Better than all the Prequels and Return of the Jedi

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2016)

First off, I haven't done a lot of reviews on IMDb, nor have I felt a compelling need to, especially since the internet - about 2005 - devolved into a pit of "I'm smarter than you are, no I'M smarter than YOU are" childishness.
Second, there's no accounting for taste, so I have no desire to fight with people's legitimate perceptions of this movie, but I can detect trolling from miles away.
Third, ALL of the Star Wars movies suffer from a root of 'sword and sorcery' simplicity that even many of the stars who have been in the movies feeling there's something left wanting. I think the very first movie benefited in a major way by John Williams' musical contributions. Without the music, if replaced by contemporary synthetic music of the times, would have left Star Wars on the heap with Logan's Run, even with the visual effects. The music vastly upgraded the overall material.
So, as far as this movie goes, it's right up there with the best. ESB will probably always be my favorite, and I'll be pleased if it moves down the list as VIII and IX roll out. But it now is a bit of a puzzle if ANH or TFA is at two, and I certainly can buy recency bias toward the new movie, so the jury is still out between the two.
Next is RotS, even as a part of the prequels, I've like it better than RotJ - the Ewoks, to me, were Jar Jar 1.0. Hated them pretty much through and through. But RotJ is next after RotS, probably due to the fact that TPM and AotC were poor. The acting and dialog in those movies were terrible.
So, I suppose, my analysis comes down to this - I'm no J.J. Abrams fan boy, but he's got Lucas beat. I've always had a problem with the first trilogy (IV-VI) as being poor to mediocre Tolkien rip off - just too color by numbers sword and sorcery for my taste. And the second trilogy (I-III) was a bad Frank Herbert rip off - an attempt at the complexity and vision of Dune transformed into C(GI)-SPAN. Combining the two reveals to me that Lucas has a second rate imaginative mind. Abrams isn't (at least doesn't appear to be) trying to unfold some great new EPIC with all the pretense and conceit that Lucas chained himself with.
Abrams' production is vastly more engaging - I felt I was being pulled through the movie and felt a part of the action like no other Star Wars movie before. Granted, effects are four decades on from the first movies, but the prequels were TOO much special effects - you always felt this was happening on a screen and had little feel of realism. Throw in Lucas' sterile interaction with actors throughout his time, and it's easy to see how removed most Star Wars movies have been. If Lucas can't engage the actors, to make THEM feel engaged, how is an audience supposed to feel engaged by the final product. Probably Lucas' only "warm" movie he ever made was American Graffiti, and that probably was because the whole thing was a love letter to his own teen-hood.
Further, Abrams (and Kasdan's?) dialog - while not giving Bill Shakespeare a run for his money - wasn't stomach turning bad (I hate sand...). Let's just say that - between the dialog and cold direction, there's a TON of bad acting (due to the direction) throughout I-VI. I don't think this movie had Oscar performances either, but the actors seemed into their roles and delivered proper dialog given the root material.
So, if you want a movie you'll want to see again, this has what it takes. As a middle aged man who has many cares and concerns that beset him, to be completely taken away from the now into two hours of entertainment, it was wonderful. Certainly something none of the prequels came close to doing (and I was obviously younger and had fewer cares then). So, in short, this movie was - as cliché as it might be - was captivating in its most literal sense. Not life changing as the best art is, but much better than watching Dune-lite nonsense that has me checking my watch and thinking about the work stress in store for me the next week.
Finally, Abrams etc have a steep incline ahead of them to be sure. They did have the luxury of plenty of back story to inhabit, and they pretty much not only borrowed from ANH, they condensed a large portion of the first three movies. Now they have to chart their own territory from here. And, again as not a fan boy, if I'm checking my watch and dreading the next week while watching VIII, I'll be the first to admit it.