Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 6 Things That Were Perfect (And 3 That Were Disappointing)

1. You Care What's Going To Happen To The New Cast

The biggest risk with an Episode VII featuring the original cast was that it could very easily have turned into a final roll-call for Hamill, Fisher and Ford, with the new cast just serving as their enablers. In fact, early rumours were that screenwriter Michael Arndt left the film because he wanted to focus more on the new characters rather than the older trio, something Disney reportedly disagreed with (the implication being the younger generation would only get to do their own thing in Episode VIII). But, thankfully, that wasn't the case. For the first act of the movie we're just with new characters, getting to know their personalities before putting them up against the sci-fi icons, meaning that later scenes are Rey meeting Han Solo or Finn meeting Leia, rather than the audience reuniting with an old friend and a new actor just standing there. All three of the leads (and, of course, Kylo Ren) are given such well-written, perfectly-defined personalities which they so fully immerse themselves in (even Daisy Ridley, who some feared would be a little wooden) that you don't just enjoy watching these new characters, you really care for them. You feel every ship crash, Force mind trick and lightsaber singe and, more importantly, are excited to know what's next for each of them. This was something absolutely essential for Disney to do if they were really going to make Star Wars into the mega-franchise they have mapped out; even if all three of the original characters had survived, they would eventually have to take a backseat and the fate of the franchise would rest on the younger lot, so it was essential to have audience's be onside with them straight away.