Over-hyped but not bad

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2015)

There is no going back. You will not experience the same awe, fright and excitement you did when you were a kid watching A New Hope. Neither will your kids. Our world is too high-tech now and full of CGI to appreciate the rush of watching an X-Wing fighter flying through space or on an attack run. Now, with that said, the effects are cool and not overdone. The re-imagined storm-trooper headgear is pretty cool as is the new color schemes on the X- Wing fighters. JJ Abrams did arrive an appropriate balance, pulling way back from the video-game atmosphere of Episodes 1-3. But unfortunately, as many others have rightly recognized, this is not a reboot so much as a remake of Episode 4. It is the EXACT same plot. Yes, there is the twist of a renegade storm-trooper helping out our heroine, but so what. Nothing too material or interesting, frankly. It is the EXACT same plot (worth saying twice). The actors, to be sure, are good, at least the new ones. And this despite corny lines that really sound like Lucas wrote them. But our old buddies just don't belong--even Han. Well, Chewbacca was fine (how could you screw him up anyway). Ford is way past his acting prime and his performance seemed forced, unnatural. Carrie Fisher's life was a train wreck and it shows in her face and odd diction trying to hide ill fitting dentures. Yes, that could be mean, but you will hear it and it is distracting; probably why she was not given more lines. Hamill looks like a homeless guy and said not one word. So I guess we'll really see on him. But without a doubt the characters of Solo and Leia were ill served by the original actors. The hand-off wasn't necessary. I will say killing of Solo also was unnecessary, at least on screen.
Oh, and finally, the Kylo Ren character was poorly developed. There was a rich back-story there that could have been fleshed out in 5 minutes of screen time. It wasn't so it was quite odd when at the first meeting of Ren and Solo, he kills Solo. Plus, the Ren actor does not have the gravitas necessary for the character. He looks like some Beverly Hills spoiled pretty boy prancing around in S&M gear. So that also was quite distracting.
Overall, not a bad film and I agree it is better than 1-3, but nowhere near as good as 4 and 5, and at least a level better than 6. Still, I think my interest in the franchise is at an end if I can expect just another version of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the next two episodes. And no more death stars please. Enough's enough.....