Safety in nostalgia (Minor spoiler alert)

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2016)

Great sci-fi movies are things of wonder. Think Blade Runner, the original Terminator or indeed Episode III - A New Hope. Alas the Force Awakens falls well short of any of these classic theatre fillers.
With modern production comes stunning visuals, it should be expected. This element of the film cannot be faulted with a superb blend of new and old techniques. The cartoon feel of the last three movies is gone, you are fully immersed in the Star Wars universe.
*Minor spoiler alert* So far so good, all we need now is a plot and a dose of great story telling. Shouldn't be a problem with the emotional investment we all have in these characters should it? Well there you would be entirely wrong. Hans Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca almost look placed in to the scenes with a desire only to bring authenticity rather than development. Our new 'heroes' are frankly a bit wooden. The idea of Finn and his place in the story is a sound one but Rey lacks any depth for you to really care about what happens to her. As for our main villain Kylo Ren, well I was only really terrified when he took off his mask to reveal 'that' hair do.
So what we're left with is a massive dose of nostalgia, delivered with visual dexterity but falling flat on characters. There is little in fresh ideas on display. A robot ball can hardly be classified as new or interesting. This is Star Wars greatest hits if you will. I enjoyed it for what it was but it's too reverential to it's past and has clearly been created to lay the path for future episodes. Let's hope they will have those shackles removed.
As I write this the movie is rated 8.4 on IMDb meaning it ranks alongside The Shining. Oh dear, that's mass hysteria for you.