I went in guarded but was pleasantly surprised. It was everything I wanted in a Star Wars sequel. Was it perfect? No, but the good definitely far outweighed the bad.

The acting was fantastic. Everyone turned in a solid performance and the new cast fit perfectly in the universe. Harrison turned on the magic and brought Han back to life. Love how character driven this film was. Oh and they got the real Ackbar to reprise the role! I was so worried they were going to use Tom Kane. LOVE that they brought back Erik Bauersfeld after a fan located him.

On the bad side, the plot was pretty thin. The Starkiller was completely unnecessary and never truly felt threatening. There were also way too many coincidences. Lastly, there was never any context given for how Rey would know about Jedi mind tricks and her rapid growth in the Force felt well…forced.

Those quibbles aside, I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and gladly consider it the fourth entry in the saga.