At 8.01am, December 16, 2015, the review embargo for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was lifted, heralding a flood of internet know-it-alls - including ourselves - passing judgement on Episode VII.
Below, we've gathered together the best (and worst) assessments of the new sci-fi spectacular, so you can know what's what before you travel to a galaxy far, far away.
"The Force Awakens re-awoke my love of the first movie and turned my inner fanboy into my outer fanboy. There are very few films which leave me facially exhausted after grinning for 135 minutes, but this is one. And when Han Solo and Chewie come on, I had a feeling in the cinema I haven't had since I was 16: not knowing whether to burst into tears or into applause."
"I'll confess to crying three times during the film: once during Rey and Finn's escape from Jakku, when I realised that Star Wars was in safe hands, again during one particular Kylo Ren scene which I've gone out of my way not to describe, and also during the climactic lightsaber duel, framed by frozen trees and illuminated by flares of red and blue electricity - which I suspect, on an initial watch, might be the most thrilling battle of its kind to date."
"From my point of view I can only say director JJ Abrams has taken George Lucas's baby and reinvented it for true fans of the early films. Although it would be impossible to overtake the emotional experience of seeing the original 1977 Star Wars for the first time - as I did when it opened at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood - Abrams together with his screenwriters Michael Arndt and especially Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) have captured the heart, soul, wit, adventure and wonder of what it is that makes Star Wars such a phenomenon in movie history."
"In the end, Star Wars: The Force Awakens feels like the work of a very capable student, one who has studied his subject so diligently and thoroughly that he knows what to do and what to avoid, is smart enough to have engaged one of the experts in the field, in this case Kasdan, to work on the blueprint, and to have ensured that another of the key contributor to the series' success, John Williams, would return again after all the years."
"Not only expert homage for the fans but a first-rate, energised piece of mega-Hollywood adventure, the hugely anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens stirs more to life than just the Force. The rollicking, space-opera spirit of George Lucas's original trilogy (you can safely forget the second trio of cynical, tricked-up prequels) emanates from every frame of JJ Abrams's euphoric sequel. It's also got an infusion of modern-day humour that sometimes steers the movie this close to self-parody - but never sarcastically, nor at the expense of a terrific time."
"Without having to trawl through a list of names, let's just say that everyone involved in this movie is dynamite. There is no Jar Jar. The ensemble is well-oiled, there is a neat array of fetish/Steampunk-inspired aliens milling in the backdrop (sometimes just popping in front of the camera for no apparent reason), and there are none of the abysmal racial/sexual stereotypes that crop up far too abundantly in the previous episodes of the saga. There's no visual clutter, and there are no gaudy CG panoramas which resemble low-rent screensavers."
"If you just forget for a moment the superfluous flaws, the cynicism on the tip of your tongue, and the impossible expectations that this film has to live up to. If you do all of that and just let the wonderful nostalgic magic of spectacular cinema wash over you, for small fleeting moments, you might be forgiven for indulging in one stupid, delirious fantasy. That Star Wars: The Force Awakens might just be the best film of the last 30 years or so."
From: Digital Spy
