It's Back, and it's Good

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2016)

The most common complaint with this next chapter is that it is too much like A New Hope. That it doesn't do anything new or creative, it just recycles the same ideas. I can understand this to a point, but this movie is packed with brand new ideas, fresh and exciting new characters, and genuinely feels like an honest continuation of the stories we grew up on. The echoes of A New Hope are there, but they are twisted and turned in a new way, and serve the story well. Sure it's got it's flaws, but what Star Wars movie doesn't? The Starkiller Base, while a little too much like a third Death Star, is not the focus of the climax (unlike the first Death Star assault); it's all about the new characters and their conflict. It really must be a chore to hate this movie, because it's fun, humorous, exciting, and feels like the original trilogy in the best way. It's a great film, and it served it's purpose well: covering up 30 years of lost time without beating us over with exposition, introducing new characters while also reintroducing old, and setting us up for a new trilogy, leaving questions to be answered.