Good film, could have been great, but portends great sequels

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2015)

#StarWarsTheForceAwakens will go on to break many box office records, but I was underwhelmed. It's a good movie, but I expected way more. It's too much like Episode IV (which built such a rich universe with great characters and plot), yet is hurried and linear by comparison. Also, the older characters (as much as I loved them) need not have so much screen time. Moreover, the movie should have been called Episode VIII, since there are at least 3 major back stories (that of Kylo Ren's rage, Luke's disappearance and the super weapon's construction) left untold. But I have great faith in Abrams and realize that he 'watered down' the story to appeal to a wider, newer audience, namely Millennials. He will definitely have a more complex story to tell in the sequels. Still, I wish Abrams hadn't safely painted-by-numbers and made the movie that he truly could have made - Lucas took a bold leap with A New Hope and the audience rewarded the brilliant film. Daisy Ridley as Rey is superb and her character carries the film, ably supported by John Boyega's Finn. What I expect to see from the sequels: Rey not be the obvious Skywalker child, Poe Dameron becoming more Han Solo (even part Jedi given those flying skills) & Finn redeeming the Stormtroopers and a greater Empire-Resistance reconciliation. Alas, I fear there is little hope for Kylo Ren, except for more lightsaber duel sequences with Rey and an almost inevitable redemption story in the making, catalyzed by the aging Luke Skywalker.