Tremendously entertaining regardless of the slightly derivative plot

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2015)

First of all I am only writing this review in response to seeing some hugely unfair critiques on this website. Every film has flaws but to label The Force Awakens a 4 star film (0.6 above the average rating for Jack and Jill) is beyond harsh. In general criticism appears to revolve around
1) Being too similar to Episode IV 2) Having a weak Villain that is too conveniently beaten 3) Captain Phasma being barely developed 4) Rei and Finn being childish and detracting from the emotional tension of the film 5) A lack of explanation of the events between VI and VII mostly relating to the First Order 6) The score not matching the quality of the other films
Whilst these criticisms are valid to varying degrees, the casting, dialogue and pacing allow you to enjoy the film if you allow yourself to. I feel there was a good balance between developing characters and action sequences aligning the film more closely with what made the original trilogy so immersive as opposed to the CGI indulgent prequels. To address the criticisms specifically:
1) Perhaps the most valid criticism, you cannot deny the comparison of the plot to a new hope. At times this borders on being obvious enough to divert attention away from what is happening so I will accept that the plot is not hugely original. However, the same story is told in an original way with a different tone. Also it's not as if it's a bad plot anyway and the film was always in danger of falling into the trap of a Hollywood blockbuster in being creatively stifled in order to appeal to a mass audience. Despite this problem, the execution is good enough to overcome the issue. Furthermore it is important to appreciate this is the first act of a three act structure and sets up plenty of plot threads to develop that are distinct from episode IV. Hopefully this film will appear less derivative when viewed in the context of the trilogy as a whole
2) This criticism misses the point of the character. Kylo Ren is a young poorly trained Sith who clearly has major issues with what he has to do to fulfill his perceived destiny. The entire point is he fails miserably to live up to his idol in almost every aspect. He makes a lot of strategic errors, is easily beaten by someone only just discovering her power and has nowhere near the prestige within the first order that Darth Vader had in the empire despite his best efforts. Does this make him a weak villain, of course, but that is the idea. Across the rest of the films I would expect him to become far stronger and more ruthless thus this film is really just the start of the characters development into hopefully a villain with great depth. Of course this is all dependent on the other films so this criticism could either become more or less valid over time
3) Fair play she hardly did anything. I would make the point again that she should become more relevant in the next film but you wouldn't lose much from cutting her character in this film on it's own. Perhaps as a general note, there may be too many characters so this issue is an inevitable consequence.
4) This is very unfair as they set the tone of the film. It has an underlying levity throughout, largely down to the comic chemistry between Boyega and Ridley. Perhaps they are childish at times but this is the start of their journey so this apparent naivety must be viewed in the context of the trilogy. When there are dramatic moments in the plot however, I feel they react appropriately and actually add to it. I feel like they have a great deal of on screen chemistry and Boyega in particularly has natural comedic ability which is far more understated than other blockbuster actors. One criticism that I find utterly absurd is that casting Rei was "to have a female protagonist, Yay feminism" or casting Finn was"to have a black protagonist, yay affirmative action". They are cast because they perform the roles well together and gender or race is an irrelevance. The black stormtrooper controversy is also ridiculous as Abrams clearly realised the major issue with stormtroopers as clones means you don't care about them and challenging the clones idea will ultimately make the conflict more meaningful
5) The film was long enough as it is. Perhaps they tried to cover too much ground but hopefully the first order will be more developed in subsequent films. To be fair, The origin of the empire is not really explained in a new hope and that doesn't seem to bother fans too much.
6) John Williams is probably my favourite film composer because of his ability to come up with such iconic themes and motifs and orchestrate them so creatively. The importance of music in star wars is often under appreciated and whilst the themes are not as iconic as the imperial march for example, they are well written and permeate the score more than you initially realise. I expect that in the future, people will come to appreciate Rei's theme, The resistance march and Jedi Steps as iconic despite how initially forgetful they are. Whilst I was initially underwhelmed, it improves on repeat exposure so don't dismiss it too quickly.
As discussed there is some validity to each of these criticisms yet overall, I feel that the film is well cast, well scripted, doesn't overuse action scenes at the expense of character/plot development and is fundamentally emotionally engaging, restoring what was so beloved about the original trilogy and what was sorely lacking in episodes I-III.