It's good, just not amazing like everyone hoped

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2015)

This is probably my new favorite Star Wars movie, it used to be Return of the Jedi. Why? Well, I'm not sure. Probably because after the prequels anything is better than those. I couldn't even stay awake for the Phantom Menace and didn't bother to go to the theater for the other two.
This movie has very little character development, and a very fast pace. Great if you're willing to accept that you don't care much for any of the characters. Due to the pacing of the movie there are all too convenient things happening to push the pace. Like, someone runs off and fights in the woods but somehow their friend shows up right in front of them to move them to the next scene.
It's also extremely ridiculous, Luke had to go through training and failure to come back powerful in a whole different movie, which made it epic. But this one everybody can just do enough to be proud of themselves and feel good. But since there was no character development I'm sure they felt they had to do that.
The movie is quite entertaining from start to finish, but in an action mood. There's not much drama really, thankfully, I'm not really into whining and angst like Luke had... especially with his high pitched voice.
The story is very similar to New Hope... if it ain't broke... I guess. They added some random scenes and nostalgia, I can tell they banked hard on the nostalgia of the original characters. It worked really well as I'm sure this movie will go over a billion dollars.
I could think of a million stories to follow Return of the Jedi, but I'm sure this is the one that makes a billion bucks. I can't complain too much because somehow I enjoyed the movie myself. The lack of character development and I guess suspense is what is missing from it that made me hack of several stars.
With the little character development that they had I was able to I guess, imagine, how the characters might feel. But if I wanted to do that I would read a book. I was hoping to feel for them like I felt for Luke when his family died, or when his hand got chopped off, I mean how embarrassing and humiliating it was for him. I remember it clearly, and this movie, well... I remember when the original characters were on screen. The new ones... well they didn't give me much to remember.
So if you're willing to go through a similar story with some feel good moments and some laughs and nostalgia then you'll enjoy the movie. But if you're looking for something to top the Star Wars movies franchise you're out of luck. The originals are still the best and always will be... unless somehow pop culture changes and the billionaires get some guts to tell a story. Right now, they bank on rehashing things... and so that's what we got.