Recycled, nostalgic, and not half bad

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2017)

JJ Abrams is really good at this: recycle the plot, reconfigure the characters and let the action take center stage. It is a simple formula, and it mostly works here. Despite basically being a remake of the first Star Wars - from the plot to the characters - this story feels fresh and fun most of the time. Part of that's performances, but most of it is Abrams' sense of pace: more action, less trade policy. The flaws from the original trilogy are all here, especially the plot holes. But it is hard to notice them when you are having fun reliving the movies of your youth. There are some eye rolls, but I'll take this over the prequels any day.