A full scale, all action epic that brings the franchise back to life

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2015)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Luke Skywalker has mysteriously vanished, leaving the Resistance in dire straits. In his absence, the First Order, lead by the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), have begun implementing their will with force. Finn (John Boyega), a disillusioned Storm Trooper, absconds from his post, and joins forces with Rey (Daisy Ridley), a feisty female warrior who has in her company BB8, a droid who may hold the key to Skywalker's whereabouts. The pair are joined by Han Solo and Chewbacca in their mission as it progresses.
While I've never been the biggest Star Wars devotee, I have always admired it for the great, epic film that it was, and always found it incredible how something like that could have been produced so many decades ago. Over the years, the series has certainly attracted a lot of followers, and while a lot of people have bemoaned the craze of grown adults blatantly exhibiting their passion in public, in a sense it has recreated a sense of community and kinship that a trip to the cinema has lacked for many years. The publicity for JJ Abrams big screen re-invention has certainly been pretty relentless, and you'd certainly have felt left out not going on the big opening weekend.
One of the key themes of this big venture is exploring one of the Storm Troopers as a human being (they were all robots, as far as I was concerned!) and the examination of conscience that gets provoked in one of them. This creates a character ark that serves as a reference point to the story, and gives it some flair. With the fans spanning over so many years, it was necessary to create something that appealed to old and young, and so we have younger stars Ridley and Boyega, whilst returning old favourites Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, reprising the second of the two roles that made his name. None human old favourites C-3PO and R2-D2 return too, along with the aforementioned BB8, who resembles a Kinder Egg on wheels.
The dialogue's still leaves a bit to be desired, and all the mass publicity in the world won't create any more super fans than there already are, but as a SW venture, this ticks all the right boxes, a full on, full scale epic that delivers all the marvellous effects, set design, breath-taking action and just everything you'd expect from the franchise. ****