The weakest of all.

Rating: 4/10 (19 January 2019)

Perhaps countering the majority of the audience, I had very low expectations regarding this movie. I liked the two previous trilogies, but I was afraid that a re-launch would have as its main objective to raise a few million dollars from the studios. I did not feel cheated, the movie is good and worth it, but I must admit that anything is lacking to match the older ones.
The film basically resumes the story decades after the events of "The Return of the Jedi". There are many new characters (inevitable), and some of the old ones are back, with the focus on Han Solo, a secondary character in the films of the original trilogy. I confess that it was very enjoyable to see the veteran Harrison Ford, back to a character who greatly helped to consecrate his career, and it was good to see Chewbacca and Carrie Fisher again. I think the new actors like John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver did their best, but I do not know if the material they received allowed them to create characters as striking as the older ones.
Technically, the film is flawless. The CGI, which has always been one of the strongest points of the franchise, has been pushed to the limit of what can be done today. Great and realistic, it makes the experience of seeing the film a visual spectacle. The sets and environments of the several planets were carefully thought out and executed. Costumes, cinematography, editing, sound effects and soundtrack etc... all thought out with caution, seeking to please new audiences without disappointing unconditional fans. It's all right.
But the truth is that the film has serious problems. Let's start with the script, which practically copies and tries to update the story told in the opening film, "A New Hope". Kylo Ren, the newest villain in the franchise, is no more than a second-rate Darth Vader on a new costume. Indeed, despite the commitment of the actors, which I do not want to question, the new characters lack charisma and the ability to delight. I also felt that action is lacking, compared to the previous movies, and the attempts to make humor sounded as funny as the "grandfather jokes" that Roger Moore used whenever he played James Bond. The end also seemed a bit anti-climatic too.
Anyway ... all these problems make the film, fatally, the weakest of all in the franchise to date. I didn't feel cheated because I expected little of it, but I believe that many fans (at least, those who have not been blinded by their passion) were dissatisfied.