Enough of all that's good about the franchise

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2016)

I have now watched this film twice and I will confess to struggling with the first viewing with almost too much of what I have known and enjoyed of Star Wars over 40 years.I found it almost too serious for the first hour but given that the entire story is predicated on one line from episode 4 about loads of folk dying for the cause, inevitably one is going to experience some fairly bleak stuff. That said,I found the script to be almost too adult as if I was watching a modern war movie by the likes of Ridley Scott or even Quenten T without any blood, and be assured this movie has no blood.There are lots of great surprises in terms of links with Ep 4 especially and the introduction of character actors from other genres to create a new dimension to the action(Johnny Yen, Yip Man)was a creative move I found quite acceptable.The following on from Ep7 with a strong female lead works really well for me also. Dare I say the on the money moment in the film was a Vader entrance which I found absolutely stunning and the seamless link into Ep 4's opening was sensational for me. I do have a couple of minor quibbles ...I'm sorry but the two stunt men in the Vader suit at different times didn't seem quite huge enough to me but maybe Dave Prouse had bigger heels, or maybe all the actors in this film are a bit taller!! All in all by the end of the second viewing in what was a daytime empty auditorium I was suitably emotional to forgive any anomalies, hence the maximum score here withe small reservation that you really do need to concentrate for the first hour and a distracting full first night audience doesn't help that atal.