This was obviously a table setter going in but the writing felt very empty in regard to the three main characters, particularly Rey since she's clearly the centerpiece.

It's clear this was approached with a loving hand with heavy nods toward ANH, but it was too heavy if you ask me. I'm cool with getting a sense of history repeating itself but they lined up too many elements far too closely for my tastes.

One element I was very grateful for- particularly in relation to eps 1-3- is that this wasn't bogged down with 45 minutes of political minutiae. I can take or leave Kylo Ren/Adam Driver. There was nothing especially bad about him but neither was there anything remarkable about him. He's just kind of there to me.

For now there wasn't enough building of this new SW world or it's new heroes for a movie that seemed primarily intent on world building and introducing new heroes, but there's enough here that this might well wind up a very good first act within the greater context of the trilogy.