Underwhelming, but competent, Star Wars sequel.

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2015)

I would argue that 'The Force Awakens' has been the most highly anticipated, and therefore hardest to make, Star Wars movie thus far.
With so much riding on the success of the movie, bringing back estranged fans etc, JJ played it safe in a number of ways. The movie is filled with visual references to the original trilogy, essentially fan service, and it shares a story line almost identical to A New Hope. The latter isn't necessarily bad, unlike the prequels we understand the villain's motivation & goals, we are given a clear idea of the events that will take place in movie, and we have a clear main character. We are also given likable characters, in particular Poe and Finn, and intriguing villains, Kylo Ren + Snoke. Also the film is incredibly fast paced, and when watching the movie for the first time i was never bored or distracted.
However, by having the film share so many similarities to the original trilogy & A New Hope, it is slightly underwhelming and lacks a true amount of new ideas (vital for this new trilogy to be good). Snoke is a carbon copy of the emperor at this point, The First Order is essentially the empire and the back story in regards to the new republic is quite vague. The Starkiller base too was essentially a death star, and i was taken aback by lack of a twist or surprise in regards to it.
Overall the movie is competent, the plot holes are few and less detrimental to the story (not at all akin to episode 2 for instance, and the strange/illogical assassination choices made on Padme). I would struggle to find anybody who goes into this movie and doesn't enjoy it, however it does little to embellish the mythos and universe the film is set in. Perhaps JJ played it too safe.