Frankly, my opinion is summed up in one word: “Mehsome!”

It was about 9 trillion times better than the prequels…but honestly a hot steaming pound of mung would have been as well.

In the end, it was a pure bath in nostalgia…which is not necessarily a bad thing w/Star Wars.

I liked the new cast and the acting was good, but the plot was literally a bland retelling of A New Hope. Finding the “map to Skywalker” was really just a plot device to move the story along: a “Mcguffin,” if you will. It didn’t hold nearly the importance or cinematic draw as ‘plans to the evil Death Star.’

And speaking of the dark side, the new villain just wasn’t…formidable. He was more emo than terrifying.

Probably my least favorite part of the whole film was this really really bizarre fight between the black stormtrooper, Finn, and this random stormtrooper (who had 0 character buildup) ….and who had some crazy weapon that can repel light sabers??!! Wtf, mate? That was so bizarre and JJ should have known better. And also, how did Finn know how to even use a light saber?? He was holding himself pretty well against in like 2 or 3 duels with it. He’s not even a Jedi! It seemed contrived and very out of place.

At the end of the day, I was still happy with the film. A solid B in my mind. I still plan to see it in theaters around 3 more times before settling my mind around everything. But I definitely don’t get the people (some whom I thought were true fans) who are saying it’s better than the originals! That’s just heresy in my mind!

Perhaps I’m being reductive, but IMHO the new film was a far lesser knockoff of A New Hope and simply (and hopefully) a teaser to the rest of of a much larger, unique story.