Right out of the bat... a slow clap for JJ Abrams. He did with Star Wars what I think he failed to do with Star Trek: keep what works for the franchise and add some new blood, building nicely on the foundation of the series without losing sight of what makes the franchise tick. Let's dig in.
Don’t stress, this is going to be a very spoiler free review. I think the more one can watch this Star Wars without all the details of the plot, the better. Let's rather get straight to what works and what doesn’t.
My only gripe: Finn's motivation, which starts off a bit weakly but as the story builds momentum, it gets better and better.
To touch on the good stuff... if you are a Star Wars fan, the film is full of references to the original trilogy.
This reference is seen through the return of the old characters, themes, set designs, the different alien worlds and design - even the big bad in this Kylo Ren is a call back. Yet the references are updated and injected with something new - this movie is not a series of pastiche/cut and paste. There are characters, themes and a lot of heart behind this. Above all this, there's a story here - not just place holder for episode 8.
Fin, Rey and Poe are played with gusto but the new trio who replace Han, Luke and Princess Leia are a breath of fresh air - they're played by John Boyega of Attack the Block fame, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac. They can throw witty banter with Han Solo, they can handle the action sequences and still emote (yeah the acting in Star Wars has gone a notch up) .
JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan have done a great job with the script and testament to the great work is the characterisation of Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren could have been a cheap knock off of Darth Vader and the same applies to the leads… they could have been cheap knock offs of the orignal trilogy of Han, Luke and Leia but the well written script would not let such happen.
I'm stoked to see episode 8, since episode 7 does a great job at introducing the new cast, themes and world. Now, since all the pieces are officially on the chess board, episode 8 is where the real game starts but the foreplay of episode 7 was brilliant.
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Rating ****
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* utter trash ** if theres nothing better on tv *** meh its aight ****amost perfect *****instant classic