A Supercharged thrill Ride

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2016)

Star Wars The Force Awakens is the seventh movie in the Sci-Fi franchise and sees the return of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, as Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia respectively. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan, JJ Abrams and Michael Ardnt, with direction provided by JJ Abrams.
The Republic are desperate to obtain and decipher a galactic map that will lead to the whereabouts of the last remaining Jedi Knight........Luke Skywalker. Skywalker vanished, some thirty years earlier, following the destruction of the last Death Star and with it the Empire. However, The First Order who have risen from the ashes are keen to finish the task started by Darth Vader and destroy Skywalker and the Republic for ever.
Resistance pilot Poe (Oscar Isaac) meets village elder Loe (Max von Syddow) to collect the much sought-after map. Poe is captured however, when Storm troopers, led by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), storm the village.
Ren tortures Poe, who reveals that his droid, BB8 now has the map, but as no idea of it's whereabouts. Stormtrooper (John Boyega), a conscientious objector, frees Poe, who gives him the name Finn. Finn and Poe steal a Tie Fighter and escape. The craft crashes on Jakku and Finn appears to be the only survivor. However, he comes across Rey (Daisy Ridley) and BB8 and barely have enough time to become acquainted before coming under air attack from Ren's Storm troopers. The three flee for their lives in a stolen, battered old space ship.......The Millennium Falcon. The Falcon is captured by a much larger craft, piloted by Solo and his faithful servant Chewbacca. Solo explains how Skywalker attempted to rebuild The Order of the Jedi. But vanished when a student turned to the Dark Side and destroyed all his work. A gang board the Falcon and demand that Solo settle an old debt. However, they manage to banish the gang and escape. The group are disappointed when they discover that BB8 only holds part of the map they seek The bunch travel to the planet Takodana, were they meet with Maz (Lupita Nyong'o), who can help get BB8 to the resistance. Rey wanders off and finds a chest.........a chest that contains Skywalker's old light saber and the first real link to the last Jedi Knight.
I was a little apprehensive about seeing this movie, after all, it's the first by Disney Studios . I needn't have worried. Star Wars: The Force Awakens delivers on all fronts. The sets are impressive and the action sequences cleverly handled. I haven;t been as charged up for a Star Wars movie since I saw the original back in th 70's. With a strong script that contains, as you'd expect, snippets of humour and top drawer direction from Abrams. The movie picks you up and takes you on thrill ride until a most memorable closing sequence, brings it to a stop. If you still haven't seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, do so, your in for a treat.