Star Wars Is Back!!! (with some casting and story issues)

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2015)

The seventh entry in the Star Wars saga accomplishes its most important task. It recaptures the spirit and the feeling of the original trilogy. The use of CGI is sparse, only really obvious when viewing planets and the main evil weapon from space and when looking at cavernous depths inside huge structures. Like in the originals, this gives the movie a sense of realism and relatability clearly lacking in the prequels. Gone are the feats of force use that made lightsaber wielders move at ridiculous speeds in the prequels and we're back to paced duels that hearken to those between Luke and Darth Vader. Gone also are the ship to ship jumps that Anakin made simply to unnerve Obi-Wan. The force-wielders here are not gods battling gods, their danger seems much more palpable.
The movie goes even further to capture some of what I felt when I played Knights of the Old Republic. For example, the Wookie rifle, I really can't recall the in-game name, is one of the best, if not the best, long distance weapons in that game. And, the concept of having force-induced flashbacks and insights when touching an object like the lightsaber gave me uncanny emotional flashbacks of Knights of the Old Republic 2 (with the restored content of course).
The movie also succeeds in introducing us to our new generation of heroes and relating them to the old heroes we love. Both Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) are a triumph of casting and believability, and, while BB-8 isn't R2-D2 yet, they did a great job with him too. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is amazing in this outing, easily his best and that's saying something. The script seemed to make Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) play somehow a bit off because we don't see any comic relief or great feats from him even though he seems to be in it for the long haul, but it's still a satisfying performance. The movie allows Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) to be more awe inspiring here than in any of the originals while keeping her at a suitable screen-time that still allows our new heroes to develop. She's Obi- Wan and Princess Leia rolled into one. Outstanding. Of Luke (Mark Hamill) I won't say anything except to say that the producers really took us for a ride with the promotional guess work. Finally Oscar Isaac (as Poe Dameron) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) don't get much to work with but they turn in good performances for what they get to do.
Now to the not so good parts. What's up with this New Order? Storywise they seem to have sprung up up out of nowhere. The explanation for their existence is flimsy at best. And why are the good guys called the Resistance when they are simply the New Republic's (the Senate's) army? I realize Luke went missing but why should there be such utter incompetence in his absence that a force like the New Order is allowed to gain power?
Voldemort, err sorry, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) is a huge question mark (as well as literally ridiculously huge) and a complete whatever in the whole scheme. Who is he? Why does he take title- naming advice from North Korean dictators? Considering that Sith traditionally take new names, why did he name himself Snoke? I've heard names more scary in cartoons for toddlers. Is he even a Sith? He has no Darth title and neither does his disciple who seems to be the head of some (unseen) commando force called the Ren Knights (if I remember correctly).
Speaking of which, Adam Driver is a disaster as Kylo Ren. It's the miscasting of the century. The way his character is written isn't that bad (except for the temper tantrums) but his performance is just cringeworthy. Mr. Driver seems to suffer from the antithesis of gravitas which is unforgivable when playing the main antagonist. He has nothing on Hayden Christensen. Every time he took off that ridiculous (unexplained) mask I thought of Rick Moranis in Spaceballs. But, of course, while Mr. Moranis was in on the joke, Mr. Driver seems to think he can be taken seriously.
Yet another miscasting is Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux in a performance that attempted to channel Peter Cushing's masterful Grand Moff Tarkin, but only succeeded in underscoring that Mr. Gleeson is certainly not Mr. Cushing. For a split second after he gives his big speech I thought the stormtroopers would laugh at him.
I sincerely hope both General Hux and Kylo Ren blew up and died, but I don't think we'll be that lucky regardless of how badly placed in the editing the scene that establishes the possibility of their survival may have been. Plus, of course, apparently Kylo Ren is the figure that must be redeemed in this trilogy. If we are to be subjected to their pathetic excuses for acting I seriously hope Mr. Driver gets a voice and acting coach or that at least he gets voiceovered by a better actor when he's wearing the mask in the next installment. In fact, I hope all three things happen. As to General Hux, Supreme Leader Snoke should force-choke him instead of behaving like the cuddling idiot he seems to be. There's no overarching reason to keep him around after he delivers Ren to wherever Snoke keeps that hideous (stone?) throne.
I realize those issues are not minor and would normally warrant a rating lower than an 8/10. But, the good aspects of this movie are so good that they more than make up for the bad. I hope the next one builds heavily on the good.