Not Canon.

Rating: 4/10 (4 June 2018)

Here is the core of what is wrong with this movie: everything that had been accomplished in the first 6 movies, everything the rebels and Jedi fought for, everything I had emotionally invested in for over 38 years, was scrapped in 30 seconds when Starkiller Base destroyed the Republic. Now we and the good guys are right back where we started in 1977. It is as if Disney and Abrams pushed a giant reset button. I expected this episode to start from and build upon the Rebels' success in Return of the Jedi, as did the Timothy Zahn books. I expected to see the Republic flourishing and the Jedi returned to glory led triumphantly by Luke Skywalker. This episode should have moved the story forward, but instead it boots it back to zero. For shame.
For all that I would rate this a zero, but I will give it a 4 simply because for what it is, it was well made. At first I loved this movie, mostly because of the thrill of watching "a new Star Wars movie" in the theater again. The dialogue was better than the prequels, and the visuals and action were exciting. It was a homecoming to see Luke, Leia, and Han on the screen again. At first I thought I was ok with the obvious homages to Episode 4. But then the next day the reality settled in that the Star Wars universe that I grew up with had been stolen from me. I will watch all the rest of the movies and side movies because hey it's Star Wars, but we are on an alternate reality now. Emotionally I am out. This is not what Lucas intended.