It is not a sequel, but a remake

Rating: 4/10 (16 December 2015)

Sad but true. When the opening credits filled the screen (Episode VII... blah blah) I was already grinding my teeth because the plot sounded idiotic. Then the huge star destroyer filled the screen. The fun bit is that the star destroyer had some sort of antenna or whatever at the front and it looked liked the ship was showing the middle finger towards the viewers.
I have to congratulate the film makers as that was pretty much how the film worked from that point forward.
1) A droid has important information that must be delivered to the good guys (Episode IV, anyone?)
2) so the bad guys hunt for the droid on a desert planet (IV)
3) Storm troopers raid a village, killing everyone (IV)
4) A girl is captured by the bad guys and the good guys rush to the base to the rescue. (IV)
5) The girl and the boy have a friend zone relationship through the film (Ep IV, Luke & Leia, wouldn't be surprised to learn that they are siblings in Episode IX)
6) The stormtroopers, elite soldiers of the bad guys, still can't hit a barn door. On the other hand, the good guys always hit, even when they use a weapon for the first time in their life
7) Supreme Leader Snoke = Emperor with a silly name
8) The bad guys have a magnificent new weapon that can destroy planets (Ep IV)
9) They use it to destroy a planet loyal to the rebels (IV)
10) The weapon has shields that can be destroyed by going down on the planet and disabling the shield generator (VI)
11) The epic villain wears a mask that distorts his voice (IV) and sadly, looks better with the mask on than without it.
12) The good guys can only destroy the weapon with an attack by X-Wings on the exact target (IV)
13) The X-Wings have to fly in a tight trench in order to reach their target (IV)
The screen writers had absolutely no new ideas to show for their money. A bunch of monkeys could have written better dialogue. A 1st grader could have made a plot that had less holes in it. The special effects were pretty much of the same quality as in the first Star Wars movie that was released 1977. I'd expect something way better in 2015.