Just saw it tonight and it's a bit late so I haven't really read much of the above posts yet, but will do given some time.

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Overall it felt like a revised "A New Hope". This isn't a good nor bad thing, but it allows for a redesign of the original trilogy and makes me wonder where it is that they are going to take the next two movies. It somewhat comes back to that old saying of History repeating itself and how a river will always flow in the same direction, even if someone attempts to stop it.

So many elements did feel repeated. The beginning sequence of the droid having the hidden data and the villain making an appearance; the 'death star' and the mission to destroy it; the 'sacrifice'; and these are just just a few. The positive of this goes back to what I said before and that's how it's a new vision so the story can now go a different direction since this move played a well designed prequel for the events to come.

I also thought the characters were fairly well designed. Kylo Ren did surprise me a bit when he took off his mask to reveal that he was a normal person, and although it wasn't unexpected for him to be Han and Leah's son, it was a well designed plot point. He also seemed like a character in trouble. Someone that is evil because they don't understand the benefits to being good, but also sad at the direction their life is going. When compared to Anikin, Anikin was just a spoilt twat that became evil because he was a very naughty boy and deserved a spanking. Kylo Ren... I felt sorry for him, he seemed conflicted and used.

Rey and Finn made a brilliant lead. Finn, even in the trooper outfit, had emotion. You could see that he was afraid of what he saw and realised it wasn't right. You could understand that he wanted to do better. He wanted to change and was willing to rebel against the largest threat in the galaxy to achieve that dream of freedom. Rey on the other hand was a powerful character that was unsure about her abilities but soon came to realise how much she played in this adventure. Her fight at the end was brilliant with her overcoming her fears of the lightsabre and using it to protect her friend and to resist evil.

So yeah, overall I enjoyed it very much. It's late so this probably all sounds messed up, but the positives and negatives of this movie balance out in a way that leaves me satisfied and willing to brush off some of those co-incidental parts (Like R2 booting up at the exact right time).

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