Star Wars VII: The Magic Reawakens

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2016)

Didn't quite ever claim Jedi as a religion on census form, but could have - until the three forgettable, interchangeable, poorly scripted and cast prequels soured the Star Wars experience.
Just saw the masses of ridiculously negative reviews on IMDb - one star? Seriously? The only real negative might be that VII is a rehash of old plot lines - Death Star, interrelationships of individuals in whom the force is strong, a shield on the planet that needs to be brought down, a key hologrammatic message inside a cute droid - but, you know, only seven plots out there anyway, it's the treatment that counts.
Lost garnered the kind of praise that is simply unbelievable given its ludicrous, drawn out, dismally resolved plotting - the guy obviously had a great idea but never had a resolution in mind when he started and so just piled on unlikely twist after unlikely twist in the hope it would somehow sort itself out. It didn't. So no, not a JJ Abrams fan. But here he uses the tried and tested - probably already had an outline with that all-important ending handed to him on a plate - and it comes together perfectly.
Daisy Ridley as Rey is simply brilliant: what a relief to have a female protagonist who looks coordinated and fast and strong, totally believable in the action, rather than a spindly drip teetering round in six inch heels, hard to believe she could walk up a flight of stairs without a handrail and yet she supposedly outruns athletic men and knocks down professional warriors with a feebly placed slap.
Both the new young actors are great and as thoroughly engaging as the originals - unlike either Anakin, pretty boys with no charisma, memorability or strength about them whatsoever, the last three movies failed before they'd even begun with the casting. The pacing is great, and there is thankfully no over-reliance on CGI as in the last three duffers. If I have one caveat it's one I feel a bit guilty about, because I loved him in Attack the Block and I hate this kind of carping when it's directed at females (which it usually is) but I think John Boyega could do with losing a few pounds. He was lean and mean, scary yet sensitive in Attack the Block but is hardly recognisable as the same guy. His face has changed, his jawline's chubbed up and it's not a good look on him. Plus his thighs are very large. He's young enough that he can still run pretty fast but I bet he'd be a lot faster if he shed some weight.
Two other minor carps - Kylo Ren looks the part but his voice isn't powerful enough; voices are important in projecting power/charisma/depth. And they could have used the music more; great track, underused. Apart from that - don't listen to the idiotic negativity, Star Wars is back.