Not Much New Here

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2016)

The story is a rehash of all the episodes that went before with some exception: the Bad Guys are now called The First Order led by the Supreme Leader Snoke played by Andy Serkis. The main premise centers on finding Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) so that he cannot lead a rebellion against the First Order. Luke had gone into seclusion.
The only reason to watch this movie is to enjoy the CGI which is again spectacular. Nothing is really new except for the young scavenger girl Rey played by Daisy Ridley and she is pretty and a breath of fresh air in a series that truly needs it.
Of course, the First Order has a weapon that uses the power of the sun to destroy the Republic led by General/Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). The main fallacy here is that had the First Order used the weapon and destroyed the Republic and didn't concentrate on finding Luke, well, that would have been that and end of story. But they didn't and well, you know the good guys -- ( Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) -- will find a way to destroy the First Order. Hey, it's in the script. (You waited on that one, eh?)
There are some almost good lines between Han Solo and Chewbacca and sometimes Rey. Han Solo does comment on Princess Leia's hair (he likes it this way) that was atrocious in previous Star Wars movies. We learn that the General under Supreme Leader Snoke is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) who happens to be the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia. Who knew? (I believe you fell asleep in previous stories) Yes, that is true, the never ending battles and explosions all over the galaxy have that tendency to put me into la la land. This time the battles didn't last as long and that was a good thing.
Something that was disappointing was the voice of General Kylo Ren. We expected it to be more along the lines of Darth Vader back in the day. But he sounded more like a Brooklynite who happened to be in charge of Storm Troopers in the First Order. (yes, we expected something more commanding along Darth Vader's voice especially with the Mask on.) One other thing that may or may not be true, but sometimes I had the feeling that some conversations were dubbed. Could have been just me, but
If one had never seen previous Star Wars movies this movie will be excellent and quite enjoyable, but for others we saw a rehash of previous versions, nothing really new and it's just the same with the good guys going after the bad guys that included spectacular CGI to include outstanding cinematography. (7/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.