I sense something... a presence I haven't felt since...

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2015)

...since I saw episode 4, where an unknown boy leave his home in a desert planet to travel with a smuggler on the fastest spaceship in the galaxy, just to end fighting the empire in a final battle that destroys a big space station able to annihilate planets.
We expected much more from Lawrence Kasdan, the same who wrote The Empire Strikes Back, but he had some kind of nostalgia at the time of writing this new story, failing by repeating many points of the old scripts instead of risking with an entire new story.
The first positive comment about the film is that we can trust in this new approach to the characters/universe. It's not any more the cartoon/video game which were episodes 1,2 and 3. Refusing as much as possible the use of the CGI was one of several good decisions taken by JJ Abrams. It has that old air that we find in the original trilogy, and the digital resources are used with sense, in those cases where we can exploit its advantages. The Millennium Falcon flying inside the rests of a destroyer is a good example of it.
Talking about the new and old characters, it seems that this film is a tribute to the fans and the old trilogy, before launching the saga to a new era, where those characters don't have place, or at least will be supporting the new heroes. About the old ones, we've missed a long time Han Solo, Leia, Luke and Chewie, and their appearance will probably separate opinions. We know that after episode 7 we won't see any more Han Solo, and it seems that Luke will play a role very similar to that of Obi Wan Kenobi, as an old Jedi ready to give his legacy to "her daughter"?. Probably Leia as head of the resistance and Chewie as the eternal co-pilot will have more presence in the next films. So this film works as the old characters passing the baton to the new ones, who at this first film of a new trilogy do very well their homework. Ray and Fine are strong and with big potential characters, he with an obvious future as pilot/warrior for the resistance, and she as the new Skywalker of this new trilogy. Episodes 1,2,3 were Anakin, 4,5,6 were Luke, and although we have to wait for the next episode, we can beat that Ray is a Skywalker. Both play a good role in this movie, taking the lead again from a small lost planet to the final battle against the new Death Star, this time called Starkiller, as Luke was called on the first Episode 4 draft: Luke Starkiller. As adventure partners we don't have C3PO and R2D2 this time, but BB8 has come to stay for a long time, with its funny movements and R2 beeps. The old droids are one of the dudes about their future: will they be again at the center of the adventures? or time has past too for this buddies? The last of the new entries, Jason Isaac's Poe Dameron has potential as soldier for the resistance, but we don't know if he'll be a new Han Solo style or will be able to win us with his own personality.
About the bad guys, Kylo Ren has potential, reaching in this movie the highest level of the dark side, when he kills his father. Now is the bad guy who's learning, and after killing Solo he crosses definitively the line. We have to wait to episode 8 to know more about his mentor, but Supreme Leader Snoke is one of the poorest characters on the film, reminding sometimes a Fragle Rock character, and delousing the fans who were expecting something bigger after knowing that Andi Serkis was playing that role. But despite his master, Ren looks awesome with his own made Darth Vader style, his strong power and his still uncontrolled rage. For sure we'll enjoy his complete dark side on the next episode. But Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma and Donhnall Gleeson's General Hux are completely disappointing. She hasn't any action scene, and we expected this character as a great soldier leading the troopers on the battle. And he could have past unnoticed until his failed speech to the troops, when the character shows as the less credible in the film. The story in Lawrence Kasdan's hands promised those things we missed during episodes 1-3, and he has done a great job building a new story we echos from the past, reminding sometimes the steps of the old episodes: from a small desert planet to a big final space battle, again father vs son in a bridge, one more time pilots meeting at a canteen, again a rescue And there are scenes that we could remove, as the one with the octopus aspect creatures on Solo's spaceship or the fact that Ray seems to learn too fast the Force, using all its powers without training and defeating Kylo Ren at their first combat. There's also a confusing moment with those Ray's visions, giving us dudes about her origins, but it helps the story to make us desire more and more, which is something typical from JJ Abrams experience at the TV, where cliffhangers are necessary to bring the audience back week by week. We find enough questions that must be answered on the next episode: who's Ray? Will Kylo Ren become as evil as his grandfather? Why that red arm on C3PO? Which will be next First Order step?
We have wait a long time to this new film, divided by dudes and expectation, and now we can say with a big smile that –despite some small elements that should be polished- Star Wars is back, as epic, as fun, as intriguing, as exciting as we let it 30 years ago.