Star Wars without a story

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2016)

Before I start writing this review, I want to say I'm a huge fan of George Lucas' Universe. I have the 6 previous movies on Blu-Ray, which I love very much. I also played the games, watched Star Wars the Clone Wars film and TV show as well as reading the books.
So I was eager to see this brand new episode of the main saga. The first without George Lucas in command. I heard good things about JJ Abrams and how he turned all he touched in gold so I was expecting a lot. At the end I am quite disappointed.
It would be wrong to say everything is bad in this movie. It's still entertaining and enjoyable to watch. But I expected so much more of it. It's not any kind of saga we are talking here. It's a classic one which enchanted so many fans throughout the world for several decades. This is Star Wars and it should be something which will stay in memories whatever happens. And about that, it fails big times as it levels down with the average blockbusters of the genre. It has lost its magic. It's so saddening really and truly something I would have never foreseen. Even the Emperor wouldn't have.
The only appealing side of 'The Force Awakens' and the only thing that seems to work almost correctly was the come back of the original cast. I wont lie, it's great to see Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher back. When Han Solo and Chewbacca appear for the first time and listening Ford saying "Chewie we're home", I had a shiver. It was maybe the only time it did or was it another one when we see Leia and Han seeing each other for the first time.
The rest of the cast is not bad but because of the lack of vision haunting this movie until the end, the characters are quite shallow. They have potential but you really need to dig much deeper to allow them expressing it completely. The only new face I really appreciated was BB8 the new droid. He is not as brave as R2D2 but his mimics melted me. He's really cute and sympathetic.
Now lets talk about the mishaps. JJ Abrams missed his target. We never wished to see a copy & paste of the Original trilogy even if it's much bigger and stronger. What I was expecting was a movie which would be as visionary as the original story. So at the end I would have the feeling that despite all I've seen about Star Wars, it will still keep surprising me by bringing something new.
Instead we have a fast-forwarded and very poorly written version of A New Hope and Return of The Jedi. The new characters are just the 2016 alter egos of the 1977 ones. There is absolutely not a single drop of originality throughout the movie. We have no difficulty to understand that Rey is related to Luke because like him she is stranded in a desert planet, trying to make a living by scavenging ships. Finn is just the black version of Han Solo. He wants to get out of the grip of the First Order aka The Galactic Empire or what's left of it, just like Han Solo wanted to escape from Jabba the Hutt. BB8 is R2D2, the only hope for the Resistance aka the Rebel Alliance, to save themselves from the Order. Kylo Ren is Anakin/Darth Vader who betrayed Luke as his grand father betrayed Obi Wan in a very identical way. And Han Solo is taking the role of Obi Wan as the iconic member getting killed by the bad guy. Like I said a copy & paste!
So yes JJ Abrams definitely missed what makes the Star Wars Saga essence: the story. The Force Awakens hasn't any story. It has no vision. It may work for a movie like Transformers but you do that with Star Wars and you're digging your grave. As JJ Abrams used most of the material provided by the first trilogy, should I expect that he will pillage the Prequel trilogy for Episode 8?
I would suggest JJ to use George Lucas for the next episode scriptwriting but as they are already producing Episode 8 while the Force Awakens is still available on theaters, I think we will enjoy another epic failure. George, Come Back!