Flawed but highly enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2015)

Star Wars Episode VII : The Force Awakens, directed by JJ Abrams, has its flaws which can quite obvious at times, but the film makes up for it in every other way.
The seventh movie in the Star Wars movie franchise (if you exclude the animated "Clone Wars" movie ) is the first Star Wars film I had the opportunity to see in the movie theater/cinema, and boy did I enjoy it. Abrams perfectly concocts a mixture of humour, action, drama and mystery. From start to finish you hardly have a chance to go to the toilet in case you miss something. The movie is perfectly paced, with the first few scenes setting up the rest of the movie.
In contrast with George Lucas' prequel trilogy, Abrams focuses more on the use of practical effects, while seamlessly incorporating CGI that makes the film look incredibly realistic and beautiful ( Bar the characters of Maz Kanata and Supreme Leader Snoke , who do tend to stick out ever so slightly ) .Beautiful locations like the desert planet of Jakku, the forests on Starkiller Base or the ending scene filmed on Skellig Michael make for a film that is incredibly pleasing on the eye.
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega steal the show as the newcomers to the Star Wars films. Both Rey and Finn are extremely well acted characters, no thanks to their acting skills and the great dialogue that was missing in the Prequel trilogy. Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver also put in great performances as Poe Dameron and Klyo Ren respectively. Poe,Finn and Rey all play off each other brilliantly and there is a believable relationship that they all form with one another ( Although I believe Poe and Rey are yet to meet ) The trio from the Original trilogy, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill reprise their rolls in TFA as Han Solo, General Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. Ford is in the film for much more than the Skywalker twins and he definitely steals the show. He seems happy to back playing Han Solo again and his ((( SPOILER ))) and his final scene with Kylo Ren//Ben Solo was incredibly emotional. Fisher returns to play Leia and although she does a fine job, there isn't much more you can say about her. Her acting feels slightly stiff at times but thankfully she isn't in the movie as much as Ford. Hamill on the other hand shows up for around 20 seconds at the end of the movie and has no dialogue, so...I can't really say much about him
I loved Kylo Ren as a villain . He has so much depth after one movie. He puts on his mask to appear threatening but underneath that mask he is a conflicted and impetuous . Abrams does a great job of showing that although he is an extremely powerful user of the dark side of the force, he is still a young boy with feelings and emotions. He even has a few lines that made me chuckle along the way.
The Lightsaber fight at the film's climax is dark,gritty and realistic. Kylo Ren, Finn and Rey look like they are actually fighting to survive rather than just dancing with flashy laserswords in an over-choreographed duel. No, these guys are hacking at each other, trying to land a fatal blow to their opponent. It is definitely one of my favorite duels of the 7 movies.
My biggest gripe with the movie is that it tends to re-use plot elements from A New Hope eg. Droid with vital information,another Death Star that can be blown up if hit in the right spot etc. I wish they would have gone in a slightly different direction with this film. Another nit-pick is that I feel Captain Phasma was underutilised, but hopefully we'll see more of her in Episode 8.
In conclusion, The Force Awakens is a very very good movie that will not only entertain you for a few hours, but also get you emotionally invested in the universe that is unfolding in the continuation of the Star Wars franchise. There are so many enjoyable aspects of this film that far outweigh the negatives. Star Wars Episode VII : The Force Awakens is a great movie that puts Star Wars back on the map.