A New Hope - MKII

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2015)

Let me start by saying that if you haven't seen The Force Awakens yet, and are a Star Wars fan; why the hell are you reading a fan-boys' review of it? Go see it – now – it is GOOD! Everyone knows about Star Wars, and everyone knows that there were massive expectations for this to be THE Star Wars sequel the whole world was waiting for. Sois it? Short answer: Yes! There is almost nothing here we haven't seen before, but it still manages to feel fresh and up-to-date.
The echoes of A New Hope resound firmly in almost every shot of The Force Awakens, and these echoes feel very deliberate, something which JJ Abrams has touched on while talking about the story; It's about legacy. How do the events of the past affect what happens in the here and now. Rather than a re-hash, though, the story of The Force Awakens feels like an inevitable sequence of events, set in motion all these years in the past. The audience, the characters and the film are feeling like they are coming full circle. Not just that, but the whole film feels like a labour of love, and as result, most fans will be satisfied.
For me personally, the new characters are all great additions to the Star Wars cannon, with a special mention to Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, who is without a doubt the most interesting of the new characters, and I dare say the most interesting Star Wars villain ever.
Also worth mentioning is BB8 – the little ball-droid who has been slapped on as much merchandise as humanly possible. Like R2-D2 in the previous six films, it's amazing to see that a machine with no facial expressions can portray and evoke such a reaction. It's not just kids who will love him either, I found myself enthralled by his performance(!) As a film in itself, The Force Awakens is not perfect, but it does set up future episodes perfectly, and it's made the Star Wars Universe something we can look forward to longingly again.