Nice movie, J.J. played it safe... a little too safe, perhaps?

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2015)

Just so you understand where I'm coming from with this review, I am a proper Star Wars geek and have seen all of them, most multiple times. I am, however, not an all-out fangirl.
To begin with: This - by itself - is a really good movie. This, when viewed in context, is perfectly serviceable. It is a story you've seen before (no seriously, you've seen this exact same story before) and yet it is engaging and fun. It's obvious J.J. Abrahms approached this with a lot of respect and love, but maybe a tad too much fear?
The pros: The characters are reasonably well introduced, very likable and engaging, their relationships seem believable. The acting is - for the most part - good or even great (with a few exceptions). There are many nostalgic nods to the OT, which I personally enjoyed, even if it was a little overdone.
The cons: The story is completely predictable from beginning to end. Villain motivation as far as we know it from this movie seems thoroughly inadequate.
What really lifted the movie for me was Harrison Ford. When he appears, the movie goes from OK to good. He gave a great performance, which carried a lot of the story. Daisy Ridley is good as Rey, even though it is slightly unclear where all her language, mechanic and flying skills come from. This, however, might still be explained. The movie commits the occasional sin for plot convenience, but hey, that's nothing we haven't seen before and I was able to overlook it most of the time. Carrie Fisher is clearly phoning it in, but since she doesn't have a huge part in the movie, I could overlook that, too. Boyega is good as Finn, there is the occasional comic relief which worked well most of the time. All in all, I enjoyed myself during the entire run time.
There were, however, a few things I wasn't so sure about. There's been a lot of hate for the villain, Kylo Ren, and I get where people are coming from with that. He starts out as a complete bad-ass and is later revealed to be insecure and emotionally unstable. Also, his face is pretty and babyish. One the one hand, he feels like a watered down Vader. On the other hand, the choice to make the villain young and handsome and conflicted from the start (rather than the end, like Vader) seems like the only bold choice J.J. made. The motivation for the villain seems inadequate now, but I hope we will come to understand it better in future movies. I do hope there's more than we got, otherwise it would be very weak sauce. The in-your-face nazi imagery and the new Emperor reminded me of Voldemort in Harry Potter. And apparently, it has now been put into law that Andy Serkis may only play heavily CGI-ed characters and all heavily CGI-ed characters must be played by Andy Serkis. It's becoming a trope and tropes tend to annoy me.
To summarize: J.J. probably feared the rage of the nerd-herd so much he played it too safe and the movie therefore lacks originality. However, the new characters are engaging, the story works in and of itself and there's promise for more originality in the future. I liked it. It was so over-hyped that it was nigh-on impossible for J.J. to exceed expectations, and I don't feel we should hold that against him. He is a real fan and this is a labour of love, and this is what counts in the end.