Quick paced adventure, not a dull moment but some plot devices are repeated

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2015)

The same thing that happens in "a new hope" happens in "return of the Jedi" so why should that matter when it's practically the same thing that happens again in this film.It doesn't make it any more less entertaining. no! The film is good, really good. but yes we have seen it before, it's part of the franchise. The acting is excellent, the visuals are spectacular, and you can tell there are more practical effects (with puppets) rather than silly cgi- characters. But there is a difference. It's more gritty than before. When a laser blaster is fired it's more like a real rifle than a children's toy. They have more stopping power than we used to. When a planet is destroyed we get to see the effect from the eyes of the soon to be exterminated. When Disney took over they didn't go for more child friendly approach, that's for sure.
Star wars is no Sci-fi, and if you start to think about the technical explanation of the "first order"s new super weapon it would be very unpractical to aim not to mention load as it takes it energy from the nearest sun (until it's gone) . But never mind that (family guy will surely make a parody) Star wars is a fantasy, period.
We get to see all the old actors from the original films, which is nice. Han Solo mostly.
And yes there are some "who is related to whom" (spolier alert in the end it will surely turn out that they all are inbreed) which will be important. But i don't think the main objective of this film is to tell a story it is more to introduce the new actors and watch what events that occur that lead them to develop.the film is more character driven.
A nice thing is that we get to see a little glimpse of how a life as a storm-trooper might be. And oh, the empire has finally come around to hire females. nice to see that even evil can be p.c.