Music is critical to star wars. This film is scored to the standard of the originals.

// Music in star wars

Sound is critical to Star Wars. There's lots written about this,
http://houstonsymphonyblog.org/09/15/before-luke-skywalker-t...

Examples,

* IV. Luke Skywalker watches the binary sunset, and feels
the pull of the force. The force theme has been hinted at
previously, but is played more richly here.

* VI. Interplay between themes in the space
battle/endor/emperor chamber. Use of the imperial theme,
the rebel alliance theme, troubled variations of rebel
alliance theme. Tension, victory.

* Leia's theme. In the original trilogy, Leia is constantly
successful and ends each episode on a joyful foot. Yet - her
motif is distinctly melancholy. Why? What is the darkness in
her future that earns the troubled motif?

Williams is a master. His tunes from the original films worked well then, and have stood the test of time.

// The prequels

The prequel scoring was awful.

The 'trick' in Anakin's motif was unsubtle and uninteresting. There were no interesting new motifs, and they watered down some of the existing motifs by applying them to purposes that they weren't suited to.

Either Williams was left out of the creative process, or he treated it as a time+materials job. There's nothing interesting there, and it's over-egged in the films.

// Episode VII

As I was waiting for the film to arrive, I was wondering how it would compare for music against the original and prequels.

Several segments were scored as richly as the best bits of the original. Example: the scene where they launch the Millennium Falcon.

There are strong new motifs. Kylo Ren's motif is good, and gets used well. For example - the battle after the first light-sabre scene.

The plot has been taken in a direction that satisfies Leia's melancholy motif.

Disney has brought in a team who know what they're doing. Nice work guys!

// Other

Away from music - I was disappointed at the Poe situation. If you're going to stamp out a new series by sticking closely to the old formula, at least stick to the formula!

The original films were edgy. Esbalished characters were killed off (Luke's relatives, pilots), and Han shot first. We should have seen blood at the crash site, and no more of Poe. Killing off an established character is part of strong writing.

Not enough female characters. Rei is good. But only one? All the nazis - why are they all men? Poe - could have been a woman (and then she could have been killed off). Even the author of Buffy makes a Star Wars film dominated by male characters.

Back to the Nazi thing - this has been pretty heavily played out. Davros and the daleks were fun. Starship Troopers. But it has been thoroughly picked over. Old is boring. Find something new. Why not do something with the samurai themes, feudalism?

There were too many strong American accents. Cushing made sense with a strong English accent in episode IV because it helped establish the idea of /empire/. But strong American accents are a distraction in the star wars universe.

I loved the monsters in the freighter. The Tai Fighter hijacking was cool.

Fin worked. Hope he evolves into a badass and not a comic relief character.

Kylo Ren is a strong addition. He is a powerful /angry young man/ character. Another nail in the coffin of the originals - fabulous. His accent is fine.

As another writer comments, the tributes to the original films were excessive. Everyone has seen the originals. Get on with it. Hopefully this is a one-off cost.

The droid is excellent.