Spoilers from A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW

Rating: 5/10 (29 December 2015)

I so wanted to enjoy the new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I did in some ways, but not so much in others. Like many others I had high hopes for the film. It was not the expected epic at all with rehashed plot ideas from previous Star Wars movies and themes from the "LEGENDS" expanded universe set of novels.
Many of the commercialized characters were under developed like Captain Phasma whom was shown in all the trailers, and on the poster. Many expected her to be more pivotal to the movie granted her commercial exposure, and the announcement that she was being played by Brienne of Tarth's Gwendolyn Christie. She had only a few minor scenes and was such a minor character that she could have been any nameless First Order officer.
Internet hype showed us Kylo Ren as the leader of a new dark side cult the Knights of Ren and we expected more from that but were treated only to a small flash back scene of the Knights in Rey's force vision. I am sure that the tantrums Kylo has had through out the movie were supposed to be in homage to the fits of rage Darth Vader used to have towards failure from imperial officers, but it came off more like a spoilt kid's tantrum from not having things go his way. One thing that threw the movie for me was that in the trailers he seems to be the major bad- ass villain of the new trilogy but he doesn't have the immense power of Vader, and that his outfit is the most intimidating thing about him. How did he get Vader's helmet? Did he steal it from Luke at his academy, or was it a relic that he sought through the old imperial records.
Rey seems to be able to pick up force skills she has never heard of in the legends of the Jedi and use them like a seasoned Jedi. Clues through out the movie lead us to believe that she is Luke Skywalker's daughter like the fact the helmet she puts on while eating dinner was so obviously painted with the exact markings of his from ANH and TESB. One thing that really bothered me about her and Poe Dameron was the fact that they can understand any language like a native with out a translator, even BB-8
Dameron is a want to be Han Solo, trying to be cocky, and supposedly the best pilot in the resistance. The only difference is that Oscar Isaac's doesn't pull it off with the same attitude. It just seems very forced. He is the typical descriptive Brash Pilot from West End Games D6 Star Wars RPG.
Finn (FN-2187) nice homage to Princess Leia's Deathstar cell number. That's all I can say about him.
As for the top billed cast from the Original Trilogy, it was a nice homage to them and an interesting way to pass the torch to the younger generation of new heroes, but would the movie have been better with out them maybe maybe not. They were not integral to the story and seem like they were added to please the fans. Don't get me wrong I just wish they had a bigger part like everyone else.
Han Solo as the mentor to the hero and relation to the central bad guy. Han Solo and Chewbacca would ever let the Falcon get stolen, and it wouldn't take thirty years to find it. Han and Chewie just happen to be in the Jakku sector on the right trajectory to snare the it. Then Han dies in a less than heroic death believing he could redeem his son.
Princess "General" Leia had such a small part that she could have been replaced by Commander Willard or General Dodonna from ANH.
Was there a point to C-3PO being in the movie other than nostalgia and to say hey look at me I have a red arm.
The First Order Supposedly borne out of the ashes of the Galactic Empire, still using Stormtroopers, and TIE fighters, but lacking an emperor I think that there has been one to many Deathstars. By the way how is it that the First Order had a partial map to Luke's location and Leia's resistance did not?
General Hux Too young to be a general unless his family has political connections to the First Order, and how is it that he is the senior officer of the First Order's military? I am sure that there had to be other high ranking members during the growing pains of the Order.
R2-D2 fell asleep with depression when Luke left even though he had been storing 95% of the map to Luke's location. Then he miraculously powers up at the right time after the battle was won to fill in the map. Coincidence no again poor writing. Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill was second billed, had two minutes of screen time, was absent from the commercial campaign for the movie because a snip here or there and he could have accidentally been on the editing floor not in the movie. Mark Hamill is out of shape and could not perform any physical Jedi acrobatics. He was a cliff-hanger in to episode VIII, so that Mr. Hamill had more time to get in shape.
Did anyone besides me feel that the loss of Han Solo should have been a much larger deal that was portrayed on screen, but wait we can now find Luke so get over it already and move on cause mourning Solo will extend the film too much and send it over budget
So from A Certain Point of View this movie was both good and bad. Not as good as Eps IV to VI and not as bad as Eps I to III.