A New Hope for Star Wars

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2015)

One can argue that a new Star Wars title is bound to disappoint, be it from the bitter taste the prequels left or from the inevitable hype train that raises expectations to unrealistic levels. Unfortunately, The Force Awakens also falls into the same trappings that have plagued this series ever since The Empire Strikes back.
To make things clear: The Force Awakens (TFA) is a great movie and definitely better and more coherent that Eps. I and II. It has the look and feel of the originals and that goes a long way in terms of nostalgia. Growing up on the prequels ('88 kid), I never thought of them as horrible. More like mediocre (Ep. I), bad (Ep. II) and pretty awesome (Ep. III). My fear was TFA being my generation's Ep. 1. Fortunately: it isn't. Not by far.
While discarding the expanded universe it is clear Disney and JJ Abrams have been snooping around the old material and have crafted a fresh start for the post-Vader movies. A New Hope this is indeed. As a whole it succeeds in being that new hope. This is Star Wars as we expect it to be: a grand scale, the sense of things being around for ages (little effects like dents in speeders, smoke clouds when started up etc) and the perfect blend of practical effects and CGI. The pacing is great and each introduction of familiar characters is bound to be met with childlike excitement. Quite simply: it isn't a dull movie.
That being said: this is also a movie relying too much on plot lines a little bit too familiar from the original series. That on it's own isn't too much of a flaw but it also 'fails' on some other levels. Stormtroopers for instance are finally introduced as a menacing army...before being degraded to comic relief characters on par with the Ep. 1 Battle Droids. And while likely a hot topic in today's social climate, it has to be said the female lead is both a relief and worst offender to this movie. Rey is a great character who very much feels natural as the leading role for these new movies. She feels as one of us: at awe of the wonders of the SW universe. At the same time her strength as a leading character is somewhat tainted by the overly noticeable 'Disney-girl power' trope that is popular these days. Without going into spoilers: her character has an eye-rollingly quick learning ability for things that used to take a few movies leading up to one of the more unlikely lightsaber duels in the entire series. Her knowledge of the Millennium Falcon being better than that of Han Solo, although never having been on board before is another example of her being great at everything, at once. Lastly: some characters really lack some serious screen time, which is a shame.
Overall this is a very strong movie that does more good than bad. The flaws aren't nearly as bad as the message boards suggest, although the character of Rey does feel forced in a few ways. The latter will likely vary from person to person I suspect.
A New Hope indeed...even if it means hoping that Ep. 8 will be on par with the originals. This one falls somewhere between RoTJ and RoTS. A solid start for what's to come the next few years.
8/10