A welcome return to classic form

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2015)

Zero spoiler review. I can describe how I feel about this movie in 8 words: I can't wait to see what happens next. I sure as hell never said that after any of the prequel movies. This is a proper Star Wars sequel, full of adventure, excitement, and most importantly, fun. The characters are roundly endearing, the story is roller-coaster paced, and the setup for the next movie is perfectly executed by plot points that leave behind a lot of mystery. This is how mythos is built, just like in the original movies. This movie contains a lot of nostalgia and callbacks to the originals, but they all feel natural and organic, and it has a heck of a lot of new stuff too. The visual effects are inventive and look incredible (and very importantly for those of us who hated the artificial look and style of the prequels, everything looks authentic), and the musical score is appropriately rousing. The bottom line for Star Wars fans: not as good as The Empire Strikes Back, and nothing can ever capture the magic of the original Star Wars that started it all, but this is a solid third best in the series, much better than the awkward Return Of The Jedi and light years ahead of the soulless prequels. Coming in third to heavyweights like the first two movies is no knock, and it's one of the best movies of 2015. Big thumbs up.