Jake C

Not as God awful as some of the most recent Disney Star Wars movies, but criticism by many who say these films are just an exercise in carefully chosen demographic minority appeal, as opposed to ground breaking filmmaking, will not have gone away. That said, the movie has some interesting moments. Mark Hamill has never been better as Luke Skywalker, and Adam Driver, as Kylo Ren, is commendably menacing. Daisy Ridley ,as Rey, has finally been given a script which at least begins to stretch her obvious acting talent. The meandering plot is largely intelligible, whilst not always being intelligent. Some of the best scenes are between Rey and Luke on the beautifully remote island, wherever it's meant to be (somewhere off the coast of Ireland I believe). Discussions between the two of what the force is, has some credibility, in terms of the power and intrigue of the original trilogy. The obscure relationship between Rey and Kylo ren is also interestingly played out. The rest is largely forgettable. Large explosions, fights in space ,between the rebels and the First Order, or whatever they're calling it now. One of the most ridiculous scenes involves Princess Leia being blown in to space, floating around, then floating back after a short rest in deep space, thus, not only contravening the laws of physics, but overcoming death itself. Overall, the best thing about this movie is that the lack of Hollywood originality with regard to Science Fiction is at least about to come to a merciful end. Until that is, the next multi billion dollar spin off, which will do it all over again. Some will like it, many will hate it, and a tiny minority, who don't know any better, will think it's the best thing they've ever seen.