Not as bad as Some Say, Not as Good as it Could Have Been

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2015)

I just got done reading a bunch of reviews and wow, close but a bit harsh. Here's a quick honest review that isn't based on immediate hatred.
The movie is good. As everyone has commented on, it closely follows the first movie (IV) in plot, however it is not exact and by the end it starts to walk its own path. After walking out of the Theater, my first reaction was: I wish I could see VIII and see where they take it. It's faster paced than previous movies and the dialog is a little stupid at times. Its big budget, so there's lots of explosions, CGI, characters, etc. I did appreciate the softer touch on the CGI than episode 1-3 had. After reflecting, the movie seemed to want to re-introduce the SW world to a new generation, and then set up a long string of additional movies. I felt that this was the way the movie had to go: meaning: they had to set up the old world SW with similar characters and ideas, but now want to move the franchise into a more modern feel/theme. Its a movie that had to be made to move the series forward and no matter what was made, it would get hated on. It's honestly not that bad.
For the bad: it's a little bland for characters. Lucas really took the time to set up his characters and this movie fell just a little short. Its easy to say as we can look back and see all 3 movies (4-6) as whole though. Because it was really close to IV, there wasn't to much that will be surprising, as left me feeling a bit tired at times. The force or lack of. This movie really had the worst inclusion of the force in all 6 previous ones. As a viewer, we're already very versed in the use of the force and this was a complete slap in the face in this regards. The force is set up like IV when we knew nothing, so it's a bit lame (best word I could think of). The second is the final battle. As everyone has pointed out, having Fin and Rey fight a Sith with relative ease is absolutely ridiculous. My only saving grace is that it's explained in VIII (this alone was 3 less stars), so...
If 8 goes in a newer direction, then this will turn out to be a really good movie. If 8 stays as close to the previous movies as this one did, and without giving us a really good reason on the 2 main characters apparently have super powers, the series will all but be over.
Final note on all the 1 stars: I think Star Wars must be like Heroin: The first ride is so good, then the rest can never live up to it, but you grudgingly keep going back for more.