Saw it on Thursday, had a jolly good time. Not a perfect Star Wars movie for me, but very good, in the range of 90 percent.

My nitpicks: The big bad didn't do it for me (Who is he? What is his motivation?); Gwendoline Christie was criminally underused; Rey from zero to hero a little too fast (although that is very Star Wars-y); a little more explanation would have been nice, for example, what is the relationship between Republic and Resistance?

But on the plus side, we had great action (space battles!), it all looked and more importantly felt very Star Wars, the actors did very good jobs. And we are set up for more! I'll go see it a second time tonight and I am looking forward to it.

Was I the only one who got the impression that none of the "main" characters (Finn, Rey, Ren) had anything more than a basic understanding of lightsaber combat? It looked to me as if they had given a couple of ten year olds sticks and told them to beat one another with them... Hopefully that's intentional...

Well, for Finn and Rey it makes perfect sense, as neither of them had ever held a lightsaber prior to the film; in game terms they'd be using their raw Brawn when making combat checks.

As for Kylo Ren, he certainly didn't have the level of training that the Jedi of the prequels had, with the only known Jedi Master (Luke) himself not having a high degree of training; most of Luke's prowess was sheer innate talent and on-the-job training, And given how devastating a lightsaber can be against most opponents, it's not like Kylo needed a lot of finesse to deal with the majority of the opposition he'd be facing.

One other thing I forgot to mention was the imagery involved. George Lucas has mentioned that he drew a lot of inspiration for Star Wars from WWII films and I think they captured that here as well. The First Order rally could have just as easily been going down in Nazi Germany. The Stormtroopers leaving their transports reminded me of soldiers leaving their landing craft as they stormed the beaches of Normandy.

I also agree with others that having starfighter battles on the planet made them more interesting. Since I had just been reading a thread about the planetary to personal scale in the FFG rules it was a nice coincidence to see this play out on the screen.

And in keeping with the "everything is the same but different" theme, we got to see TIE Fighters and X-Wings that were both clearly more capable than their earlier versions but without being some over-the-top crazy-looking things. I thought adding gunners to the TIEs was a nice upgrade to their capabilities.

Most fun I've had at the movies in a while. Thoughts:

• Title : Every Star Wars title so far has been absolutely literal - except this one. Can anyone explain this to me? How did the Force 'awaken', exactly?
• Repetition of Themes/Events : Didn't bother me much. This movie is all about getting to know the new flock. Now that we do, let's wind 'em up and let 'em go in Episode VIII.
• The New Flock : Love 'em. I could watch these guys for days. Hux maybe seems a little young for his position, but he still pulled it off.
• Han : Great fun, and a necessary conclusion. Pity we'll never have that Han/Luke reunion scene, though.
• Luke : Poor Mark had to live with that beard for weeks, just for 15 seconds of screen time. Still he looked great, and conveyed a great deal without saying a word.
• Leia : Same thing. I've seen so many interviews with these guys, but so few recent screen performances, that I think I kind of forgot they were actors ! And yes, they've still got chops.
• Snoke : Looks like he walked in from Middle Earth. Not impressed so far, but we'll see how it goes.
• Starkiller Base : I'm gonna need one of y'all to steal me the plans for this thing, because I just don't get it. It's a planet with a superweapon built into it, and it kills the star to shoot the weapon. Okay, so now the star is gone, so what happens to your planet/weapon?
• Dialogue : It's hard not to giggle a bit when people say things like, "I bypassed the compressor", but Star Wars has always had this problem. Other than that, no obvious howlers like, "you are in my very soul, tormenting me" here.
• Music : Does the job, nothing too memorable. When I was a kid, we'd walk home from Star Wars singing the 'TIE Fighter Attack' music. There's nothing like that here. Mind you, every Star Wars soundtrack has been a little bit not-as-good as the one that came before it. Except maybe RotS, which still might take my bottom spot.

All in all, 8/10!

Most fun I've had at the movies in a while. Thoughts:

• Title : Every Star Wars title so far has been absolutely literal - except this one. Can anyone explain this to me? How did the Force 'awaken', exactly?

I can only assume this was a reference to Rey and her "awakening" force powers. Or perhaps it's a metaphore for the 'true' Jedi to return, though if things follow to their natural conclusion, the awakening should happen in Ep VIII

Loved the movie but agree that it redid too much. I hope that is the last super weapon we see for a while. It did its job of ending the republic by apparently taking out the senate and much of the republic's fleet. My guess is the remaining elements of the republic military join with the resistance by Ep VIII.

I also think the movie could have used a little more CGI. The best aliens were the CGI ones.

Love the new characters. I loved that Han died. Great character but it was time.

Put this movie in the same class as the PT, great movies but a notch below the OT.

Oh I am very disappointed with Captain Phasma. Not her underuse but her agreeing to lower the shields so easily. So much for her loyalty to the First Order.

