It wasn't. It just seemed to lack a little something. Not throwback mind you, having the bad guy weapon be the super death star (I wanted to say super duper death star, but I'm afraid that's the big bad for episode 9) whose shields have to be brought down by a small team led by Han Solo covered most of that.
Rewatched 8. There's good and bad. I don't mind Jedi Rey like others. Luke was using force by end of 4. The casino run and Rose just ruined it. They had no clue what to do with Finn. And I still think Captain Phasma was woefully underdone. I do hope that Abrams is able to "fix" stuff though.
This is what happens when you don't have a single person running the show from beginning to end. JJ Abrams should have done the whole thing.
It's why the marvel cinematic universe worked so well, Kevin Fiege made sure everything came together
I'm going in with the expectation that Jar Jar is the Sith lord behind all of this and he comes out victorious, so it can only exceed it. Also - he is the asexual parents of Rey.
no, their connection to this malus must be so if it is anything like episode 7, Rey will turn out to be Vader's relation some convoluted way