Do or do not... there is no try!

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2019)

Look, I did enjoy this film. Anyway, the first half was a bit too much of adding things up, but the 2nd half was brilliant, full throttle action Star Wars... though, it was effectively Return Of The Jedi, but what more can you do with good vs evil and when you re-introduce the archest of all enemies to the scene?!
The issue is, they tried to hard. The twists and turns over Rey and Kylo basically dominated the three films and I actually don't thing anyone cared that much about it. Absolutely would have liked to know, but its not going to be the reason I go see the next film or not. That was the twist and you knew he would come good, nothing wrong with that but stop trying to do a "I'm your father" moment from Empire. It just became silly. Also didn't really get her parents getting killed etc. Surely her dad or mum would have had the force and be more likely to be evil?! Asks more questions than it answers me thinks!
Also, I thought Yoda was like the baddest Jedi - where the hell did Rey and Kylo/Ben get these new powers from? They can now resurrect the dead... even evil massive snakes! Everybody knows snakes are naughty. Genesis taught us that!
It's a kids game these days and Disney certainly had their cynical influence with the introduction of a new droid to hang with R2. Hope they can get the sales in before Christmas....
Other issues are that JJ Abraham's didn't direct the 2nd one. The consistency wasn't there as a result. Loose ends were not tied up. New ends were started but not finished - when Lando had a chat with the girl at the end - was he basically saying he's going to try suggesting something inappropriate? or was it a 'you may be my daughter' - if the latter, why did we not know his daughter was stolen before? Also, Rey and Finn - was that a love story or did she just not fancy him?? She also kissed what everyone, really thought, was her brother but maybe that was a homage to the original Luke and Leia story. Also, why did they make such a big deal of those triangular map things. I get it that it takes you to Palpatine etc, but we've never heard of these things before so don't drop it in like we have! Don't start me on Leia's lightsaber! When they thought Chewy was dead (Rey, with her new powers that no Jedi has ever had couldn't tell he was actually still alive until onboard the Star Destroyer, but maybe that would ruin the story...) I'll let Rey off anyway, as she's turned out ok, albeit for being Palpatines grand daughter.
It's great to see Carrie Fisher though. RIP to a legend and I actually thought they dealt with that issue well. It was the moment when Star Wars fans could effectively say goodbye and sadly but beautifully, close that chapter. She bowed out with grace and eloquence.
Look, the film was enjoyable, but will I watch it 1000s of times? Unlikely, I'll just go back to the original. It was certainly nostalgic and that's what Star Wars is about. It's genius is it's message which is Good vs Evil, your friends and family are the greatest thing ever and lightsabers and the force are just about as cool as Mark Hamill is these days! I love that message and it should be embraced. They make a point of it throughout this film and particularly at the end, that's good because a film aimed at kids who don't all have huge attention spans need to remember that. The world is a different place from 1977 - some of it for the better, some of it for the worse, but Star Wars reigns supreme and when you have that audience you can dictate a message. Your faith in your friends is certainly the biggest strength and that shines through as it always has!
Watch it. Enjoy it, but remember the original didn't try very hard and it was amazing. That said, must be very hard to follow in those footsteps, and even using one liners from the original just show how hard they tried, but as the late, great Master Yoda once said, "do or do not. There is no try!"