An enjoyable, if not entirely original night at the movies

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2015)

Star Wars episode 7 is the most disappointing thing since my son....
OK, OK, so it was pretty good. Visually it was flawless. The movie mostly contains recycled elements of A New Hope and seems to be banking on the idea that a new generation of Star Wars fans aren't old enough to truly remember or appreciate the significance of that movie (probably true) and the old generation will watch and appreciate it anyway for nostalgia's sake (probably also true.) **WARNING some spoilers below** The macguffin is again some vital piece of information contained on a droid, that hides away on a desert planet where it encounters our protagonist who will be led on a quest across the galaxy. The rebels again have to blow up a planet-destroying superweapon with X-Wings. Again an elder mentor to our protagonists is slain by a Sith's lightsaber. And Snokes is basically a CGI version of Palpatine, while Kylo Ren a slightly more conflicted but also by extension a slightly more interesting version of Darth Vader.
Whereas GL's prequel trilogy frequently overdid it on the boring exposition, this movie could've perhaps used some more explanations. That's not to say the movie suffers from any egregious plot holes, but it is very rapidly paced, leading from one plot element into the next at breakneck speed with minimal clarification on the details. I often found myself wondering what was happening and why it was happening before I made up some satisfactory explanation in my head (or I remember back to A New Hope and foisted the plot machinations of that movie on this one.) For example: Why did Finn betray the New Order and what makes him different from any other stormtrooper (i.e. are we to believe he is the only trooper to ever develop a conscience)? Why were those other space pirates hunting Han Solo? If they're outlaws why are they informing for the New Order and how do they know the New Order is hunting for that specific droid? Why was Han Solo carrying around three deadly space Octopi? What happened to the Chrome Trooper (Gwendoline Christie's Character)...did she make it out of that garbage chute they were threatening to throw her down before the planet was destroyed? Why was Rey waiting on Jakku? Why did that little orange yoda equivalent give Luke's Lightsaber to Finn when Rey is the one who found it and by all indications the one who actually has strong Force abilities? Why did R2-D2 suddenly wake up at the end other than to Deus ex Machina reveal where Luke is hiding? These are just of the top of my head. Some of these may or almost certainly will be clarified in upcoming installments. Some of them probably won't.
I will say the idea of a rogue stormtrooper was a good one, and probably the most original twist in the film. I was a bit disappointed they didn't explore stormtrooper culture and conditioning a little more. It would've been a more interesting plot to slowly see Finn become more and more disillusioned with the empire, and switch sides at some point later in the movie, rather than seemingly randomly right at the beginning, but I suppose we wouldn't have had a reboot of A New Hope in that case.
*MASSIVE SPOILER below* I felt Harrison Ford/Han Solo carried large portions of the film with his presence, whereas the new characters (Finn and Rey) have not yet entirely come into their own they do seem to have some potential for growth in upcoming installments and this was a fine introduction for them. Han's death scene was the strongest scene in the entire movie for me. Although it felt epic, it was also saddening, not just because it was the death of a beloved character at the hands of his own son, but also in the sense that they killed off the character that was basically carrying the movie by that point. Obviously the actor himself wanted to end his involvement with the franchise also, and I think he did so on a high note. The success of the sequels now hinges on the new characters stepping up, although I am also looking forward to seeing what Mark Hamill will do in the future, considering his role was basically reduced to a cameo in this movie.
Even though Disney played it entirely safe with this movie, they still managed to produce something enjoyable and I am looking forward to seeing the sequels and hope they take some more risks with the writing then, and make the plot a little less action-driven and little more original.