Nostalgia only goes so far

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2015)

Like a never ending tube of toothpaste the star wars franchise just never stops giving and this episode was no exception. Its minty fresh goodness left a lovely taste in my mouth and a smile on my face as my buddies and I left the movie theatre, which these days I feel is becoming quite the rarity.
The movie did well to combine cakey nostalgic goodness with a sprinkling of a few fresh ideas. The return of Han, Chewy, C3PO and co. worked well with new characters Finn, Rey, and Poe. Together with the Millennium Falcon and numerous homages to bygone characters this truly felt like an episode that belonged in the series.
Although the beginning set up a fairly predictable and basic storyline, I loved how it played out. The dodgy predator-style-face-branded storm trooper losing his nerve and the sand dwelling poor metal scavenger girl, felt like familiar Disney characters whilst sticking within the rendering of past movies. Daisy Ridley (as Rey) is sublime and reminded me of a girl version of young Anakin Skywalker, you know that sand dwelling poor metal scavenger (pod racing) boy. Poe on the other hand is a badass Zoro- super-pilot (who can fly anything) with awesome Red Arrows style aerial combat scenes that left me whipping my fingers like Ali-G.
The remainder of the movie has more familiar space battles, beautiful scenic planets, strange species' hanging out in a bar, holograms and weird bad guys in husky-voice inducing masks and is thoroughly entertaining (with just the right amount of 80's cheesy jokes) and absorbing all the way through. Basically a movie I'd highly recommend (and if you don't want to know the bad stuff you can stop reading now, but then again).
Unfortunately, the teat of nostalgia can only feed for so long and so this also becomes the movie's greatest flaw. The plot felt lazy, the bad guy was basically a sloppy Darth with a bigger Death Star (penis envy much?) and the death of Han felt like a mandatory plot twist that was so obviously predictable my friend and I whispered it to each other at the same time 3 mins before it happened!
Why did R2D2 just randomly wake up 10 mins before the end of the film? And why is "he" the only one with a map of the galaxy to hand? surely if they have speed of light travel they have Google maps? If he had done that when BB8 first came to say hello  *sigh* seemed like a loose end they turbulently tied up before the end of the film. I would have much rather they left that loose and picked it up and developed it as a full arc in the next movie. Also, how does the untrained sand dwelling poor metal scavenger girl beat a highly trained Sith in a Lightsaber battle!? How does she just suddenly HAVE the Jedi mind trick when she wakes up one morning (all shackled to her bed)? How did Ren not sense Han's presence? Was it just me or did anyone else think Ren was like a teenage boy who missed his (grand) daddy and had serious anger issues (I mean talk about throwing his toys out of the cot/at his computers!)?
Lastly, did anyone else think General Hux's speech before the attack on the Hosnian Star system seemed very Nuremberg Rally-esque  The Red and black flags in the background, troops all lines up in front, the Führer like screaming and close-ups in his dodgy uniform and to top it all off the Nazi-style salute at the end of it?? I'm not sure if that was what they were going for
I loved the aesthetic of the movie, it looked great, the music was engrossing, costumes were impeccable and the 3D was smart (I actually found myself dodging and swerving a few times!). My friend joked that this movie (like most movies touting the illusion of political correctness today) was basically just episode four with girls, old people and a black guy and perhaps the next one will have some Asians and a disabled character too, but I disagree. I think the casting was great, well thought out and each actor played his or her role brilliantly and believably.
Overall, I left feeling like I'd spent my money well (I actually managed to get a discount off my ticket too!). I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it. If you haven't seen the others then watch them in the Machete order and then watch this, I think you'll really enjoy it! So, here's to eagerly awaiting episode VIII where hopefully Finn will be the new Han Solo and Ray will probably be related somehow to Anakin/Luke Skywalker/Leia/Hans/Ren &/or Jar-Jar just kidding.