Decent effort

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2017)

Quite how "The Force Awakens" can poll 8.1 while this only achieves 7.9 is beyond me. I'd award Episode VII at best 6/10. This one is significantly better - perhaps on a par with Episodes II and III - weaker than the original trilogy though.
So what did it get right, and what did it get wrong? Well, the original movies succeeded so well because there were only a small band of characters to get to know - e.g. in the first film: Hans, Luke, Leia and Ben. This one introduces so many characters it's hard to know who's going to be important - then even when we work out who the main characters are, the interplay between them leaves a lot to be desired - there simply isn't enough TIME for them to properly build the characters and their relationships - everything feels a little rushed.
Because of the nature of the plot, it's considerably darker than any of the other SW movies - there's very little for kids. It feels a bit like the later Harry Potter movies did - same material, but a more serious and sometimes disturbing presentation. Definitely more Terminator than Wizard of Oz.
The cinematography and soundtrack are excellent - it doesn't come across as a SFX showpiece - everything feels just right - in this respect it is by far the highest quality SW movie to date.
If you're a SW fan, you'll really enjoy this movie - it's almost good enough to make you forget how bad the last one was. Just not perfect. Next time, please can we focus more on a small group of characters and their interactions please!