Could've been better

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2016)

This film is derived heavily from the original Star Wars, but—as the source material is pretty darn good—I still enjoyed it. I was disappointed that the climactic battle was almost identical to that in the first film.
I would have liked to know something about the family for whom Rey was waiting, and I thought the explanation of the miraculous reappearance of Poe was a bit thin.
I did enjoy the near-invisible appearances by some excellent English actors, including Pip Torrens, Simon Pegg, Harriet Walter, and Emun Elliott (star of The Paradise on PBS). I hoped to see Denis Lawson, as his character was one of the few fighter pilots to survive the original trilogy.
Mark Hamill's appearance surprised me. I thought he was Oliver Reed until I recalled that Reed is long-deceased, and Hamill looked as Reed would have about 35 years ago.
As long as the viewer doesn't expect ground-breaking originality, this is an enjoyable film.