more family drama than an episode of jerry springer

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2016)

The force awakens: more family drama than an episode of Jeremy Kyle. When Disney took over the Star Wars franchise in 2012 many feared that Disney would regurgitate an un-original, cheesy, money-maker trilogy, much like the prequels of the early noughties. Although there have been some serious improvements in the last decade or so, ultimately the force awakens lacks the charm and grit of the original trilogy.
Although when leaving the theatre, I thought it was an admiral shot on jj Abraham's part, the movie was on the whole lack-lustre, and yet it seems that my disappointment is relatively un-shared amongst the critic community. Or in simpler words: the critics have gone far too easy on the 7th instalment of franchise.
Here are my thoughts, warning- spoilers.
Having Adam driver cast as the bad guy, Kylo Ren, was nothing shy of genius. This character could have very easily fallen into the trap of being pantomime-esqe scary, which by some miracle has been avoided. Driver gives the dry-ness that modern audiences demand from their baddie. Think of the success of Christoph Waltz in Tarantino's 'Inglorious Basterds'- yes he is scary as all hell, but he doesn't just grunt and blow stuff up, there is depth to his character which is so often overlooked in similar films- this is the kind of villain that the modern audience expects. Kylo Ren ticks the box of being the scary guy in black that we know all too well in this series, with a little family drama to spice him up a bit, however my biggest frustration is that the mask he wears has no purpose other than to look all dark and brooding, so *ahem* what's the point of putting him in a mask?
Finn is one of the only characters who was saved from the cringe one-liners, and as a result was a refreshing addition to the film. Boyega is undeniably talented, and his character helps drive the film from just the family drama of the Skywalker clan, the downside of Finn is that he comes parcelled with rey, quite easily the worst character of the film. Ridley's performance was wooden at best, down-right irritating at worst, and although her shrieks of 'don't hold my hand' were made with the intentions of providing a plucky, independent female figure, ultimately her character doesn't develop enough to make a serious impact.
Oscar Isaac as Poe was surprisingly good, yes there was perhaps one too many brooding looks over the shoulder with the ominous "they're coming" and so on, but besides that, for the short while he was on screen Poe was enjoyable to watch. He is witty and charming and has a lot of potential, but the problem is that he is gone for the most of the movie. Isaac is incredibly talented, and his talent was lost in the film, but hopefully with the next instalment we will see a lot more of poe. What the film tries to do is remind us of the older characters we know and love, whilst at the same time giving us a group of people that feel that little bit different. Although you can spend hours debating who is Luke and who is Han solo, my theory is that the writers have split the fan favourite, Luke Skywalker, into the three characters. A Skywalker holy trinity if you will. We have the confidence and cool-ness in Poe, the moral drive and like ability in Finn, and the troubled backstory in Rey. Although there were a lot of good intentions, once again the film falls flat in trying to recreate the magic of the original trilogy, and perhaps without the novelty of Hamill, Fisher and Ford's appearances the film would have been a failure.
The plot is somewhat predictable, but this does not take away from the film, which is of course a family sci-fi adventure, not heavy Oscar-worthy drama. The main issue is that the writers are so much better than focussing on family drama surrounding Skywalker and co. they could have very easily stepped away from the whole father-son baddie vs. goodie combination and come up with something truly original. The film does fit well into the series, and is certainly not the worst instalment but as a stand-alone movie is nothing mind-blowing. Enjoyable, but I fear that without the big budget and huge history behind it, the film doesn't fill those big Star Wars boots.
Will I see the next film? Yes- but with lower expectations than I had hoped.