Not as good as the originals, but light years better than the prequels

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2015)

Another decade has past and J.J. Abrams, resurrector of franchises, has come to take his swing at bringing back a sense of movie magic to Star Wars. Did he succeed? I don't know yet. It's hard to judge such a hyped movie after a first viewing and this one leaves me with mixed, but positive feelings after watching it.
I liked the new characters introduced in the movie and their acting was great (especially compared to the returning stars) and this fact leaves me with a lot of hope for the upcoming episodes. The movie also had a real sense of 'fun' to it which is good. Even if it's a dark subject matter at times it's also a fantastical and for many people uplifting story at the core of it. Sometimes I felt it was a bit too much fun but this is one of the things that will probably settle with further viewings.
Onto the things I did not like as much. I thought the movie lost some of it's pacing a bit into the story. This might have had something to do with the weight all the intertwined characters and personal developments placed on the movie, I think that was the case at least, but this is also something I think will improve in the upcoming movies.
In the end it's the Star Wars we probably needed right now. It's nowhere near the originals, but it's also light years from the prequels, and it sets us off on a journey towards a greater saga in episode eight and nine as well as within the extended universe.