I was slightly disappointed by it, but much more impressed by it than I was the prequels.<p>On balance, it's not much worse than a chapter of the original trilogy. It's meant to be a modern version of a pulp serial and it does work as that. While it does repeat a number of themes and elements from the OT (perhaps too closely for fans of it,) I think it succeeds in expanding upon those in a way the originals weren't capable of.
Yeah it was somewhat confusing (why did the Senate not restore order after the last movie? Why are the Senate's own troops called 'the resistance' and not 'the army' or some such?)<p>Then, after a spectacular job of building character in the first few minutes, they all drop back into one-dimensional fantasy characters so the big special-effects show can start.<p>Finally, the weight of the fan-service sort of dragged things down. Sure its neat to see the old characters and themes - but the magic of this franchise was its breadth of vision. To recapitulate every significant scene from the original movies was lazy.<p>Disappointment is the perfect word.