True to the franchise

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2015)

I dislike scoring in absolutes. But I try to give merit to where movies stand relative to what was promised or expected. 'Fury Road' was a great movie, it just was not a Mad Max movie, hence my low score. 'The Force Awakens'? Best Star Wars movie to date. Period. Empire Strikes Back had stronger high points, but this one is more consistently great.
It is a superbly entertaining movie. Greatly paced, it is never boring or too intensive. None of the action sequences drag too long. It just works. And so much is teased about the overarching canon that new fans will surely flock to the greater franchise – books, games, spinoffs and comics.
And it had such huge shoes to fill. I still remember the horror that was 'Phantom Menace'. It felt like stealing candy from 5-year old that saw 'A New Hope' with starry eyes. No such thing here. Movie truly feels like original trilogy, both visually and in storytelling. Yes, there is not much plot, but honestly, none of the Star Wars movies is strong on story. I often wondered if 'A New Hope' would be successful if it was made today. Probably not. So here we get pretty much the same story with new cast told in a traditional way and fine-tuned for today's audience. Great stuff.
New characters are superb (bar one, but I still have hopes there). Many fears were had because it seemed like a politically correct cast (black person and female leads), but as it came out, they were both unbelievably well cast. Especially Daisy Ridley as Rey, our new would-be Jedi. If put together, she would stomp the original Mark Hamill into the ground. After the second trilogy flop, franchise truly needed a sincere, natural and entertaining heroine – and she delivers. Even the old cast surprised me – one of them actually has a leading role, so they were not relegated to attention-getting cameos. And there is no Jar Jar Binks. Nothing even close. The entire cartoon comic element is relegated to BB-8, a new droid. And he rocks.
So, why not 10/10? Well, the villain side feels like a missed opportunity. It starts fantastic, but once the masks come down (for real) in second act, it looks like Abrams was afraid to go too dark. Both the prime antagonist and the guy behind the scenes are more of a 'Harry Potter' variety. Especially the new Emperor-like figure (spoiler, sorry) raises many a 'but why?' Then we have deus-ex- machina moments. Not many, but Jedi mind trick one was especially jarring. And there is one sequence (space cantina) with very unrealistic animated support character. And the obligatory 'May the force be with you' felt awkward at the time it was said.
But that is all that does not work. For a modern movie, it is a miracle. People, this is Star Wars at its best ever, not a flop, may the peace be with you as you enter the cinema.