Star Wars: The Force Awakens

There's been an awful trend in major blockbusters recently (Spectre, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Hobbit series) to cannibalise on the glory of their own past while failing to offer much that's new. Thankfully, director J.J. Abrams and his team at Disney have managed the herculean feat of paying a loving tribute to the original Star Wars trilogy whilst crafting a story that offers endlessly exciting possibilities and emotionally resonant characters.

The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events of Return Of The Jedi – the war between the Empire (now The First Order) and the Rebellion (now the Resistance) continues to escalate throughout the galaxy. Resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron's (played by the always excellent Oscar Isaac) droid holds a vital piece of information that leads to the whereabouts of the vanished Jedi, Luke Skywalker.

Each film has its own needs that must be met in order to be considered successful, and this goes beyond needs as vague as 'being good' or 'making a lot of money'. For The Force Awakens to be successful it doesn't need to live up to the hype because that's an impossible, not to mention unfair, expectation. Heck, it doesn't even need to be the best in a series that only has two out of six great films. No, what it needed to do was introduce us to a new trio that everyone fell in love with the same way  everyone loved Han, Luke and Leia, reintroduce the propulsive fun and adventurous spirit sorely lacking in the prequel movies, and have us all frothing at the mouth to see the next installment. And boy, does this film meet those needs and then some.

The acting across the board is impressive– John Boyega and Daisy Ridley are charismatic and delightful beyond belief as the heroes of the new trilogy. Oscar Isaac brings back the cowboy wit and swagger as hotshot Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, yet he never feels like a Han Solo stand-in – this guy is committed to his cause and his Resistance comrades, to an almost crazy degree.  Adam Driver as the new villain, Kylo Ren, is the most intriguing of the newcomers – at first he seems like another Darth Vader, but he's far more human and emotional than that, and his is the story that will be the most exciting to see develop. Harrison Ford... well rest assured, he isn't sleepwalking his way to a pay check here.

Star Wars has always been a series that cribs influence from both history and fiction, and The Force Awakens is no different – the Nazi imagery is cranked to 11 with The First Order, and there's a welcome dose of Miyazaki-inspired weirdness when it comes to the creature designs.

There were some flaws, to be sure – the space battles, while competently directed seemed weirdly anaemic, and yes, there is a third Death Star that only seems to exist so we can witness the aforementioned anaemic dogfights. It's not a flaw per se but the ending is sure to leave many disappointed – I found it to be one of the most restrained and emotional scenes in the whole saga, however.

It is a foregone conclusion that The Force Awakens will gross a zillion trillion dollars, but less certain was whether it would be a worthy successor to the original trilogy – it certainly is and is perhaps the third best installment. Bring on Episode VIII.