The saga rolls on with probably the most interesting choice of director at the helm, previously responsible for seriously off-centre thrillers such as
Brick and
Looper, and for the most part the choice works. There is far more tonality in this than in the last one, ranging from more epic battles than ever seen before to moments of proper calm and some truly surprising twists, albeit that too large a debt is still paid to the original trilogy with scenes like the Rey-Snoke confrontation towards the end. The occasionally excruciating dialogue of previous instalments has also been almost completely excised, although, again as a minus, cutesy creatures that serve no purpose have been reintroduced, and that's clearly the inseparable merchandising to kids to blame. And at two and a half hours, a far larger core cast to accommodate than the original three had, even without Han Solo around, there are irritatingly many diversions and plotlines.
But these are largely quibbles. It looks stunning, even for Star Wars, and the leads, Adam Driver's conflicted young Vader wannabe and Mark Hamill's Luke now as a convincing Gandalf figure who knows he's on his last ride in particular, hold your attention quite effortlessly. J.J. Abrams had better not undo the good work done overall when he returns next time around.
7/10
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