A galaxy in chaos like never before

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2015)

I loved the movie from the opening crawl until the very (not that surprising) end. Would I have done some things differently? Sure, but you can't please everybody.
The balance between keeping true to the original and being original is hard and I believe it was done marvelously. The way the space ship looked right after the opening crawl with the blurry stars behind confirmed we'd be getting a nice dose of nostalgia while the graphics, with the lovable BB-8 as the perfect example, were at times very impressive and a lot less sterile than the prequel trilogy.
But what I look forward to the most in any movie or book is the story. Do they succeed in creating a world (or galaxy) I can care about? While many critics claim the movie is a rehash of the fourth movie (or first depending on how you prefer to count) I quite disagree. The repercussions of what happened in this movie are literally world- shattering. The Republic is perhaps completely finished, the Resistance has a fleet of just 8 ships it seems and the First Order has declared war on whomever doesn't conform. It's quite a different perspective from the first trilogy, while at the same time keeping true by making individuals important again after the Palpatine trilogy where everyone was just a doll on a string - some more wooden than others.
But even destroying the new hope of the galaxy (the republic) is just an afterthought in this movie, the stars are the new actors that take us on a journey right when everything is about to change. Rey, Finn and Poe will likely be the architects of a new order while struggling with both their past and future.
Han and Chewbacca were nice to have in the movie and I quite enjoyed the fact *major spoiler* Han died. He got the central role in this movie which just shows Disney and the writers/director are willing to respect the past while looking at the future. He needed to be there for this movie, but his time has passed and he did it in a way that shows his character has grown emotionally - he dies as a father trying to protect his son from himself.
This film was in my opinion the perfect way to set up for a new generation of movies and seeing the laughing face of the 6-year old in the row in front of us after the movie shows it can be enjoyed on a lot of levels from world-shattering story to flashy light sabers.