Good but no great

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2016)

After the failings of the prequels I, as an avid fan, was worried. Saw JJ's attempt at Star Trek and thought it was passable, but thought he couldn't make this worse than 1-2-3.
Have to say I'm actually quite pleased with the result. Thought it actually felt like a proper Star Wars movie, rather than a kiddie- cash-cow. The resulting effort feels like it lives in the same movie family as 4-5-6, and does well to try and capture both the feel of the "world" and the characters themselves.
There are a few niggles with it, such as plot lines being a bit similar to ones from earlier movies and some characters being a bit bland, but overall thoroughly enjoyable. Most of the cast provide very good performance, Adam Driver in particular manages the "youth on the edge" role really well, and the old guard are slotted in nicely without taking over.
Well worth the watch as long as you aren't expecting anything other than a solid, fun and welcome return to the Star Wars universe.