Promising

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2015)

The 1970s and 1980s gave birth to a mode of movie-making not seen before. Look at it this way. In 1939, after uttering the iconic "Tomorrow is another day", Scarlett O'hara need not have disappeared from the silver screen forever. Twenty years later, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable (respectively 8 and 1 years before their demise, I grant you) could have shot a sequel showing how the stormy relationship between Scarlett and Rhett carried on in the next twenty year. But the audience never got a glimpse of Scarlett's "tomorrow". All you need was someone to think of the idea. But nobody did. Not until in the 70s.
Let's look at Harrison Ford, first not in the Star Wars series but in one he made after it, The Indiana Jones series starting with 1981. He made a couple more Indiana Jones adventures, each with a different heroine, but there is nothing unusual about that. But then, in 2008, he reprised the character again, reencountering his first love played by the same Karen Allen who graciously agreed to appear 27 years after. What's more, they have a son, portrayed by Shia LaBeouf. Star Wars Episode VII has something similar. Just like Karen Allen, Carrie Fisher has been making movies (though nothing in the way of big roles) since her collaboration with Ford and so her reprising Princess Leia is most natural. This, therefore, is the new "organic" (coined by me) movie-making when in times spans counted in decades, the same actors reprise their roles at the appropriate advanced age. The classic is the "Before" series showing the development of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy nine years after the first movie "Before sunrise" (1995), then another nine years. Now the fans are patiently waiting for 2022.
While professional critic, doing what they are paid to do, restrain from praising SW-VII too highly, especially in the department or originality (an easy target), they do unanimously agree that it is a "good" movie. IMDb users are more generous, giving it a rating of 8.8 (some 130 thousand votes so far). To us die heart fans whose heartbeat quickens every time upon hearing the opening note of John William's immortal score at the beginning of each Star Wars movie, SW-VII is more than "good".
The eternal conflict of good against evil anchors the storyline and action, and there is no need to go into a lot of details. The key plot device is very much like that in the original, a secret map hidden in a cute robot. Whereas before, it was the construction plan that exposed the Achilles Heel of the Death Star, this time it is a map that leads to the hiding place of Luke Skywalker, who disappeared into oblivion after a failed attempt to train a new generation of Jedi knights. It is believed he is the last hope to stop evil from dominating the entire universe.
Those of us who have followed Star Wars from day 1 love the nostalgia. Of the original trio, all reprised by the same actor, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) can be considered as one of the main characters. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is an average supporting role while Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is just a cameo. But clearly, things will change Star War Episode VIII. The non-human oldies are all there (Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2), but again with varying screen time.
Fresh faces and voices blend with the old timers beautifully, making a seamless transition. Of the new trio, there is one that definitely takes priority, Rey the scavenger orphan girl who, obviously, would be more than meets the eye. Playing this endearing role, British 23-year-old Daisy Ridley effortlessly wins over the audience in no time at all. As a young Storm Trooper with a heart, the role Finn is portrayed as the first non-white hero, played convincingly by John Boyega, "convincingly" because he has a difficult challenge of treading carefully between buffoonery and seriousness, which he did very well. The third one, with far less screen time, is top-notch resistant pilot Poe Dameron (sort of a role-model Han Solo, i.e. without the greedy side) played by Oscar Isaac. It is quite certain that we will see more of him in the next instalment. The new robot, BB-8, is cute as cute can be.
Heading the baddies is Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis doing his Gollum thing again) assisted by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). But the focus is on the other assistant Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a Darth Vader look-alike, until he takes off his mask to reveal the face of a scholarly, melancholy young man. But just like Rey his nemesis, there is more than meets the eyes to this young villain.
There you have it. Enjoy.