Predictable and unoriginal but isn't that exactly what the fans wanted?

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2016)

I have never been a great Star Wars fan and I honestly think I'm better off without all the hype that has surrounded the franchise in general and this movie in particular. I do like the original trilogy and I don't despise episode 1-3.
But 'The Force Awakens' to me feels like little else than a remake of the original, 1977 movie. Similar scenes, environments, characters, plot. I kind of anticipated mind-boggling special effects, especially since I saw it in IMAX (my first such, by the way), but it did little to me. The returning cast from the first movies gives this movie continuity to them, and that is a good thing. They do however come across quite questionable as 1) they are given little screen time and 2) they seem to have changed little in the 30 years supposedly gone since RotJ.
While I think the above is legitimate concerns for what makes a good movie, I sense that a lot of the choices made for 'Force awakens' is that there is so much fandom to fall back on and so many fans that will see it if it contains what they like. It's detectable. A bit in-your- face at times.
I won't call 'Force' a bad movie, it isn't, but it stumbles and most of all it feels like a predictable fan-service production. 5 out of 10.