When George Lucas sees this...

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2015)

...he'll want to smash the prequels with a large sledgehammer. If he's honest about his work, that is. Now he has the time because he's not involved in Star Wars fist hand... and ostensibly enough money to buy an appropriately large devastating device.
Seeing this made me wish I never laid my eyes on the "CGI, pseudoscience and politics masturbation" that were the so called prequels. Because "The Force Awakens" is back to the roots for the franchise. There is the sense of adventure again, there is the sense of scope and the convincing journey from small to great for the main character. It also looks like the film again, not like a televised theater. Thanks to Mr. Abrams and the crew, they didn't let down by any means! The lengths they went to to make this as meaty and good and "starwars-ish" as it once used to be are obvious and only the most jaded fans, "traumatized" by recent experiences and firmly entrenched in their own preconceptions of what "their" franchise should be will disagree.
After scanning through some reviews here on IMDb, I can see that there are quite a lot of disappointed folks. Two main objections to the new film is that it's derivative ("ripoff") and that it has many illogical plot points ("stupid"). Well, excuse me, people, what show are we talking about? Show me one single episode of the "Star Wars" franchise that isn't both a ripoff and stupid, including the first one (or "fourth", if you will)! All are, but that fact didn't take anything off of the pleasure of seeing them until Mr. Lucas went overboard with his out-of-touch ideas of where to take the story next. It just goes to show that you can never please everyone, especially people who got exactly what they wanted but are so used to complaining by now that complaining entertains them more than the film itself.
In a way, this new outing does feel like "the best of Star Wars" compilation and it does feel like retelling of "A New Hope" with some elements from "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". However, Lucas himself had this concept of the trilogies "rhyming with each other" which makes it legitimate and it seems that the crew honored it well here. But there is a bigger purpose to that, because if this franchise is to be reinvigorated for a long period of time it has to put a firm statement of where it stands compared to the legacy. And the statement is "we're putting it back where it was when people were genuinely attracted to the whole thing". This is allowed by the position of this episode in the general timeline and made possible by the sure hand of a director that knows film-making inside out and is also clearly a fan.
And obviously, since new people do bring new ideas, many things from the lore are rethought and revised in a very refreshing way, and while you may not find it in the storyline, you'll certainly find it in little amusing details, my favorite being the scene where the new main villain has a fit of rage and his underlings quietly avoid him until he settles down. Yes, that's right: the characters finally feel like human beings again.
Is this all good for the future of "Star Wars"? In this age of remakes, sequels and reboots this franchise isn't a vanguard anymore and can't really open new frontiers. It now has to compete for the middle ground with a fiercely stiff competition. And despite its zealous following, I believe that ordinary audience sees it by now as something of a relic from a bygone era. Taking this as an advantage, and making it look and feel like it used to be, and refreshing it where it was needed, could be a good way to not only set it apart from other blockbusters but to retain respect for something that once made a profound cultural impact, and the production took solid steps in that direction. So, yeah, it's like restoration of a vintage car. And it works and it will still roll for quite some time.
All in all, "Star Wars" is really back. Back with all its poignance and back with all its silliness. And they do look good! I take two marks off of ten because... well, because it's "Star Wars"! It's my own thing, don't be bothered by it. I lost the taste for them a long time ago in a childhood far, far away. But I do admit that something in this made me feel like looking forward to sequels just like I did after I saw "Episode V" in cinema at the tender age of six.