Hard to evaluate

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2015)

This is one though movie to rate. Well, perhaps I shall start by saying that walking out out the theater, I found myself well entertained and I enjoyed the two or so hours spent so my impression is a positive one, but there were a couple of things that were also bothering me about "The Force awakens". Thinking about it a bit more, the movie, ultimately, feels unnecessary to the whole saga, but that is perhaps because it's more of an introduction to the new trilogy itself. Regardless of that, the movie plays things far too safe and is, as you surely already have heard or read, a rehash of "Star Wars" for the most part. There are so many parallels that I've keep wondering how the makers decided to run with it without the feeling of cheating preventing them to do so. It suffers from the opposite problems of the prequels, as weirdly as it may sound.
It does provide plenty of fun however. When you hear the evil, robotic voice mentioning the dark side of the force, the characteristic laser-guns blasting around or see the old cast and props it's hard not to feel nostalgic. It gives the movie the charm that the prequels were sorely lacking, however it all feels too "borrowed" and not earned in it's own right.
From a pure technical aspect, it is exceptionally well done. The dialog, acting, the scenery and visuals are all great and feel in-tune with the original trilogy. They nailed the look. There is plenty of CGI, but it has more of a organic feel to it and it's not so in-your-face. There is some nice humor too which is refreshing since the prequel trilogy was desperately lacking in that regard. And considering how many characters and story-lines it had to balance out, it managed to do extraordinary well considering it's run-time.
So yeah, I quite liked it and found it to be entertaining - which, in the end is what matters most, but it is undeniable that it doesn't do anything new or different enough. I don't think fans wanted a step for step remake when they were disappointed with the prequel trilogy, but I do think that it needs episodes 8 and 9 to be fully evaluated. I won't rate it until then.