Great movie that should please fans and everyone else actually

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2015)

32 years I've waited for this film...OK, actually 10 years since Episode III. Well, OK less coz we only knew in 2012 after the Disney takeover that there would be another one. Lucas always said he was done. So here it finally is. Grab a beer, this is going to be a long one smile emoticon
Making a new film for a franchise that is considered to be a religion by some and that has a legion of fans who are going to pick it apart is no small task. For this reason J.J. Abrams at first refused the directorial job but eventually got convinced by Kathleen Kennedy (now head of Lucasfilm and Spielbergs wife) to do it. Since the news of Episode VII being in the making I have gone out of my way to avoid any news, trailers or leaks about the movie. When I saw The Phantom Menace in 1999 I had seen so many clips and read so many stuff online (and internet was then not what it is now) that when I eventually saw the film it added almost nothing and was quite a disappointment (also because it was bad).
For The Force Awakens I had the pleasure of seeing it without any previous knowledge - the way I prefer to see all movies these days. So first off: it is a good movie. It's way better than those prequels and should please almost everyone. Abrams chose to do everything with practical effects or so they want us to believe, coz it still has 2100 VFX shots. What he means -just as was the case for Mad Max- is that the sets and most stuff the actors interact with is practical (or real). Most spaceships, aliens larger than humans, sets in the background and so on are CGI. And kudos to both: you can almost never tell when something transitions from a real set or animatronic to CGI and so it should be. In the prequels which I've watched again on Blu-ray it was all too clear when something was CG and lots of shots looked fake or badly integrated with the live action.
No cost was spared to make The Force Awakens: 200 m$ went to the production of the film, and thanks to the use of unknown actors most money is on the screen. Disney threw even more money at the marketing (223m$) which the Disney Marketing machine spent well coz unless you lived under a rock you must have been aware a new Star Wars film was coming. The use of all these practical sets and grittier VFX were done to make a return to the used universe we all know and love from the Classic Trilogy. Everything is more tangible and real. What JJ Abrams also brings to the table is his expertise with more immersive action and shot design. The action is absolutely spectacular. What Abrams also brings is his focus on characters, but at the cost of depth. They probably wanted to avoid the over-exposition form the Prequels but a bit more background should sometimes have helped.
The biggest strength of Episode VII is also it's weakness: it sometimes too similar to the Classic Trilogy but does manage to stand on it's own as a new chapter in the franchise. The fact that it is breaking all box-office records proves that nobody needs to be convinced to see it and that is obviously well liked. It is actually not a requirement to have seen the original films to follow the plot of this one - it is intended to bring Star Wars to a new generation - but it is surely a lot of fun an nostalgia for those who have.
The question remains what Disney is intending to do with Star Wars. There is a real chance they are going to keep cranking out a new film each year (mainline and spin-off) as they can go any direction they want and those films are going to keep generating money if they keep up the quality level (and they sure are throwing a lot of talent at it) very much like is the case with the Marvel films. George Lucas made an industry out of Star Wars but Disney is going to take it to unprecedented levels. I'm glad everyone is getting the chance to become a fan but with Disney it might get out of hand. I'll be watching them very closely.