A New Hope version 2

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2015)

Contains very insignificant spoilers.
Star wars is a huge franchise, so going into The Force Awakens, I had high expectations. I had even higher expectations because Disney know how to make a good sequel (e.g. Toy story, Marvel movies, etc), and J. J. Abrams is a very capable director.
And Abrams delivered.
Technically, the film was perfect. Every focus pull was spot on, every cut timed precisely, the sound mixed to perfection, the vfx unnoticeable. The only technical 'imperfection' was that only one sequence of the film was shot with IMAX cameras, so it's not worth paying a premium to see it on a huge screen.
John Williams also gave his best, with a score that takes inspiration from the iconic theme and makes it even better.
In terms of story, it's a fast paced, well written and executed piece, ticking most of the boxes needed for something engaging. That said, the movie spreads itself too thin, trying to bring in one too many characters, and because of that, Rey misses out. Her character isn't given as much screen time as needed, and as a result it is only until the end that we really get to understand her importance in the film. What makes it worse is that George Lucas made the exact same mistake with Luke in the original Star Wars, and Abrams failed to learn from his mistakes.
Still, with three epic battles and two big face-offs, The Force Awakens is a joy to watch. The inclusion of many references to previous films and the banter between Han and Finn make this movie even more enjoyable. The biggest problem is that, as good as it is, there's nothing special or new about it. It's essentially a remake of A New Hope.
Even so, The Force Awakens is a wonderful film that both fans and newcomers will really enjoy. 7.8/10