Style over substance

Rating: 3/10 (11 February 2019)

This was the first Star Wars film that I left the cinema feeling extremely underwhelmed. From the opening scrawl telling us that there is a mission to find Luke to when he finally appears, right at the end of the movie, there is just emptiness.
I was looking forward the great legendary Jedi being epic and what do we get? A beard on a windy island.
The story is a complete rehash of the original Star Wars which became known as Episode 4 A New Hope. Well, all hope has run out on this new trilogy. Absolutely no originality whatsoever. The effects were great but the story was drivel.
The Rey character was ridiculous and the black dude, Finn, is an overt coward. Finn makes no sense whatsoever. He is supposed to be a hardened highly trained stormtrooper that was schooled in soldiering from a very young age. What we see is a guy who suddenly gets a conscience, despite the years of ardent brainwashing and development of warrior brotherhood, resulting in him going AWOL. Whenever his soldier skills are needed he is utterly useless. Later on he tells us he was actually a janitor. Rey on the other hand is so kick ass it is astounding. And she is instantly epic in everything she does.
Han Solo is turned into a failed father who has not progressed in life at all. The only memorable thing about Princess Leia is her frozen face. It seems botox in a galaxy far, far away is as obvious there as it is here.
Yes, the film is stylish. Unfortunately, it's just a very poor rehash of the original and fails miserably in its girl power banality.