May the Farce be with you....

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2019)

I don't quite know how to describe how disappointing this is. Ordinarily, I would expect to be shouting from the rooftops about it all but it's so poor. John Williams usually scores outstandingly well to compliment the action, but here he seems to be trying his best to replace it - the story at any rate, which is completely lacking in just about everything . The "Kylo Ren" character has never sat well - his constant personal conflicts would have "Darth Vader" spinning in his grave. The telepathic conversations between him and "Rey" are confusing, irritating and half the time don't add up - is he the baddie or isn't he?. The fight/battle scenes are superbly created but are far too long and there is an unenjoyable inevitability about them - Stormtrooper training seems predicated on the principle of the more of you that there are, and the better kit you have, then the more likely you are to be overwhelmingly defeated by someone wielding an electric toothbrush. Boyega, Isaac and Ridley are fine, they do their jobs - but there is no charisma on the screen; and nothing special about their performances. The idea that a state of the art interplanetary battle cruiser is being attacked by some folks on horse(?)back is absurd; and there is at best only a laughable attempt to create any menace or fear in the First (thankfully, also the Last) Order. It's end to end stuff, but to what end is more the point. Billy Dee Williams and Chewbacca do their best on occasion and C3PO has some quite witty one-liners; but Mark Hamill and, particularly Carrie Fisher, just seem to be there for the sake of it. Certainly the weakest of these last 3 Bad Robot efforts; and you certainly appreciate the chasm between this and the original trilogy.