Predictable? Yes. Entertaining? Yes. Star Wars? Yes.

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2015)

This film will be slandered, scrutinized, picked apart, and downright crucified. It will also be praised, respected, honored, and remembered. That's the nature of something so ominous as a series like Star Wars.
It's very hard to review a film that is trying to revive a franchise that completely changed cinema. It's like trying to recreate the Atari 2600 by adding a slightly modernized appeal to a timeless classic that defined a new age of entertainment.
What this movie had to accomplish was far beyond anything anyone could possibly come up with. That is, if your expectations exceed the realm of reality.
There's something about the late 70's and early 80's that holds a charm that we may never experience the same way again. It's unfortunate that The Force Awakens doesn't have that charm like the original trilogy. But being the 7th movie in a series like this puts it in a precarious position.
They couldn't reinvent the wheel dare they make another abomination such as the likes of the prequels, but they also didn't have to take it so far as to copy things so wholesale that you feel as if you already read the script before watching the movie.
I think what they tried to do was let a new generation experience something that millions of others had when the original Star Wars came out. And in some ways, they succeeded.
It's not even close to being perfect. Neither was the original. But it's nowhere near some of the bottom of the barrel drivel that gets shoveled out every year that everyone is so used to seeing.
My only real emotion after watching this movie was contentedness. I am hopeful that the next two movies may revive a feeling of an epic that the original trilogy will hold for as long as they're remembered.
You may be disappointed, or you may be overjoyed. Or maybe you'll feel like me and just sit back and enjoy the ride. Critiquing cinema has always been an ambiguous subject. But whichever way you look at it, it's still Star Wars.
Nothing more, nothing less.