Fun, but nothing I haven't seen before

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2015)

Let me just start by saying that I never intended to see this movie in theaters. I was going to just watch it when it came out on DVD, but I decided to see it yesterday. My co-workers were excited about it, and I thought, "What the heck."
Now, to address the reviews. Many seemed to either love this movie or hate it. While it didn't seem as bad as some say it is, The Force Awakens wasn't as great either. It lies in the middle.
I went into the movie expecting something along the lines of the prequels, which I liked, although they weren't better than the originals. I was even prepared for something worse. I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the characters and was excited to see that Harrison Ford wasn't in the movie for a mere 5 minutes that would serve as a cash grab.
However, this whole movie felt like a remake of A New Hope. There were plenty of examples, but I'll just name a few: droid being hunted because it has valuable information, planets that were reminded me of Tatooine and Endor (I genuinely thought that they were using the same planets until they said the names), and blowing up another Death Star in almost the exact same way (X-wings, internal sabotage, etc.). Blowing up the Death Star once was enough for me. The second time was excessive. A third is just annoying, even if this Death Star is bigger and badder.
Another odd thing. I recall thinking during Finn's fight scenes with a light saber that no one should be that good already. I mean, Luke sucked! But not Finn, who I don't think is even a Jedi. And then, he fights Kylo Ren. Either Finn was too good or Ren was awful because there's no way Finn should have almost beat a trained Sith lord in a fight.
This is still a cool movie to watch. But I'm a bit regretful that I paid to see a movie that I've pretty much seen before.