Just going to add my own voice to the crowd here. I went into this extremely apprehensively and was pleasantly surprised. This felt like Star Wars in a way the Prequels never did.
Did it feel like it borrowed too much occasionally? Yes. But most elements were remixed enough that they still felt fresh and totally fitting. The callbacks and references got a bit much once or twice. On repeat viewing they bother me less though. As with most people, the main issue for me is Starkiller base and the reuse of the superweapon trope.
If they really had to have Starkiller base, I think the Resistance ought to have failed to destroy it (only disabled it). This would have subverted our expectations and made it less of a rehash of ANH/ROTJ. Also it would have made it much darker (Han died for nothing, and Luke is now the Last Hope for the galaxy, just as he was once the NEW Hope).
The other thing that bothers me is the map MacGuffin. How did R2 have the rest of the map in his memory the whole time with the exact jigsaw piece cut out of it? I hope this is adequately explained in the next movie, because that just seems too convenient. It suggests that Luke deleted that section of the map himself before leaving so no one could follow him. But if that’s the case, how did the missing piece come to be in Max Von Sydow’s hands? Furthermore, the First Order were looking for the piece too, so does that mean they had the same map as R2 had with the deleted section? If so, how?
Rey was maybe a tad too proficient in the force too quickly. But it bothers me less when I think that our preconceptions have been coloured by the PT for so long. Luke could use the force in a limited way by the time we got to Empire, and he’d had no training whatsoever. We’re going back to basics where a Jedi’s training is more of a rite of passage rather than younglings in gym class. The title after all indicates the force “awakening” in Rey. Whether it’s just her sensitivity to the force awakening, or if she’s had some prior training but had it suppressed/been mind-wiped remains to be seen. I’m excited to find out!
Everything else was handled perfectly. The humour wasn’t overly silly. Our new principal characters were likeable, Han Solo was Han Solo, not just Harrison Ford. Leia was great too. I don’t understand the criticisms of her acting. She just seemed older and more weary. She was still Leia all over.
Kylo Ren is great. He’s the anti-Luke. Luke rejected the Dark Side by refusing to kill his father, whereas Ren embraced it by choosing to kill Han. This makes me think this little shit is now totally beyond redemption - at least I really hope we don’t have that rehashed too.
I was delighted they used their restraint when it came to Luke. It would have been so tempting to have a “badass” introduction, and have him active earlier in the film, but he was handled PERFECTLY. It’s exactly the haunted and damaged Luke we should have had at the end of ROTJ.
I was also pleased to see Abrams rein in his usual signature visuals. There was minimal shaky cam, the camera wasn’t constantly rotating around the action, it was far more traditional than I expected. There were still quite a lot of lens flares though.
Abrams would never have been my choice to direct a Star Wars film, but he and Kasdan have done an admirable job. It’s not perfect, but it’s Star Wars. And a better film than ROTJ as our returning characters actually had stuff to do. I frequently went from grinning in my seat, to overcome with awe. It was just great!