A void has opened up in the Force...

Rating: 3/10 (24 December 2015)

As I watched Episode VII, I kept finding reasons to hope. Rey and of course Han Solo and Chewie were well-acted, the yellow golem seemed like a nice character (although she lacks a back story), and on a technical level, it was clear that the execution was more even than in the prequels.
As soon as the opening text began to scroll, though, the worry crossed my mind that I was now in an alternate universe in which Luke and Han and the Sith Lords had watched parts of Episodes IV-VI on video but did not actually live through any of the events in question or learn from them. It was not even clear whether these events had happened at all – apparently the Empire was not defeated, it had merely rebranded itself as the First Order while continuing to terrorize planets with Star Destroyers and stormtroopers. The last two Death Stars had easy-to-find fatal weaknesses and were destroyed, costing the Empire massive losses – Palpatine's heirs therefore decided to build an equally vulnerable but much more expensive Death Star. Meanwhile the not-victorious Rebellion changed its name to the Resistance; it also sent some of its people to create an impotent restored Republic.
At this point, you might think that the movie was concocted in the following way. Ask random people what they remember disliking about Episodes I-III (midichlorians, annoying romance, overly acrobatic lightsaber duels). Ask random people what they remember liking about Star Wars (bar scene with aliens, the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo being a smuggler, cute droids, clambering around in the interior of the Death Star, etc. etc. etc.). Avoid the first and insert the second.
If you were to think that, though, you would be overlooking the genuinely creative ideas that went into this movie. Rather than making the new Sith Lord scary, J.J. Abrams modeled Kylo Ren off of Red Mist from Kick Ass, brilliantly adding curly black hair and a Bane obsession. He reports to a bipedal snail who, presumably worried that people will laugh at him, only appears via hologram, at ten times his normal size.
There is also the family drama: Han and Leia gave birth to an ornery son. Due to this shocking turn of events, Han and Luke (the boy's ex-teacher) are now traumatized and have spent years wasting time while the forces of evil ravage the galaxy.
Another novelty, which has impressed critics ("the movie is self-aware!"), is that characters sometimes make fun of the Star Wars idea. For instance, when the time comes to blow up Death Star 3.0, Han Solo is like, "yeah, yeah, we know how this works, we find the fatal flaw and then blow it up." I'm not sure I understand, though – a big chunk of the movie is consumed regurgitating the Death Star sequence, there is no suspense since we know what will happen, and so are we supposed to be like, "Oh, but J.J. Abrams knows this is unoriginal, so it's actually hilarious and clever"?
Meanwhile, efforts to find deep human emotions, or the sense of something genuinely alien, founder in the void permeating this film. We will maybe have better luck if we try to find in it clues about our own society.
When Kylo Ren discovers that a woman is somehow involved in the story line, he immediately freaks out ("A girl?!"). This reaction is paralleled by a boatload of top-level critics, e.g. Manohla Dargis (NYT): "the images of Mr. Boyega and Ms. Ridley each holding a lightsaber are among the most utopian moments in a Hollywood movie this year." Rey is, however, a more ambiguous character than these writers seem to have noticed.
She is mysteriously amazing at everything, especially fighting, flying unknown spaceships, and using the Force. Since women in real life actually have to work at things, seeing another woman being effortlessly awesome is helpful... how, exactly? On the other hand, when Rey starts having Force visions, she freaks out and runs distraught into the forest. As we know, when confronted with serious emotional challenges, women go to pieces because biology. It is true that Rey is stronger than the other young main characters, Finn and Ren; but since (given their understanding of femininity) the writers made her periodically fragile, that meant making the male roles pathetic. None of this implies criticism of Daisy Ridley, who does what can be done to salvage her character.
Speaking of critics, another way TFA has been of service is in enabling us to understand how people in the Soviet Union must have felt while reading Pravda:
 Mark Kermode (the Guardian): "Consider me conquered... a breathtaking sequel... with genuine heart and soul"
 Peter Travers (Rolling Stone): "... the movie event of the year is here"
 Matt Zoller Seitz (rogerebert.com) "Episode VII... is the film that J.J. Abrams was put on earth to make"
There have, however, been some great analyses submitted by readers on IMDb.
Han Solo's role in this movie can be seen as a metaphor for George Lucas. A powerful figure but with the tragic flaw of being reluctant to listen to other people – if only he had a friend to give him honest criticism while writing Episodes I-III! Finally, after many years, worn out by rejection, he humbles himself enough to surrender his life work to others, people he has reason to distrust but wants to believe in. He is promptly stabbed through the heart by the red sword of Disney.
The movies directed by Lucas did have flaws. There is still more heart in the single scene in Episode II in which a young Boba Fett, alone on the deserted battlefield, cradles his father's severed head, than in this entire movie.