Same story from a different storyteller, love it or hate it

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2016)

My first review of TFA focused on the film's objective merits, but it was massively downvoted by disgruntled old-school fans (i assume). Only after that did i find out that the vast majority of the IMDb reviews of this film are actually very negative. So after brooding over this unjustified hate i decided to write a new review, this time concentrating on the reasons why the fans might hate TFA so much.
First of all, i'm gonna admit one simple truth: TFA does look more like a soft reboot rather than a fully independent sequel. It's not necessarily a bad thing, because the film doesn't rub it into your eyes too hard, and you could still genuinely enjoy the story it tells. But after the movie's over and your initial delight settles, it becomes quite clear that The Force Awakens is A New Hope's little brother: it's not exactly the same, but the family traits are too obvious to be unnoticed.
But if the most of the fans love and cherish the originals, why so much hate towards something that is clearly in awe of the old trilogy's spirit and passes on the best of its qualities? I believe that the answer lies not within the film itself, but in our own psychology. We simply loved the originals, both story- and character-wise, too much, and now anything that dares to have a similar look and feel is considered a disgusting impostor instead of a friend who has lots in common with you.
People criticize TFA for badly acted or cliché characters, for a lack of epic battles and a pace too fast. And it's true that J.J. Abrams managed to fit a huge piece of story in just two hours of the screen time. But can we blame him for trying to show us as much as possible without getting distracted on the secondary and unimportant details that were only dragging the originals back? Especially since he had such a huge ground to cover by introducing the new characters and binding them to the old ones.
As for the characters, the truth is that J.J. gave us the same archetypes we saw in the originals, but mixed and spread them across several characters. Luke Skywalker's righteousness and yearning to find out about his past are now with Rey, who also inherited Leia's willpower and resolve. Han Solo's mix of emotions, adventurer's spirit and loyalty to his friends now lie in Finn, whose visceral energy and vividness keep the world spinning when the times are hard. And Han Solo himself becomes a mentor for the young lot, serving almost the same purpose as Obi-Wan once did. It's almost no wonder that (spoiler alert, skip the rest of the paragraph if you wanna avoid it) his fate turned out to be so similar. However, if you think of it, it was inevitable, because for the young to come of age they have to face their fears without their father figure to stand by and protect them.
What Abrams did to Star Wars is similar to what Daniel Craig did to the James Bond franchise (and i don't mean Spectre, think Casino Royale instead). Craig's biggest achievement was that he gave us all a reason to doubt that there is only one James Bond and that there is no school like the old school. It was a breath of fresh air, a long-awaited rival who could do the similar things but do them differently, giving us a diversity we could satisfy our taste with. Some might have hated Craig for that, but it was a hate of jealousy, simply because the old king could rule unquestionably no longer.
But, as that rejection of Craig was silly back then, so is the today's hate towards TFA. We simply can't stop the progress, stop people from bringing the old stories up to date and telling them in a way that could help the young of today fall in love with them, just like the old trilogy fans fell in love with it almost 40 years ago. The originals are good, but let's face it: some of their aspects look and feel archaic now, diminishing the power of an otherwise perpetually appealing story. So instead of criticizing the director or the cast for not giving you what you expected, simply try taking The Force Awakens as it is, just like you took A New Hope when you had no idea what to expect at all. And maybe then you'll finally admit that Abrams did an amazing job conveying so much love for the Star Wars universe but making that love accessible to the next generation of people for whom the old trilogy just doesn't do it anymore.
J.J., thank you for your marvelous job, and only the time will show if your vision guides the upcoming trilogy to the stars. May the Force be with you and with us all.