Lots to like, but re-boot feel and continuity gap is jarring

Rating: 5/10 (9 January 2019)

The opening scenes of the film are just stunning, and the whole escape from Jakku absolutely nailed it for me. The wreckage from an epic battle combined with a familiar desert setting feels as though it was all carefully crafted to simultaneously provide the sense of continuity and nostalgia needed to draw you firmly back into the Star Wars universe 30 years later. Not an easy task, but for me personally they got it spot on.
Things go down hill from there unfortunately. There's still lots to like, but a continuity gap with the originals and a 're-boot' feel just keep growing as the film goes on: We understand the First Order to be the remnants of the Emperor's most loyal servants, and yet they seem to have more military resources than the Empire itself. On the other hand, the victorious New Republic who have the resources of the entire galaxy at their disposal seem less well equipped than the rebellion of the Original Trilogy. Maybe nit-picking, but the New Republic don't seem to have assimilated any Imperial technology either, which is odd - we saw the Empire assimilating the military of the Old Republic, so why not the other way round?
The overall situation is illogical and seems contrived just give us a story line very similar to Episode 4, which is a faux pas in itself.
The Star Killer base (c.f. Death Star) also made the destruction of the senate of the New Republic something which just sort of 'happens' without any real sense of significance. It's arguably the most pivotal moment of the whole film, but you get no sense of that - blink and you miss it.
Despite this film's many redeeming features, I had a strong feeling that it's sitting in no-mans land - somewhere between a continuation of the saga and a reboot.