Excels as a Thrill Ride, but that's about it!

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2016)

If you haven't seen The Force Awakens yet, then go now, this is your last chance. The Force Awakens is a film everyone wants to spoil, and they've done a good job, I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but you can't review this film without some getting through.
As we all know the original Star Wars films were without a doubt the best, they were fun and easy to watch, even if Episode VI was a little silly, then the prequels came along and divided the fanbase with their endless political talk and drab acting, but then again, they brought impressive lightsaber battles and admittedly rather nice looking CGI, and while you can bash the hell out of Episode I as much as you like, Episode II and III were still pretty strong instalments.
Now Episode VII is here to show us that Star Wars still has enough originality to make a worthy sequel to the original trilogy, did it succeed?, well, um, not really!
Don't get me wrong, I like Episode VII, but where originality goes, there's barely any here at all, this film's plot is a mash-up of the plots from Episodes IV, V and VI. There are new characters sure, and new set pieces, but the plot, the action scenes and even the climax all transmit that seen-it-all-before feeling.
These new characters are rather unmemorable too, Finn is a very shallow character who gives up in one shot and then fights for justice in the next. Rey accomplishes what Luke and Anakin took two films to do in half the running time, and the old characters have lost the appeal that made them classic characters in the first place. Positively Shocking!
But there are actually things I enjoyed about the Force Awakens, for example, this film is full of brilliant action sequences such as the falcon being chased by the first order, and the films rather brilliant climax, but there are moments that I rather dislike however, such as the scene with the Rathtar which not only manages to be a directional mess as well as introducing a pointless creature for the sake of it, but is also just not Star Wars.
While the plot is very unoriginal, it does have that sense of epicness that was missing from Return of the Jedi, as well as the first two prequels, but it's strong with this film, you feel the epicness of the plot and you know when the climax has begun because you feel the tension rise extremely quickly. The climax is the best thing about this film, even if it is completely unoriginal.
One thing I feel I must mention, and I don't want to say any more bad stuff about this film, but this needs to be mentioned, is just how poorly this film establishes what happened during the 30 year gap between Return of the Jedi and the Force Awakens. The film mentions why Luke ran away and abandoned where ever the hell he was, and we're given an explanation as to why, but it's not explained well at all leading to a lot of plot holes which didn't need to be there if the writing was just a little better.
But if I can say one thing, I feel this film sets up Episode VIII really well. I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of this trilogy because it looks like they're going to do something really awesome with it, it certainly doesn't look like another prequel trilogy.
So Overall... The Force Awakens is good for a thrill, but that's it. The characters new and old come across as rather dull and uninteresting, the plot is almost completely unoriginal and the continuity is either absent or baffling. But because of it's action scenes, lightsaber battles, and impressive direction, not to mention a great cast, I can't say I dislike this film, but if I had to rank it with all the others, I'd put it in-between Episode II and Episode VI. The Force Awaken does a good job as a thrill ride, but not really as much else. (7/10)
*Final Spoilery Note: Where the hell was Lando Calrissian during this film, and why did R2-D2 only appear during the final 5 minutes? disappointing!