Making a good job of filling impossibly large shoes...

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2015)

I left the cinema at 12:30am this morning with very mixed feelings toward this movie. Whilst my wife and children were bouncing off the walls with excitement at what they'd just witnessed, I remained a little more composed. I will try to limit my spoilers to useful, critical observations, so if you're looking for a blow-by-blow synopsis - move swiftly on.
As a stand alone movie, this film is great. With a small amount of intelligence, a complete Star Wars virgin would be able to understand and enjoy the little over 2hrs of run time without feeling that he/she were missing out. The first problem that struck me was this is NOT a stand alone movie... it's a sequel... which feels a lot like a reboot.
From JJ's first "Script reading" photos, through to the endless Con panels, we've had the returning Episode IV-VI cast rammed down our throats at light speed. Imagine my feelings then at the realisation that with the exception of two characters, we would not have noticed had they all been absent. I don't think I'm providing much of a spoiler when suggesting that C-3P0's new red arm was probably inserted into the script in order to give Anthony Daniels at least one line of dialogue in-front of the camera. The character existed in the background, and provided little other dialogue which could not have been delivered by a string of other cast extras. The same applied for Leia, who's character may as well have been credited as "Generic Military Leader." That said, the on-screen chemistry between our favourite "dirty pirate" and his "walking carpet" remains as strong as it did 38 years ago, so it's not all bad.
Plot-wise however, Episode VII feels more like a reboot of Episode IV, with a few nods to V & VI thrown in for the die hard fans. I'll say no more on that subject for fear of spoiling the movie for those of you who haven't yet seen it, but you'll know what I mean. Thankfully we don't have any lead characters force-manoeuvring a torpedo through an exhaust port - but I'm sure that page of script existed at one point or another.
Visually, this movie is STUNNING. Unlike the ugly CGI of episodes I-III, the special effects contained within Episode VII are sublime - mainly thanks to the return to the use of miniatures (many of which were not particularly miniature!). Using CGI to augment model work is vastly more effective than creating whole ships inside a computer - which I think will help the movie to age with the same grace of the original trilogy. Even the motion captured characters blend seamlessly with the prosthetic / make-up created aliens. Maz Kanata stands out as very tastefully created alien... who is probably just as short-sighted as half of the original cast, but with far funkier eye-wear.
Our new heroes are neither under, nor over developed. We're left to draw our own conclusions surrounding Fin's defection from the First Order as thankfully, valuable screen minutes were not wasted in showing how the new, non-cloned StormTrooper's are trained to be so 'evil'. You're left with a feeling that Rey's journey is only just beginning, even at the very end of the film, and this frankly is what you want to see, although I do feel that a few liberties were taken with her discovery of the force (a T-1000 style "sampled through physical contact" with Luke's light saber).
Our villain provided a very mixed bag of feelings within me. Kylo Ren is a very confused man - but sadly we're only shown this around the halfway point of the movie, making his change appear more like a breakdown rather than internal conflict. To go from being a complete Ep IV Vadar-like bad-ass in the opening scenes, to being a conflicted Ep VI Vadar-like dark/light mix within the space of 15 mins on screen didn't quite sit correctly.
On the subject of the bad-guys, Supreme Leader Snoke is very cleverly handled. Our initial meeting with his character as a towering giant is soon revealed to be a hologram - and this is the only way that we see him throughout the whole film - clearly setting up his involvement in later chapters 'from afar'. The biggest bad-guy gripe however has to land with towering Gwendoline Christie and her shiny Captain Phasma: her screen time could be measured in seconds, mostly revolving around conversations regarding the training or ability of her troops! Come on!!!
On the whole however, I enjoyed this movie more than I have any other recently. It felt good. I'd love to give it a 7.5/10... but in the absence of half marks, I'll round up and not down - to do so would be unfair. OK, the story wasn't the most original or complex, but it felt like a lovely comfortable coat - familiar enough to make me want to wear it over and over, and well made enough for me to want to pass it on to the next generation! Yes, Disney have made a movie to appeal to the mass-market and not just the die hard fans and you know what? It works!