We saw it this afternoon. We all thought it was terrific. I especially like the riff on the 12 parsecs (it’s still wrong) and when Han asked Finn if there was a trash compactor on board. Loved all that stuff.
The many of us who saw the prior movies laughed a lot over references to prior movies that newbies didn’t share. 
I’ve got tix to see it a second time (Imax-3D this time!). Will be watching closely for the clues.
Saw it today, suspending all judgement, 2D, in a really nice theater that was nearly empty–where I live in Asia there are morning shows, thought it was fantastic, and a great way to start the day after Christmas. There were lots of points when we laughed due to references to past Star Wars movies and/or other movies.
I just saw it a second time-- much more fun in Imax.
With thousands of actors to choose from, I think that it was DELIBERATE that the actor cast to play Kylo Ren looks NOTHING AT ALL like Han/Leia-- the implication being that he is not their biological son. OTOH, the actress cast to play Rey has the looks to pausibily pass for Han/Leia’s daughter. Ren & Rey were switched in the cradle.
Maybe in the next installment, there will be catwalk scene w Luke declaring to Ren, “I am your father…”
I also conjecture that BB8 is R2D2’s secret love child.
I saw it for the first time today. I had heard about all the references to the first trilogy, and I was afraid that they would distract me from the story.
But they didn’t. However, I recently saw some British documentary on ancient Ireland on Netflix, and I recognized the location where Rey finds Luke at the end of the movie. That was the one thing that took me out of the story.
This is fascinating, and I would believe it if they were the same gender. But even in our world, most people know the gender of their child before birth, and the culture depicted in the movie is more technologically advanced than ours.
I can believe that Luke rejected his Jedi identity long enough to have a relationship somewhere along the way that produced a child. But incest – uh, no.
Anakin’s mother somehow produced Anakin without a father being involved. Is there any way that a man could produce a child without a mother? That would be an interesting way for Rey to be Luke’s daughter.
We don’t have the back story to all the Jedi that were destroyed by Kylo Ren. Rey could be a niece to Leia, Luke or Hans.
Yeah, the gender thing makes it hard for them to be swapped… the first thing said about most babies is “It’s a !”.
Maybe, to make the movie more PC, Rey is a transexual.
Or Kylo Ren is!
Just saw it and loved it. Been having text convos with my kids all evening about possible scenarios. Love the new characters, Finn and Rey especially. glad Po didn’t die. Kylo is fascinating. But emo Kylo Ren (my D made me follow it immediately) may make it hard for me to take him seriously.
We watched our actual videos (on film) the last few days of the original trilogy to be ready for this.
There is an interesting theory going around if you ever watched the Star Wars Rebels cartoons that Snoke is really the grand inquisitor, (Rebels series takes place roughly 15-20 years before New Hope.) Personally, I like the idea that he is Darth Plaquies, but JJ Abrams is notorious for disregarding the alternative histories in the books and just making stuff up – look at the mess he did in Star Trek with blowing up Vulcan!! The franchise is a money maker and it is going to be very hard to mess it up no matter how badly Abrams comes up with non-sequitor ideas and crazy new plot angles just for more senseless action. Its too bad really… the alternative universe from such venues as the Knights of the Old Republic / Bioware video games ( watch this 15 min youtube – easily better than anything in Force Awakens! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPdJdEFilaU ) is just so much better. The original SITH series with Darth Bane, 100x better than Force Awakens. Watching this travesty of the Star Wars universe on the big IMAX screen is a mindless waste of time compared to the pleasure of reading some of the great books by Zahn or Karpyhyshn… my 2c
Replying to the comment re: Rey gets a hug from Leia after Han dies but Chewie doesn’t—remember the end of A New Hope—Han and Luke get medals at the ceremony, while Chewbacca gets squat!! Chewie’s always getting overlooked…
That always bothered me. He walks up with them but no medal!
Kylo Ren = Vinny Barbarino
I can’t be the only one…
I thought Leia and Chewie did hug, but it happened after she hugged Rey. Perhaps I am mistaken. I need to see this movie again.
Chewie = Tenzing Norgay
^yes! exactly.
We watched “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” over the last few days, to fill in some background. Sadly, they are just as bad as I remember (if not worse). After seeing them again, I am not interested in any of George Lucas’ criticisms of the new movie.
We watched the original Star Wars movie New Year’s Eve and were surprised that it really held up well. The dialogue is still pretty wooden and Leia and Luke can’t act, but it’s all good fun.