A great instalment to the Star Wars saga

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2015)

OK, So this is a pre-warning, this review will contain some SPOILERS so please stop reading this if you haven't already seen this movie!!
I've seen this movie twice at 3D IMAX showings, the first time I saw it I was totally overwhelmed!! It felt like a star wars movie!! Some serious work went into making it that way, you can tell. It feels like a continuation of the original trilogy.
The second time I watched it I was a little bit more critical as I knew what was coming and anticipating a lot, that said there were still things that I missed the first time around.
This isn't a perfect movie, but then none of them really are. The things which didn't work so well for me are -
The occasional unnecessary unrealistic dialogue, i.e. near the end when Han is nodding to Finn that Rey is behind them climbing, and Finn is asking him why do you keep doing that? That felt to me like an unnecessary attempt at humour, it felt phoney, comical but seriously, the galaxy is counting on them, I think things would be a bit more serious, a more natural reaction would be for Finn to just turn around and see what Han was nodding at, it felt dumb.. There were a few moments like that, seemed like Boyega was playing the role of Will Smith in Bad Boys or something.. Don't get me wrong though, I was seriously impressed by most of his performance, just the odd niggle probably due to the script..
Some of the conversation between Han and Leia seemed a little obvious, a case of "we need to tell everyone about their son so we'll have this conversation".. It seemed a little fake to me.
The Star Killer base, I get why they had this thing, but I wasn't really convinced by it 100% 'A hyper light speed weapon' and yet you can see the beam travelling.. hyper light speed? Really? if you can see it moving through space, how did it travel across the galaxy and hit its target in so little time? That didn't add up for me.. The death star number 3, there's a lot of New Hope similarities in this movie, but I'm fine with most of it.
The movies pacing, I'm in two minds about this, the pacing keeps things exciting and enables far more to be told, though sometimes I just wanted to spend a little more time at locations, i.e. getting to know Rey on Jakku more.. I know JJ had to fit a lot in.. 2 hours went fast!
There was a lot of comical elements in this movie, which weren't a bad thing, as most of it was genuinely funny, I just hope that when this gets to episode 9 the use of comedy isn't exploited.. I'm skeptical about Colin Trevorrow directing as Jurassic world was to me just a big clichéd Hollywood cash in with terrible dialogue, I've just seen that Rian Johnson is writing it so maybe it won't be so bad?
So what did I like about this movie?
Loads!! It was emotional watching this, the nostalgia was amazing, JJ really put a lot of heart and passion into making a movie that Star Wars fans could really appreciate.. There's so much attention to detail, many things that could easily go unnoticed.
It was true to the original essence and nature of the force, probably due to Kasdan's writing as he wrote the script for Empire which was much about the force.. It seemed more genuine than most of what came in the prequels.. i.e midichlorians!!?? Yoda said in Empire "Life creates it, makes it grow, it's energy surrounds us, binds us" etc.. "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter".. but according to the prequels this only applies if you have special stuff in your blood.. This movie seemed to go back to the original essence, which I'm so grateful for!! (it actually replayed part of that Yoda dialogue when Rey had those visions)..
My favourite scenes were with Rey, the moment she touched the light sabre and has those visions was awesome and the lightsaber fight at the end was great.. Daisy Ridley really was the star of this movie. Also BB8 was great too. Harrison Ford completely fell back into the role as Han Solo, the first scenes with him were great. John Boyega was great too despite some of the annoying bits in the script, I watched Attack the Block, his performance in this completely excels beyond his in that movie, definitely see him going places. Also not forgetting Oscar Isaac, he totally worked as Poe Dameron.
Some of the sound effects have improved much, i.e. the lightsabers sound more like I'd imagine them to sound when they collide and they look stunning now, the lighting is spot on, they look part of the scene rather than drawn on after.
I absolutely loved this movie regardless of the few things mentioned earlier in the review, I can't understand why so many are completely down rating it.. maybe they are part of the darkside? and they don't like a movie exploring the nature of good and evil being revealed on such a large scale? Who knows!!
I can't wait to see the next instalment of this now, seeing how Luke makes a comeback, and learning more about Rey.. JJ Abrams has set the bar, revitalised the franchise and got the wheels back in motion.. I've got a feeling part 8 might be a little darker.. which could be a recipe for a great movie, I just hope that he follows suit with less CGI and a more physical believable world.. I liked Looper, I think he'll do a good job.