This movie would have been wonderful, if it had been original.

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2015)

Contains spoilers.
First, I am a huge Star Wars fan and I have read some of the books. This would have been a great movie, and it was a good movie, but it was a copy cat of A New Hope. I enjoyed that about the film, at the beginning. Eventually, it got caught up in trying to be something it just couldn't be (A New Hope). It felt like IV with the desert, the stormtroopers, the tie-fighters, and the dark helmeted villain. Eventually, I was wondering when it was going to stop trying to be episode IV, but the plot just continued.
The characters were great, but the way their roles were carried out wasn't. I loved the introduction of a storm trooper who sees the light and joins the rebellion. I also love Rey, a possible Jedi figure with some Han Solo like qualities who can pilot the Millennium Falcon. I like Kylo Ren as a villain who could still possibly have some good left in him. But there's no way that he could have been defeated in way that he was. The light saber dual at the end of the film was absolutely ridiculous. There is no way someone trained in ways of force could be defeated by someone with absolutely no training. I would like to see J.J. Abrams and the writers approach this differently in the future.
Overall, the film was entertaining and I had fun watching it. I didn't leave disappointed, but I don't agree with some aspects of the film. It's a different film in the right ways, and the same film in the wrong ways. In the end, I think they have a lot to work with.