Follows very much in the path of TFA, but possibly even more soulless and hackneyed. Nearly everything from characters, settings, animals, and emotional arcs are all recycled. The few times it does try to surprise, it left me nearly laughing at how ridiculous it was.

There are some moments scattered through. Kylo Ren is as much the highlight as he was in TFA, and Poe is given a beefier story than before (possibly at the cost of Finn's). The animal aliens do look neat. But at the same time, when they introduce "new ideas" such as a battle on an ice planet, you can't help but think they were desperate to include new and diverse areas to have a bigger, epic scope, but at the same time needed to relate it back in something older (Hoth) for nostalgia.

It's a constant competition of nostalgia vs originality produced to get the most amount of money possible. And to have "fans" say things like "oh this is like that scene in Episode 6." But I think the real fans want something new. They want a George Lucas vision, possibly reigned back by competent producers and team, not this limp Disney money-making machine playing it as safe as possible.