A carbon copy of "A New Hope"

Rating: 3/10 (19 December 2015)

15 mins into this movie & I began worrying it was just an inferior attempt at recreating the original. 2 hours later I realised that, whilst it wasn't as awful as Eps 1-3, I was justified in having that concern.
Some decent bits throughout but not enough of them and it was virtually absent any new ideas.
Key negative aspects:
1) The story is virtually just a remake of A New Hope, scene by scene - no originality. That's 3 of 7 Star Wars movies that now have a very similar storyline.
2) Because JJ is so focused on paying homage to the original movies, he doesn't allow any individual scene in The Force Awakens to have their own depth. They feel too short & rushed to have much impact. E.g:

at the start of Ep 4 when C3-PO and R2 crash land in the desert, it appears so vast & hostile that it seems their efforts to find Obi Wan are futile. The cinematography of that scene in Ep4 had a David Lean quality to it. In TFA, Finn is similarly stranded in a desert near the start of the movie, yet there's no sense of the scale of his challenge & it's merely just a matter of screen time until he stumbles on Rey's village. Hugely underwhelming.

When Rey discovers she has the Force, this could have been a massive reveal. Compare it to Ep4 when Obi Wan tells Luke to "use the Force" to guide his shot into the Death Star (a classic moment in cinema) - in TFA, at about the same timing in the movie, Rey realises she has the Force BUT we've already seen this coming because JJ doesn't trust the audience with subtle hints. Rather, he bludgeons us with obvious clues so there's no surprise. With Luke in the original Star Wars, we're never very sure if he can harness the Force right up until he destroyed the death star. But when Rey used her Jedi mind tricks to convince the Storm Trooper to set her free, there was absolutely zero revelation. Plus Rey wasn't really in any imminent danger in that scene. She didn't have Vader, or anyone, just about to kill her. This scene could have been huge, & suspenseful but - it wasn't.

By killing Han, JJ tries recreating Obi Wan's epic death in Ep 4 but he rushes through it. JJ merely copies Ep4 here, minus the depth of feeling that was generated when Obi Wan died. Han's death is heavily signalled so that it's just a matter of time before he's killed. E.g. in an earlier scene there is the quote from someone that Han owes money to (another familiar plot line) "Han Solo...you're a dead man". And as soon as Kylo Ren takes off his mask when confronted by Han, it's just an inevitability Han will die. What else could have happened from the moment that Kylo took off his mask and handed his light saber to Han? It would have been a terrible, unearned cop-out if Kylo just said "Hi Dad! I'm done with the Dark Side. Can I come back with you to see Mum again so that we can all live happily ever after?". No...that obviously wasn't going to happen. What a pathetic way for Han to go - the screen writers owed much more to such a legendary movie character. Even Han's final shot was just another cheap recreation i.e. when he dies Han falls off a bridge down into nothingness - like Luke in Empire or Darth Maul in Ep1.

3) Why did R2-D2 suddenly come to life at the end of the movie? Suddenly R2, without any intervention from anyone else, just wakes up from his state of hibernation to present the full map as to where Luke is located. No drama, no tension, no clever way that R2-D2 is awoken. No - he simply just wakes up & we don't know why
4) This movie basically takes a huge dump all over Eps 4 - 6. By the end of ROTJ, you felt you'd been on this thrilling journey with Luke and co, rejoicing at how the Force eventually overcame the Dark Side & how "balance" was restored to the Galaxy. Job well done guys! But come TFA, the Dark Side (the First Order) are back on top again. Do we know why? No. How was the Force beaten back? Was it worth us investing our time &imaginations in the epic battle of good versus evil in Eps 4 - 6? Not really i.e. forget the result of ROTJ, & just accept the Dark Side has taken over again. JJ doesn't have the imagination to tell us how. He just wants to shoot a remake of Star Wars & you'll just have to accept the Force's victory in ROTJ was all in vain. Another massive "Fuck You!" to the audience.
5) Some of the dialogue was very clunky & solely there to be expositional & it jarred.
6) The Resistance figured how to destroy the new Death Star in about 1 minute of basic chatting. Then went ahead & executed their simple plan without much difficulty & the death star just blew up - as expected. JJ - that's not good enough!!! It was even easier for the Resistance here than it was for them to do the same thing in Eps 4 & 6. I'd prefer that the story for TFA had been altogether different, but given that you're intent on simply retelling Star Wars as opposed to putting your neck on the line & giving us something fresh, then at least try & make this moment as edge-of-your- seat as you can. Don't just make it another throw-away scene
7) Ren and Finn just bump into Han Solo in the middle of space - how massively convenient!