Retreading old territory, but in a good way.

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2015)

Obviously it's all a matter of opinions, however I feel a lot of the extremely high scores for this film are rather reactionary for what is, essentially, a remake of A New Hope. All of the same beats of previous films are there: The rogue apprentice turned to the dark side, the jedi master that trained him who has now hidden himself away, the Death Star at the end of the film (yes, it is just another death star) and, finally, the average hero taken off of a desert planet who discovers they've been in touch with the force this whole time. To top it all off, the twist in the middle of the film is that Ren is related to Luke and Leia, just to borrow some emotional punches from Empire, too. Who'd have thought? The problems in this film are quite noticeable and mostly concern the plot, given that there is simply too much going on at any given time and the audience is never given the time to truly relate and sympathise with what is going on. The Death star sub plot is extremely tacked on and doesn't feel weighty or meaningful, and the film really takes a nosedive around the time Leia is introduced, as suddenly there's so much to do/explain that none of it feels explored to the extent needed to make it have an impact.
Obviously those are some problems I have with the film, however I have given it 8/10, a very good score, for a reason. The two main characters, Finn and Rey, are both interesting and vulnerable, making them relatable. They are acted extremely well by a new crop of actors who seem to have been cast very well indeed. Kylo Ren as a villain was an interesting choice, as he wasn't this almighty being such as Anakin was in the prequels (I still can't get over the Jesus symbolism), he was insecure and weak in some aspects. His inability to separate himself from Vader and become his own villain made me care about his plight and I'm interested to hear his and Luke's back story. And, unlike Anakin, he wasn't unstoppable. This brings me onto the point of the action. What an improvement over the prequels. Where the prequels went for more choreographed sequences that seemed like performances and didn't actually contain an ounce of tension, the lightsaber battles here were rough, messy and tension filled. Inexperience led to these makeshift and dirty fights that were more about the characters fighting in them than the fight itself. The Falcon chase scene was also brilliant, and looked amazing. Well done, JJ.
Speaking of Abrams, he helmed this film expertly. The cinematography was masterful, as were the locations he chose to film in. Every shot was beautiful, with crisp wide shots and a mix of dark and light locations giving the movie a real visual fidelity. Literally the only issue this film in regards to aesthetics was that one character who was hoarding Luke's saber, she looked so badly CGIed and it took me out of the experience every time she was on screen compared to the impressiveness of practical effects used for everything else. Expectedly, the sound design was also perfect, but was it ever not going to be?
Han's role in this film was better than expected, and his eventual death carried with it a lot of weight, even if it was predictable the minute we discovered Ren was his son. It's undeniable that it was an emotional and very effective moment, as was the film's very last shot of Luke and Rey.
Overall, the film suffers from a lack of original moments under-pining its wonderful environments and characters, and, in typical Abrams fashion, the story moves along at such break neck speed that some glaring and in cohesive elements (or lack thereof) to the story can be glazed over. It's a film best experienced in the moment, and without too much dwelling upon its intricacies and details can be thought of as a very good film, and one that has left us so many questions that I have no doubt in my mind episode 7 will be even better, and worth the wait.