• If Rey is the daughter of Luke we will need an explanation of who her mother was and why he left her on Jakku.
• And not some throwaway line to explain it like they did with Anakin and his father for her. Now we may very well get more of the story in the upcoming movies which would be good if so.
• If Luke put Rey into hiding, with Lor San Tekka I think, then why do so if he was already going into hiding? He could have hidden and protected her while raising her.
• If they are siblings it would similar but different conflict to the father/son one of the OT.
• She could have been a survivor of Kylo's turn to the Dark side, daughter or not. Hence why she has the vision of the Knights and Luke. Possibly a prodigal child brought in to Luke's school at about the time of the turn.

Just some thoughts.

Was I the only one who got the impression that none of the "main" characters (Finn, Rey, Ren) had anything more than a basic understanding of lightsaber combat? It looked to me as if they had given a couple of ten year olds sticks and told them to beat one another with them... Hopefully that's intentional...

I certainly hope so!

I hated how clean all the fighting looked in the prequels. I love that novice, messy fighting. It feels more real, more grit. It was one of my favorite parts of the new film. I was really worried that JJ would give us more flash that substance, but he delivered great sequences that didn't overplay the lightsabers.

Also, Stormtroopers are scary finally! After being portrayed as bumbling idiots for -years- in the media and their one scene of glory at the beginning of A New Hope. That first scene of them storming the village and pretty much executing the people there with very few casualties. It makes me feel vindicated, when in the RPG one or two squads is a HUGE obstacle for the party.

Yes, Phasma was completely and utterly a non-entity after her intimidating scene with Finn in the shuttle. I really hope she made it off StarKiller Base.

My biggest gripe is the fact Rey goes from a scrappy scavenger who is a good pilot, to being kind of a mid-level padawan in the span of the film with very little on-screen explanation.

Also, Stormtroopers are scary finally! After being portrayed as bumbling idiots for -years- in the media and their one scene of glory at the beginning of A New Hope. That first scene of them storming the village and pretty much executing the people there with very few casualties. It makes me feel vindicated, when in the RPG one or two squads is a HUGE obstacle for the party.

Yes, Phasma was completely and utterly a non-entity after her intimidating scene with Finn in the shuttle. I really hope she made it off StarKiller Base.

My biggest gripe is the fact Rey goes from a scrappy scavenger who is a good pilot, to being kind of a mid-level padawan in the span of the film with very little on-screen explanation.

I'm not sure what you mean by mid-level padawan (I haven't seen the movie yet), but if you're referring to her fighting well with a lightsaber...

She was skilled with a staff. Per George Silver, a 15th or 16th Century master of the art of de fence, the staff is the best weapon, because - in part - mastering the staff means mastering the spear, the sword, the halberd, &c. So it is natural that some of her skill with a staff carries over to a lightsaber.

Part of me expects that as a result of her skill with a staff that she'll become the spiritual successor of Bastila and Satele Shan and build herself a double-bladed lightsaber. But part of me hopes that she, instead, ends up with a lightsaber pike (I hate that name, but that's what they're called in F&D, so whatever).

And speaking of hope....

It seems lightsabers are nowhere near as deadly as previously shown. Many hits with nary a lopped off limb to be seen.

OK, we went a second time. My appreciation went slightly up as I had more time to focus on the smaller things. The acting is good, I really like pretty much all the actors. Rey is a great character (arguably the lead character), and the others are really good, too. BB-8 was obviously a favourite, as the cinema laughed and aaaww'ed with it. The humour is back and it worked! (for me, of course). The action was great. Lots of nice bows to Star Wars - I'll happily admit I welled up both times when the Falcon was shown the first time.

Final verdict: Chewie, we're home.

Most fun I've had at the movies in a while. Thoughts:

• Title : Every Star Wars title so far has been absolutely literal - except this one. Can anyone explain this to me? How did the Force 'awaken', exactly?

I can only assume this was a reference to Rey and her "awakening" force powers. Or perhaps it's a metaphore for the 'true' Jedi to return, though if things follow to their natural conclusion, the awakening should happen in Ep VIII

Didn't Emperor Voldemort tell Darth, Jr. that "There was an awakening in the Force. Did you feel it?", or something to that effect? Of course, this is the first time I've heard of the term "awakening in the Force". It could mean that Rey discovered her space wizard abilities, or it could mean something else that we'll discover in the next movie.

I really enjoyed it.

But I felt the bad guys were very poor. Especially Kylo. Couldn't help but think my Jedi character in F&D would have wiped the floor with him in a couple of seconds!

BB-8, Po and Rey were my favourite characters. Finn was annoying I found, but I suppose it makes sense given his upbringing.

Luke's standing at a grave at the end of the movie.

Ben Solo killed his new generation of Jedi.

Luke left, because of his utter failure as a teacher.

How could he train his own daughter when he turned his nephew into the next Darth Vader?

Gee I wonder what happened to her mother.

