wars is science fiction...or, more specifically, space opera, which is an epic and more fantastical form of science fiction. Sci-fi puris...

Well, we've got the whole Star Wars name to kick things off. All of the other films started with those two magical words—Star Wars—and it helps to keep them all bound up in a neat little bow. W...

The Awesome Is Strong in This OneWe'll start with the whole stunning, shocking awesomeness of what went down in the ending: Rey goes through the wringer, tries to deny her destiny, gets tortured by...

PG-13If the shocks here feel a little more intense than they do in previous Star Wars films, that's by design. This is only the second movie in the saga to earn a PG-13 rating, and it feels like it...