A great start

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2015)

*Spoiler-free section:*
A great kick-off to the new trilogy. The acting was fantastic, the humour was mature and genuine, the character development was greater than the prequels, and even than the originals. The previews do NOT give the plot away. It was very engaging and you do care about the new characters and find yourself wanting to see more of their story.
*Spoilers from here on:*
There are many plot points that are not fully explored, but they are likely to lead to other plot points in upcoming movies in the trilogy and I look forward to seeing them develop. Kylo Ren was a great character and Adam Driver delivers an excellent performance.
Although there were many plot parallels to Episode IV, it was still fresh, visually pleasing and a good set-up to new story telling to come. No one can blame J.J. Abrams, a big fan himself, from playing it safe with the plot considering the reactions that occurred to the prequels from Star Wars fans.
Despite its over 2hr run-time I found myself so engaged in the plot that I wanted more and am extremely excited for Episode VIII. I smiled uncontrollably throughout my viewing of the film.