The Starkiller Program is based on a Nazi super weapon designed in WW2 to shell London into submission with high explosive rounds, the V3. Google it, when you read what that was; suddenly the idea of a planet based artillery cannon makes much more sense in regards to the source material the new order is based on. Basically, their hopes were all pinned on a super weapon and it set out what it was commissioned to do; destroy the republic's centre/British. Destroying the resistance/other countries would have been favourable,

Basically, a planet based super weapon is more plausible to me then actually building a planetary body just to house a weapon.

So, when do we get a trailer for Rogue One?!

I like that they didn't off all our bad guys just yet - imagine if Darth Maul hadn't been eliminated in Episode 1 and made a comeback in future movies? (Yes I am aware of the Clone Wars cartoon)

I really do hope we see these bad guys again, you can't build them up like that and then just leave them. Bad babysiting!

I don't read vanity Fair but apparently this is a photo in it of the aliens from Maz's place.

I am quite the movie critic, and the movie was bad. Showed nothing new to the genre except some eye candy and puns. The crew did a great job for a remake of New Hope, but I have many nit picky remarks about the whole show...

Hopefully this will turn out as the best 2 hour trailer for episodes 8 and 9

As someone who thinks it was good but not great... I wonder how history will treat it, when the hype wears off.

Every review I saw said something like 're-energises the franchise after the hated and dreadful prequels'. But mostly, they weren't fully 'hated' in their day. A lot of that seems to have come in with revisionism.

I remember a lot of 10/10, 5-star reviews at the time, saying 'Star Wars is back!' and how they loved Hayden Christenson or even how the kids loved Jar-Jar. People like Kevin Smith assuring us that RotS was the best Star Wars movie ever made.

I felt the film was mostly a trailer for the next one; that's how many videogames (like Dragon Age) are made these days too. But I wonder if a backlash might set in when the hype machine wears off.

Felt more like they merged ANH and ESB and forgot there should have been another movie before this one!

Otherwise OK, left a lot of details out but enjoyable nonetheless!

What happened to the Republic?

Should have been one shot and either one planet razed or they caused the sun of that system to go supernova!

Now imagine that was just the first attack and every 24 hours they fire again only the fact they don't know where the Resistance or Luke is hiding is why they haven't targeted them.

Each day another world is scoured clean of life as the Resistance race to prevent the next attack now that would have made their attack that much more relevant and make it that they had to transport their new Death Star to another system once they drained a Star dry recharging it!

Why noone bothered to check R2's files to realise the map BB-8 carried was part of R2's hard drive?

The First Order apparently had a full copy just not the details Luke stored on that drive from the way they were talking I assumed they thought it was something else?

Transfer it into BB-8's memory then destroy the drive making it seem like its gone only after Kylo mind probes Poe do they realise what he did.

Once BB-8 reaches the Resistance base its downloaded into R2 reactivating the droid and we learn Luke drew the First Order's attention after discovering the Starkiller weapon and realising making them hunt him gave the Republic a much needed time to react only whoever helped betray Luke's Academy made sure his warning didn't reach even Leia but R2 did but was badly damaged requiring repairs but wouldn't reactivate because part of his memory core was missing to keep Luke's location a secret!

Ordered the visual guide and before the awakening so the movie did its job of keeping it interesting looking forward to seeing how FFG handles the new movies!

9/10 but,

1) Why not have an ongoing civil war between the remnants of the Empire and the New Republic instead of reinventing the wheel, esp. since the First Order might as well just be the Empire? Snoke could have just as easily been the new Emperor.The Resistance also seems a bit redundant. The galaxy's divided while the Outer Rim remains neutral as both sides retreat to their corners to lick their wounds after a stalemate at Jakku.

2) The map ought to have been for the Star Forge, which would have been a serious plot conflict as the Empire would look to rapidly rebuild its forces while the Republic would have been desperate to keep it out of Imperial hands, plus it would be a Death Star nod without being a Death Star ripoff. Start the film with Poe Dameron obtaining that map.

3) Luke Skywalker should have been an afterthought until Rey finds the saber at which point she feels conflicted about finding him in the same way Kylo is conflicted about following in Vader's footsteps.

4) Why introduce new Scum and Villainy factions, when the Hutts, Black Sun and Binyare already exist? Those Guavians would have made excellent Black Sun.

5) Would have been cool to see at least one Mandalorian in the Cantina, especially with the Mythosaur Skull flag outside.

As someone who thinks it was good but not great... I wonder how history will treat it, when the hype wears off.

Every review I saw said something like 're-energises the franchise after the hated and dreadful prequels'. But mostly, they weren't fully 'hated' in their day. A lot of that seems to have come in with revisionism.

I remember a lot of 10/10, 5-star reviews at the time, saying 'Star Wars is back!' and how they loved Hayden Christenson or even how the kids loved Jar-Jar. People like Kevin Smith assuring us that RotS was the best Star Wars movie ever made.

I felt the film was mostly a trailer for the next one; that's how many videogames (like Dragon Age) are made these days too. But I wonder if a backlash might set in when the hype machine wears off.

Most triple A movies/games are given that same treatment. I mean, who doesn't bribe their critics these days? It's exceedingly common practice.