Balance in the Force Awakens

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2017)

Finally went to see this in theaters, and overall my gut feeling is positive. I understand how people are getting really negative vibes from this movie because of how different the style was from the original films. It had more of a rogue one feel (which I automatically like, this is star WARS) than the previous episode, an episode I didn't really much care for. Han died plus it was basically a direct remake of new hope, but Disney put the epic in star WARS with this one and did a pretty good job with passing on the Jedi torch so to speak.
Spoilers: I actually liked how the saga of Luke came to an end; the throwbacks to real life mythical legends. Yoda was also a nice touch. Ren's, and reys story arc had a good continuation, same as any true sith, the master must be killed.
There was one point I honestly thought, it is actually over for the rebels. Rey had a valid reason to turn to the other side (not necessarily the dark side either) and help her friend, Ren), and I actually thought she was going to turn.
Watching the first movies I never really thought Luke was going to turn but here I did. The relationship between Ren and Rey was done so well, amazing actually. Couple things I didn't care for. It was too long only because it felt like they tried to put too many things into this movie. There was Rey's training, which because of how compacted it was felt very rushed, plus the main rebel fleet story-line, plus another side quest, all which had to take place over the course of 2.5 hours. Also, the similarities to the empire strikes back were more than subtle. It had it's own uniqueness, imo, so it didn't take too much away though. Anyways... We also still didn't learn anything about Rey's ancestry, or maybe there is nothing to learn. I don't know. Something for other's to speculate about. 8/10 for me. Awakens had a 6/10.
On a side note:
The explanation of force was so well done by the grey jedi luke in the movie. It's what keeps everything in balance. Light and darkness. We all have both and cannot disregard either. Also darkness or light are not synonyms to evil or good. That's all folks.