JJ Abrams' Star Wars

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2015)

The most successful movie franchises are the ones that capture our imagination, the movies that makes us believe that an abandoned orphan living under the stairs can have magical abilities. A boy that grew up on a desolate planet can rid the galaxy of an evil empire. A mosquito containing a drop of blood can create a park where we can interact with species that went extinct 65 million years ago. Movies containing childlike wonder, those are the most likely to attract millions to the box office.
When it comes to capturing the imagination of a new generation of Star Wars fans, Disney can be forgiven for following a tried and tested recipe. They have spent $4billion to own the franchise after all. And it has been 38 years since the original.
JJ Abrams did an excellent job of using the familiarity of A New Hope to inspire nostalgia in the current fans, while still creating a fresh adventure. What was interesting in The Force Awakens, is how we not only get to go on a journey of a new Jedi discovering her abilities, but also understand the origins of the new villain. Kylo Ren is not yet as scary as his grandfather, but as with Anakin, we will see him grow more evil in the next movie ending in a true adversely to the newly Luke trained Jedi Rey.
Although Star Wars Episode 7 has some similarities to Episode 4, I expect the following two movies will carve out their own course. As Abrams did at the end of Star Trek 11, expect an epic adventure with plenty of surprises to follow in the Episode 8 & 9.