Star Wars Episode VII - The Remake Awakens

Rating: 3/10 (21 December 2015)

Not surprising given the 4 billion price tag, Disney payed for the franchise.
Being a Star Wars fan since the 80s I really wanted to like the new film, but here is what made that impossible.
If you are going into this film with fresh eyes, you probably will like it a lot. The visuals are amazing, the use of practical effects and going for a more old trilogy style have paid of for sure. And it's good action popcorn stuff. But if you know anything about Star Wars you may have serious issues with this film. Here's why: the film is basically a rehash of A New Hope and also leans heavily on the other two old films. I didn't feel like I was watching a new film at all, but like I was watching an endless fan-service, constant nods to the old films pointing to particular scenes, in many cases almost exactly matching them. If the old cast wasn't present in the film you might as well just call this film a remake, it is that similar.
To go into specifics:

the Rebels obtain an important plan, which the Empire wants.

The plans are again being hidden inside a droid (R2D2 / BB8).

the Rebel responsible is being detained by the Empire (Leia/Poe)

the droid is being hunted by the Empire on a desert planet

the droid gets into the hands of a nobody, which will turn to be the hero (Luke/Rey)

said nobody is thrown unwillingly into a galactic adventure

they flee from the desert planet with the Millennium falcon

Luke is in hiding like Yoda was, on a distant planet, alone, avoiding responsibility. Like Yoda, the last Jedi.

Rey goes finding him, alone, presumably to start her training, like Luke went alone to Yoda in Ep. V.

another Father/Son issue between a hero and the villain, Han/Kylo, and again a showdown between them on a bridge over an abyss (Luke/Vader in Ep V)

the name "Ben" used to reveal Kylo as Han's son, like "Ben" revealed Obi Wan in Ep IV.

General Hux and Kylo Ren have issues, yet have to work together. Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader say hello.

Another Deathstar! Wow, of all things I was sure they would NOT do that. And leading to the next point:

the Empire, now the First Order, is still doing their evil things, apparently still as powerful as in the old films. The Rebels, now the Resistance, appear to be still somewhat a minor force. So what happened the to the big victory after episode VI? Looks like that never happened. And no word is lost explaining more here. So again the heroic underdogs against the evil huge Empire with their super massive weapon.

therefore the whole Darth Vader story arc of the old films that he will bring balance to the force is nullified. The Empire and the Dark Side are still having their party.

And here-ho we go, another trench fight with X-Wings, and the cherry on top is the count-down before the super-weapon strikes. Quick let's hit the ONE vulnerable spot this planet-sized weapon has while Leia is waiting in the control room. Hurray, like we never seen this fight before. Apart from the impressive fact they could somehow still come up with the means to build a weapon that sucks up a sun, the Empire's engineers must be really stubborn or outright stupid

another Sith lord kinda guy behind the villain, again he wants the new Jedi (Luke/Rey)

Other issues I see with the film:

Captain Phasma character wasted, no screen time and put in a bad light in the last scene

General Hux trying a bit hard, not so scary

reveal of Kylo Ren's face way too early, after that scene his menace was reduced significantly

reveal of the Sith-kinda guy way too early, no suspense

destruction of Coruscant in a meager few seconds and that was it. The capital of the galaxy gone.

Rebels / Republic are not one, why not? What happened since Ep VI?

lack of new worlds, designs, vehicles etc. Over-reliance on the old designs (dont get me wrong, I like the old designs in the film, but where is the new stuff too?)

Rey, totally untrained in the force, beats Kylo in the mind battle and in the lightsaber duel? Makes the force look more like a gimmick the filmmakers were using too easily. Luke had to train very hard for this.

Han's death felt wasted, too fast and undramatic and no mention of him afterwards.

Yes, we all wanted more of the old Star Wars again, but not THAT much. We wanted more adventure, more charm, less CGI, and we got that. But who wanted an almost exact remake of A New Hope with even more references to the other two old films? They went way too safe with the story, which I find too bad particularly because they otherwise managed to create the Star Wars feeling again. This makes me hope, that the next two episodes will be more interesting. J.J. was the right one for bringing fresh air into Star Trek, but he wasn't for Star Wars. Never let a fan take the helm, they are too blinded and what you get is a 2 hour fest of fan-service.
In the end it isn't surprising though, given the 4 billion price tag Disney paid for the franchise they probably made sure the movie wasn't going anywhere remotely risky.