Very Good, but not excellent

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2015)

The crew and the actors did a great job on this one. I did like The Force Awakens very much, but if I were to compare this film to the previous six, I would give it a better rating than the prequels, but not as good as IV, V, and VI. This film is better written than the prequels (which doesn't say much) however, I found this film is no where close to being as engaging as The Empire Strikes back.
Without giving anything away, the ending of this film does set up the next film perfectly, and I am very excited to see how these preceding narratives in the Star Wars series develop. This is the Star Wars movie I have been waiting to see for the last fifteen years.