A treat for the eyes, not so much for the mind...

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2019)

Abrams had admittedly a very difficult task after The Last Jedi. I didn't want to be biased, so on purpose I did not read any reviews at all and went to see this movie with low expectations. I can sum up this review in two main complaints:
1) Maybe I am picky or maybe I'm getting older, but unfortunately these characters never managed to leave a strong impression on me... The only character that piqued my interest and made me care was Kylo Ren, not only because Driver gives by far the best performance of the new generation, but because his dilemmas and emotional traumas made him interesting. The complete opposite of Rey, who apparently can do no wrong and succeeds with minimal training and effort against forces even Luke struggled to defeat... Star Wars was never renowned for its script, but at least had actors good enough to made you overlook some of the dialogue (Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee, Samuel Jackson, etc). We didn't have actors of such caliber in this trilogy and it shows in the lack of truly iconic moments. Moments like Anakin telling Luke that he has been saved and then dying or Vader storming the Jedi Temple and killing the younglings.
2) If you shut off your mind and take in the incredibly fast pace, the movie is enjoyable. But the moment you start thinking even a little about what you have seen, the problems begin... A massive fleet that is literally crippled by a single antenna which happens to be left unguarded, a rag-tag fleet of civilian vessels takes out this all powerful fleet, horses running in space... I also felt that Palpatine being alive greatly diminishes the importance of what Luke accomplished and of Anakin's redemption...
Say what you will about the prequels, they had massive problems, but at least the spirit of Star Wars was there. They expanded the limited universe of the original trilogy, by showing us the inner workings of the galaxy and its politics, the slow complacency and corruption of Jedi ideals throughout the clone wars and most importantly they made us care about the characters! As much I try, I can't say the same for this trilogy... The one good thing I can say about this movie is that it somehow manages to answer all of the questions set up in the previous two films, which is an amazing feat in itself. Other than that it feels to me like a hollow experience. A treat for the eyes, but not so much for the mind...