satisfactory

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2015)

No film has ever carried such onerous baggage as The Force Awakens. You cannot talk about it as a film without seeping into its role as the seventh installment in a franchise, and/or the first part of a new trilogy. The film is expected to both homage revered elements of the past (Han, Chewy, Leia, etc) and exorcise its demons (e.g. the white-heavy cast of episode 4). On reflection, this is a near-impossible task, but the writers and director do just enough here to create anticipation of a fitting climax to the Star Wars saga in episodes 8 and 9. The greatest achievement is the new generation of characters. Daisy Ridley as Rey is a feisty, pugnacious incipient Jedi, much less marzipan than Luke was when we first met him, and far more prepared for the fight. John Boyega as Finn brings comic potential and real spine. Marked out in the beginning by a smear of blood, a darkness in his backstory is hinted at, and should offer up narrative gold if correctly handled. BB8 is also marvelously animated and seems to be starstruck by R2D2. Darth Vader is gone but his spirit lives on, and seems destined to grow. The beloved characters from the original are threaded in astutely, and give the film most of its emotional kick, including a genuinely moving climax, that still hits you in the chest even though you see it coming. Less successful is the cookie-cutter storyline, about a droid carrying secrets that require the Resistance to blow up a planet-destroying weapon of mass destruction - shamelessly and embarrassingly cut-and-pasted straight from Episode 4. Star Wars also gets away with using coincidence far more than any other franchise, but still there is something egregious about the timing of R2 joining the action. Excellent production design sees the Empire (re-branded as First Order) become more overtly menacing and 1940s nuanced, and the planets seem to have culture and grit. Not an outstanding film then, but a competent one, that fashions to work in its own right while whetting the appetite for what is to come.