Flicks, Steve Newall
To exit the cinema with not just a sense of relief but joyous excitement says it all. The Force Awakens immediately transports its audience into a Star Wars universe both familiar and mysterious, and from there director J.J. Abrams delights in introducing new characters and working through a roll call of familiar faces. Sure, at times the fan service gets a little heavy, and you can almost picture Abrams working through a checklist of things to include, but these are minor quibbles for a franchise which has already seen George Lucas cannibalise his own ideas several times over - not to mention ramming characters into shot in order to sell toys.
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