Could have and should have been better...

Rating: 6/10 (18 December 2015)

The ending to this messy, nostalgic nonsense brought home the fact that J.J. Abrams really does know better. So why doesn't he ever DO better in his movies? One of the things that made the first trilogy immortal was Lucas's epic focus on simplicity, gathering us around relatively uncomplicated characters and scenes stretched out into longer scenes and eventually, before you know it, the whole movie was over and imprinted on our souls forever. And this movie also proves that the golden age of casting is in the past for Hollywood. The lead chick in this future Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects does little more than cutesy her way through, uninterestingly, from beginning to end. Albeit she was definitely part of the glue that held this thing together, the other part being HARRISON FORD. Of the old actors that make their appearance, he is the one who still has the old magic on screen, proving that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg once knew exactly what they were doing. What story there is here just falls flat until the very, very end, when we are briefly, and impressively, reminded of why we still care about Star Wars in the first place.