Fear not: Episode VII does not try - it does.

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2015)

The scariest movie of 2015 had nothing to do with the horror genre. No - for fans worldwide of the most beloved film franchise of all time, it lay in the mouth-watering yet trepidatious pending release of its newest instalment. These fans had already been burned once, the scars of a disappointment a decade old still glimmering. Dare they risk investing once again, for fear of agonizing disappointment (you know what they say about fear, anger, hate, and suffering)? To this cherished community: fear not. Star Wars is back, and it is worthy of the name.
Wresting the reigns of power away from the endlessly tinkering George Lucas and into the hands of a Star Wars fan was unquestionably the right move, and franchise messiah J.J. Abrams knows exactly what the world needs out of a Star Wars film at this juncture: reverence and reassurance. Abrams' brisk, no-nonsense storytelling is at its best here, not homaging so much as inhabiting the formula: a vintage epic which whisks along at a rollicking pace, filled with mysterious mythology, Oedipal melodrama, and trademark scrappy humour, plus more than a few congenial winks that this is familiar for all the right reasons. It's a perilous balance between cute nods and becoming a sea of references, but Abrams threads it with the ease of Han Solo's Kessel Run. Seamlessly blending in old favourites so the exuberance of their resurgence punctuates plot points (our heroes have a breathless escape on the Millennium Falcon, receive helpful exposition from C-3PO, and even Admiral Akbar rears his head during a climax that is bound to involve a trap), the heroes of old are elevated to a level of mythic significance in-text, so new characters ooh and ahh at Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker along with their audiences. Why fight it?
In fact, if there's a major bone to pick with Episode VII, it's how heavily it leans on the narrative of A New Hope. Sure, playing it safe by channelling the original trilogy is the smart choice, but The Force Awakens' plot is derivative to the point of nearly being a functional beat-by-beat remake at times, which makes several purported 'plot twists' lose a lot of their oomph. It's a shame, as such allegiance is wholly unnecessary, as the most interesting bits here involve establishing Episode VII's own internal mythology, most of which is left tantalizingly off screen. Hopefully, having placated audiences here, Disney will relax somewhat and allow future instalments to take flight and become their own animals, while still in keeping with the spirit of the universe.
Sensorially, The Force Awakens is a warm bath of familiarity. The grittier, 'lived-in' visual aesthetic of old is immaculately restored, with a glut of stupendously imaginative character designs peppering the backgrounds (none of Guardians of the Galaxy's 'all aliens are pink or blue humans' nonsense). Gliding through a desert filled with the behemoth corpses of Imperial Walkers and Star Destroyers to a shockingly tense lightsaber showdown in a snowy forest, with just a dash of gorgeous Skellig Michael, Ireland for good measure, coupled with all the gleefully evocative whirrs and thrums of Ben Burtt at his best, and, of course, the indispensable work of John Williams sounding his liveliest in years, The Force Awakens is a sensory wonder to behold. The Star Wars universe has evolved in an infinitely more credible fashion than any of the flashiness of Lucas' later works - a gorgeous and rich interstellar realm that feels entirely inhabitable.
Impressively, Abrams interweaves old and new faces believably, rather than steering by fan- service. Daisy Ridley makes for a subtly compelling lead, grounding her cut-glass accent with a rough tenacity, making her amiable, mysterious, and unpredictable, and all the more engaging for it. John Boyega is similarly fresh, with a welcomely quirky, twitchy charisma and levity - a hugely enjoyable neurotic foil for Ridley's deadpan. It is genuinely fascinating to speculate where the franchise will take them next. Adam Driver's Loki-Vader Kylo Ren would be hilariously dismissible in his angst (as evidenced by the priceless #EmoKyloRen Twitter handle) were his performance not so volcanically, magnetically raw and emotive. He's captivating, nuanced, and the perfect fit for the franchise. Chameleonic Oscar Isaac brings a brawny affability to ace pilot Poe Dameron, while Domhnall Gleeson's prissily rigid general crescendoes into rabid Nazi ravings with eerie precision. It's a bit of a shame to see Lupita Nyong'o under-utilized as a generically warm/wise bespecled Jedi-sympathizer, while Andy Serkis' gigantic Emperor-redux rumbles well, but disappointingly joins the Thanos school of 'unthreatening chair-dwelling overlords being saved for later instalments'.
Age has only helped Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher sink deeper into the skin of their career-defining characters. Han and (General) Leia continue to epitomize craggy charm and humour, even as glimpses of world-weary regret speckle their superb chemistry. Finally, the long- awaited Mark Hamill is perfectly ethereal, and the soulful weight imbuing the eyes of Luke the Jedi Master carries 30 years of catharsis in itself. As a treat, the eagle-eyed will enjoy hunting for sly cameos by Simon Pegg and Daniel Craig, both excellent.
Above all else, The Force Awakens is fun. Robust storytelling across a sumptuously textured universe, grounded by commandingly committed performances (and yet another unreasonably lovable droid). Plagiaristic or not, I grinned from start to finish. Years after The Lord of the Rings wrapped, there is finally a new trilogy to set that buzzing fire of "EEEEEEEE!!!" in audiences' bellies, counting down the days until the next instalment. Han said it best: this long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away feels just like coming home.
-8.5/10