The new characters melded well with the old ones, and Han & Chewbacca were awesome as always. I had read about Darth Tantrum prior to seeing the flick and was happy to see it wasn't Darth Crybaby/Anakin level. The reactions of his subordinates were great...the officer fully expecting to be Vader'd to death and breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't happen along with the patrolling storm troopers pausing and performing an about face. Ren definitely has a reputation already that is only rivaled by Vader's. 

I was glad to see the opening crawl tradition carried over. The Star Destroyers seemed a lot larger and intimidating this time around and the opening appearance of one eclipsing the screen was refreshing from a dorsal point of view. I enjoyed the various Easter eggs, such as Finn tossing the Saber probe aside and triggering the holo-chess game among others throughout the film. While the revamped Death Star was played out, at least it was a refreshing concept of being built into an actual planet versus the mobile space station times three, more so with the extended range that resolved the need for being mobile. Lots of nods to the original trilogy as such, but for the most part they worked.

Despite Ford's admission to being one and done with the rebooted franchise, his death was fairly predictable. My wife --- who had avoided all the reviews and internet talk --- saw it coming well before it happened. However, it was more dramatic than I expected, I figured Ren would have simply force-pushed him over the edge instead of running him through and experiencing a dying breath moment.

Finn cracked me up. He was always dodging the truth while doing so in heroic fashion. "Sanitation?!?" "Yeah, actually I'm just here for Rey." Poe had witty one liners in a Han Solo-esque fashion but it was Finn who kept me laughing out loud. BB-8 wasn't the disappointment I thought it would be, and I am thankful for that. I'm still not overly wild about R2-soccer-ball, but it wasn't Ewok/Jar-Jar deplorable either. The saber duel wasn't as invigorating as I'd hoped for, but then again it was non-Jedi vs Sith followed by newbie-Jedi vs Sith so it was at least acceptable as such. And we got to see an actual use for the Swiss Army Jedi Saber hilt blades that launched it from lame-kewl factor to okay-that-makes-sense factor.

Of minor disappointment was the lackluster John Williams musical score, which sounded more Indiana Jones than Star Wars. It felt like there was a major budget cut and it was limited to Williams, because even the aforementioned Indy scores were memorable and this one all but disappeared into the background noises. In addition to Star Wars movies looking like Star Wars movies, they also need to SOUND like Star Wars movies, and this one did not.

My only major disappointment so far (I do plan on seeing again within the next week so I may find more nits to pick) was Luke's overly brief screen time. Sure, he's been missing for a few decades, I get that much. But he could have at least had a speaking role, even a brief few words instead of a final cameo eye contact appearance. I mean Kenny Baker was listed at the bottom of the closing credits as "R2-D2 consultant" and R2 had far more screen time than prominently mentioned Hamill.

In the end it is an awesome flick and I am happy I saw it on opening weekend.