Best Star Wars Yet - which will please both virgins and vets.

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2017)

How do you please franchise fans old and new while making a good, impactful and memorable movie?
Do exactly what JJ Abrams did here, to a tee.
My friends, real fans who grew up with the original trilogy and watched this one with me, expressed a physically relief of feeling there was very little to complain about and that "'they' didn't mess it up", but my feeling was even more positive. They exceeded my high expectations, brought me into a mysterious and magical voyage and left me wanting more until the last frame. A real cinematic experience.
Star Wars formula could be deemed to appeal to simplicity (like good vs evil) with a few twists. Fun fact and contingent to the same doctrine, the majority of its meaningful characters name limit themselves to 3 or 4 letters: Han, Luke, Leia, Yoda and now Rey, Poe and Finn. If not letters, we can substitute numbers: R2D2, C3PO or BB8.
Well, we can now focus on 2 letters: JJ.
JJ Abrams directs and co-writes this brilliant installment in the multi-billion dollar franchise which set ridiculous revenues after a record-breaking first day (not counting merchandise and video sales)
It also comes with extremely favourable critics and has started an epic new trilogy as well as spin-offs we all hope will continue to remain a high level of quality such as Rogue One already did incredibly.
But back to this highly anticipated sequel which manages to create nostalgic moments with its characters, settings and story. Every Star Wars Fans will enjoy the scenery of a defunct Star Destroyer in the desert, but overall cinematography and scenery is in fact the best of all the Star Wars by its beauty and diversity. We get sultry desert in Jakku like Tatooine and forest like Endor. We get beautiful snow that surpass Hoth, buildings and water like Naboo and idyllic Irish-like islands. Daniel Mindel is the cinematographer who also did marvels with JJ on the first 2 Star Trek reboots. Every battle scene is sweeping and spectacular with many elements, motion and emotion. Humour is effective and tension is well crafted and augmented by sound, music and editing.
Here Abrams outdoes himself by keeping it crisp with new likable and believable characters, great acting and superb directing to keep everything flowing and fans following. We feel for the characters, old and new. We are intrigued and we do not want it to end. A pretty much perfect movie of the genre and for a new generation, with Rey a particular stand-out.
Han and Leia were not only there for older fans, but make it work as very important elements to the story. The writing and directing for them is just right, like the rest of the movie.
Award-worthy, action-packed, well-paced, high expectations delivered and then some.
It's decisively the best Star Wars yet, and that is no small feat. One small step for a fan, but a giant leap for longevity and quality!
Rian Johnson has some SERIOUS shoes to fill for Episode 8.
10/10