Off to a good start, the movie for all it’s faults is certainly better than the prequels.

So problems –

Luke, sorry Ray is stuck on a desert planet that looks so much like Tatooine that only the name has changed. She lives a hand to mouth existence and yet is capable of dressing both well and is a similar way to Luke in the first movie.

More on Ray, She learns the force truly does exist from Obi Wan Solo and five minutes later seems to be extremely proficient in it.

Fin or Finn. Why does he suddenly break free of his programming. I want to know more about this character. (ok not a problem, but it feels somehow incomplete. I hope we get more back story later.)

The arch villain, what was his name, Darth Malfoy or something? Felt like he was straight out of the Harry Potter movies and had a temperament to match.

The movie felt very much like a rehash of the original trilogy. They even have a new Death Star. Its the size of a planet this time and has trees growing on it. It can destroy many planets without moving – someone has been reading E.E. doc Smith.

Talking of which, how did a crevasse that size appear between two people who mere moments earlier were fighting face to face.

So, Darth Malfoy survives. Obi Wan Solo sacrifices himself to the big bad and the Death Star is destroyed. although admittedly Ray Skywalker wasn’t flying the ship.

Here another thing.

The heros infiltrate the base in order to blow a hole in part of the Death Star so that the fighter craft can fly in. So when the attack begins we see the pilots shot at from external turrets that must’ve been located inside the building. Hmm.

All in all still an entertaining movie, but I would have preferred something that was more original and not just a rehash of old idea from the popular era of the series. Seriously if I hadn’t gone to the cinema to see it, I might have thought I was watching fan fiction.

I hated the fact that once I realized where they had gotten their idea from I was able to predict roughly what would happen next by what key events we hadn’t seen yet. – We haven’t had to Obi Wan sacrifice yet, I’m guessing that’ll be Solo.

Surprised to see only Solo die, since it’s common to introduce the old heroes so they can be removed to make way for the new cast while adding some small modicum of officiality.

My final point. Instead of the plans of the Death Star, the whole story line revolved around the location of Luke. Seriously!!!

So Luke disappears and he doesn’t even tell his own sister where he’s going. He just leave behind a small piece of a map in one droid and a large starmap with that one piece missing in another…

I’ll Admit that after Skyfall and even A Quantum of Solace, I was in two minds about going and seeing this. I wanted to because it was Bond, but I was hesitant because Skyfall in particular as such and awful movie and following as it did on the heels of that monstrosity called a Quantum of Solace, I was beginning to think that the golden age of Bond had ended with Casino Royale (the Craig version)

So What did I think?

Bond Is Back!

Were there problems?

Oh yes, lots of problems, but when a movie is good enough it’s very easy to overlook a few minor details and enjoy the movie as a whole.

I’ll admit I always struggle with characters who can’t see thing right in front of them. I guess the idea is for the audience to feel superior, but to me it just makes the characters seem stupid. On the other hand I suppose that the main character can’t really react to something without proof, after all he is the good guy.

Hopefully we’ll see more of Blofeld in future movies. After all, you don’t spend three movies setting the scene and then introduce the character just for him to be caught and forgotten about, and I think the key point here is that he was caught and not killed.

Looking forward to the next one, which I would never have said after Skyfall.

One final note. – I wonder if they’re going to be replacing Craig with another actor soon. He’s looking a bit old  and he has been doing Bond for about 10 years (as I write this)