Great characters but story too safe

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2015)

Lets first start of in saying that a lot has been right in this film. They've created relatable characters and managed to make them feel much more human than most characters of the old films. There is no over- use of CGI and everything has the good old Star Wars feel that we all loved from the original trilogy. The 3D is also well done and does not feel strenuous on the eyes during the entire film. The fighting scenes are also well made and the space battles are very pleasing to the eyes. For all this I applaud you JJ Abrahams.
Sadly, while you were busy to bring all these things back to us Star Wars fans you missed out on one thing. The Story. Who thought it was a great idea to bring back a 3rd type of planet destroying laser that has to be destroyed. Why is there yet another droid that has to go to the rebels to deliver secret information, another Jedi in hiding and another desert planet where somebody lives in poverty is accidentally send on an adventure due to a droid that fled when its master was captured by the order. The story is in my opinion very weak. It is simply a repeat of most of the 4th film and a bit from the 5th. I understand the thought progress that rehashing an old story is a safe way to not disappoint the viewers, but sadly it loses all elements of surprise to the film. In all honesty I was disappointed that the writers did not try a different, new and creative story line. Why did they not use the fact that it is a new trilogy to go a different direction?
The acting in the film by the main characters is superb. The scene of Harrison Ford meeting Adam Driver gave me the feels. It is also nice to see that the characters are multi-dimensional this time around and are not afraid to show emotions. I also enjoyed to see a strong female character and equally non-whiney male character. The dialogues were well thought out and it was nice to see some humour back in Star Wars as it was truly lacking in the prequels.
Overall this film is going to appeal to many Star Wars fans, although sadly story wise it is nothing new. It is sad to see such a missed opportunity where they could have made out of a good film something truly great if they would have not played it so safe. The film also contains a lot of fan service such as the game on the millennium falcon or lets just say the entire story line. The film is good but they could have done much more out of it, if they would have just taken some risks.