Better than TPM and AOTC, worse than ROTS

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2015)

Not as bad as I expected. From the reviews I was expecting cameos from the classic characters and the most minimal service possible of Star wars themes. (Star Trek Into Darkness was frankly a dreadful movie, so I had very low expectations going into this. )
The storyline is typical 'blockbuster'. You have a stereotypical bad guy. The good guys overcome obstacles and finally prevail in the end. The new characters aren't terrible. The classic characters seem very out of place here. Harrison Ford is an old man. He looks like a retiree. Carrie Fisher's role is completely unnecessary.
I suppose it's pointless to ask questions of the plot. But a couple of the ones I had: How is the Empire still around -and apparently more powerful than ever- after being defeated in ROTJ? And related: why do we still have a "resistance"? I thought the Republic won the war in ROTJ.
All in all, I'm glad I watched. There is one good scene where they jump into lightspeed with a huge bug on the windshield. That was very clever. For one brief moment, it felt like Star Wars was back.