The first thing I have to say about this movie is that I loved it--- every second of it. This is what a Star Wars movie should be. What I find amazing is how the plot is essentially the same as the original Star Wars (I'm an OG--- I don't call it A New Hope) and, yet, it still all seems so fresh. But all the elements are there: cute, MacGuffin-carrying droid on the run from bad guys, peasant character with more power than they know finds and helps droid, older mentor figure, gigantic world destroying weapon, "Hail Mary" assault to destroy weapon.
Grant Morrison once said that whenever a comic book writer/artist does a run on an established franchise they are essentially doing a "cover" version of what others have done before (For example, everybody that does a run writing Batman does a Batman Vs Joker story). What makes The Force Awakens fresh is how it finds unique riffs to play within the same old melody. One of the more subtle shifts is, whereas Luke Skywalker longed for a destiny greater than that of a farm boy, Rey and Finn are both, in their own way, running away from adventure and excitement (a Jedi craves not these things!). While Luke ran towards his destiny headlong into to those twin suns, they find themselves rather reluctantly drawn towards theirs.
Also, the old mentor figure? The New Ob-Wan? It's Han Solo! This was a brilliant decision to play against expectations and is far more appropriate for a 70-something Ford to be tackling. How sad would Ford be if he tried to be the same old arrogant, nerf-herder? They give the character real weight (don't worry,he's still a scoundrel--- but he's a bit wiser and, in many ways, a very different person from the man he used to be).
Speaking of weight, this probably carries the most emotional weight of any Star Wars film to date (successfully, at least--- Episode III should have been this powerful but was held back from doing so by a mediocre script and wooden acting). I don't want to spoil too much--- but It's something most people have been guessing at anyway. But the moment is fully deserved and accomplishes what it needs to in the film.
Lastly, on a lighter note--- it's funny! It's probably the most legitimately witty of all the Star Wars films! It plays with the audiences own knowledge of the franchise in a winking way which doesn't endanger the film's suspension of disbelief (a tough trick if you think about it). The story's more meta-textual elements are made possible by the fact that, to Rey and Finn, the events and characters depicted in those films are just as much a legend to them as they are to us--- and it works!
The Force Awakens is easily the best in the series since The Empire Strikes Back and, in time, it may even be viewed as an equal to that film, the best in the series and my all-time favorite movie.
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