The Horror, The Horror. Aristotle would have "had a cow, man."

Rating: 2/10 (8 January 2016)

Plot is important. Very important. Aristotle thought so. Every major scene in Episode VII was taken straight out of past Star Wars movies. Others have eloquently compared it to earlier versions of Star Wars, so I will not duplicate their labors here.
It's OK, even appreciated, to give a wink behind the mask so to speak, to a movie's predecessor showing respect and acknowledgment of what came before. What Abrams tried to do in Star Wars was throw us "old-timers" a bone, and provide a lot of scenes that evoke the Star Wars of old. But when you are consistently winking from the behind the mask, the movie comes off as simply an unimaginative pastiche of previous movies. Lucas has been quoted as saying that he always tried hard to bring something new to each Star Wars film (e.g., podracing, or the Gungun underwater scene). "Awakens" could have used a dose of that thinking.
Moving on. Aristotle also thought rhythm or pacing was important. The pacing of "Awakens" is terrible. The best way to support this assertion is to ask you to go back to Episode IV and replay the sequence of scenes when they are trying to destroy the Death Star. Then rent (I wouldn't waste money buying) Episode VII when it becomes available and watch the scenes when they are trying to destroy the Death Star. The pacing and drama of the events should be like black and white to you. When I watched "Awakens" I remember turning to my wife in disbelief saying "they already destroyed it??!" No build up. No creation of anxiety. No, "oh gee, they may not do it." Who needs the force anyway to simply blow up a "Death Star III?"
On a related note, watch the segments in Episode VI when the Rebels need to take down the shield generator in order to destroy Death Star II (Go Ewoks!). Then watch the same sequence in Episode VII. The entire handling of the shield generator in "Awakens" was a laugh. It seemed ridiculously easy and from what we saw, the incredibly important generator seemed unguarded. Again, this will become apparent when you watch both movies versions back to back. The best thing about that entire sequence is Han saying "You think you're cold?"
Aristotle thought character was important. The dialogue between the Rey and Finn is juvenile at best ("You have a boyfriend?" really? Really??) and Rey, trying to be the tough modern woman, refuses a pistol from the (supposedly) venerated war hero, Han Solo, saying "she can take care of herself." Hmp! The dialogue was cliché and juvenile not to mention unbelievable. I doubt that Rey would have spurned Han's help considering she was wide-eyed not long before when meeting him.
It is impossible to suspend our disbelief regarding Rey's character. I suppose we are to believe that because she collects parts for money (scavenger), she has the knowledge to fix the complex Millennium Falcon (engineer and IT Guru). She also learns the force by osmosis. It just happens. Nowhere in the previous six movies does this ever happen. Even Luke takes three movies to learn the force well enough to even try to face Vader. The payoff for the audience is when he appears at Jabba's Palace, and is a bad-ass, a fantastic catharsis happens—hell yeah! We later learn that Vader took YEARS of training to be as good as he was—and his "meta-chlorines" were off the charts according to Qui Gon Jinn. For Rey, who never even swung a lightsaber, she can fairly successfully take on a Jedi. This all has the effect of pandering to an instant gratification audience. No build up. No earning it. No years of training, or God forbid, even being defeated at first. And on a similar note, how did she even know to try the Jedi mind trick to escape the chair? How did this even occur to her? (Some Star Wars fanatics claim that the Jedi mind trick is also one of the hardest things to learn). None of the folklore from the first six movies supports what happened. This causes the audience to think "*cough cough bullshit." And it certainly makes it impossible for the audience to "suspend their disbelief."
Finally, Abrams has a lot of lazy writing and short cuts in the movie for cheap thrills' sake. Just one example should suffice. When Finn and Ren are running away from the anti-hero, he magically appears dramatically in the forest in front of them. He was behind them on a lower platform and they were right beside the outside door. The force has never been able to teleport people, so what's up? Several such small examples are in this film.
Williams, God bless his soul, did a good job with the music as always. The CG was good, but otherwise, this film fails at almost every turn.
For those who are sadden, and even think that VII ruined all of Star Wars for you, remember this. Lucas was not involved. He didn't help direct it. He didn't write it. He didn't even co-write it. All of his ideas were "poo poed" by Disney so he backed out. To me, this places Episode VII outside the canon of Star Wars. Imagine how many people would accept another Harry Potter novel, but one that Rowling was not involved in at all (especially if the book/movie was terrible). Big money can slap the title on the film, but if the father of Star Wars had no say in it, it's not canon.
Now imagine a different Episode VII. A new evil race is threatening- --and they're immune to the force. The good guys are all getting older. Now, they have to get creative to win this one.already sounds better than "Awakens."