Near perfect, superb

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2016)

Are there really this many people that thought that Force Awakens was a 1/10? How is that a thing? That's like Gerard Butler levels of bad. Have you seen Olympus Has Fallen, now there's a 1/10 for you.
Yes, I grant you that the plot involving the Resistance was rather simple, and that the bad guys probably should have realized that Stormtroopers and Death Stars are not nearly as effective as they seem on paper, and that it doesn't really seem like Han Solo to misplace the Millennium Falcon, but frankly I don't care.
First of all, The Force Awakens is beautiful. That alone doesn't make a movie (or independent movies would be the only movies), but it helps. You can say all you like about directors like JJ Abrams as being uncool because they're part of the machine, but that man can make a movie that is a real feast for the eyes. Planets seen from space, derelict spacecraft in the desert, Tie Fighters approaching at sunset, and little things like wingtip vortices left as the Millennium Falcon ploughs through the atmosphere all make for a stunning picture of the universe we've all come to love.
The claims that this movie is a "farce" are really just silly because, though it was rife with callbacks and references to the original trilogy, they didn't seem intrusive to me, they never took me out of the story.
The characters were great, too. Rey and Finn were captivating characters played by excellent young actors. These two as well as Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, and BB-8 integrated seamlessly with the old characters and had great banter-filled dialogue with them. Frankly if there was one character who wasn't quite up to par, it was the slightly wooden Princess Leia.
Speaking of dialogue, this movie was really funny. As ever Han and Chewy were great particularly when joined by the youngsters, and Poe's wit often brought reminisces of a younger Harrison Ford.
Finally, and I've never taken film studies so I don't know exactly how to characterize this, but the movie just FEELS good. I expect its a mix of writing, pacing, characters, plot, cinematography, and a dozen other things that I don't know the names for, but they make the FEEL of the movie for me. If you watch something really horrible, like an action movie that takes itself too seriously (most anything with Mr. Butler in it), it just feels off. But The Force Awakens feels perfect, the aesthetic and the characters and so many other things make it feel like the original trilogy again (as opposed to the feelings we all know from the prequels, sorry George). It feels like the way I felt watching movies as a kid, I feel like I could watch it over and over again like I used to with VHS rentals when I was little. I can't exactly justify it, but the movie really stayed with me, and as goofy as some aspects of the plot seem, I just really, really loved it.
I've watched The Force Awakens three times now, and I still just love the heck out of it. I know there are those of you who hold the original trilogy sacred, but for me, TFA is nipping at Jedi's heels. I can't wait for more!