Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2015)

I used to watch the original star wars movies over and over every chance I got as kid, never owned the VHS tapes but always managed to see the movies over x-mas on TV. I watched them way before I really understood most of the story and always wanted to be Luke Skywalker.
Of course when you get a bit older you start to pay attention to the story more and suddenly think Han Solo is the character you want to be.
I loved the original movies, I didn't mind the 3 newer movies at first with all the flashy fight scenes and next level force action. Over the years though I did tire of all the slow political garbage that really bogged those movies down. The 3rd movie probably being the best as things really started to happen after all the political setup from the prior movies.
Just saw Force Awakens last night and I have to say this was a fantastic movie that set a easy to watch pace with a relatively simple albeit re-used story line. A lot of pass over the part to a newer generation moments and was fully expecting to hate the new droid with the football for legs but I was so wrong. He was brilliant and had a lot of the silent qualities R2D2 provided in the original movies. Tons of fan service nostalgia moments and some genuinely laugh out loud moments and some heart wrenching moments.
The acting was spot on and Rey and Finn dynamic was brilliant. Seeing the detail of all the working parts for the Tie Fighters up close and the X-Wings showing some real agility and awesome combat. It was just great. The sense of scale to some of the scenes with crashed derelict empire star destroyers was astounding.
Loved it. Would place it up there after Empire Strikes back and New Hope in my books. Will Buy it when it comes out and enjoy it with a bunch of my friends round for pizza and beer.
When leaving the cinema there was definitely some mixed overheard opinions, some people saying "That was Fantastic" others "That was the worst Star Wars movie ever".
So its a bit of a marmite movie I suppose. One thing I would say is I avoided all trailers, all hype. Knew nothing about the movie or the actors. Just went in not really expecting anything. Maybe this is why I loved it so much more than the people who feel let down.