Saw it last weekend, and have avoided reading posts in this thread to date to taint my opinion, so here is my brief review:
- First 3/4 of the movie was utterly forgettable-- basically generic sci fi in space with good production values.
- Last 1/4 of the movie felt like genuine Star Wars
- I didn't give a shit about any of the characters, but that's generally the case with all modern day sci fi where explosions and CGI are more important than character depth
- Musical score was bleh
- The Star War fanbois will probably freak, but IMHO no Jedi=no Star Wars. While I am sure there's a tremendous amount of lore out there via the novels and such, if the movies are your only source, then Jedi's are integral to Star Wars being Star Wars, and not generic_action_movie_in_space.
- I did like the fact that the movie was more serious, gritty, and less "sanitized" than previous Star Wars movie. If they can replicate this more mature content into the main Star Wars films, they may finally have a winner.
7/10, and thats kinda being generous with mental emphasis on the climax of the movie.