Finally got to see it because I exist in a state of constant slowness proportional to when everyone else is enjoying things and how much so. I loved the hell out of it, had a great time. My father and I both gave it a solid 8 out of 10.
The parallels to the first film got a bit laughable, but I have to believe that echoing so many of the iconic moments was a way of getting everybody back into the Star Wars universe; reminding us of what it meant and why we cherished the original trilogy so much before later films hopefully start making major deviations from the formula. I could be wrong, and history will either vindicate me or not, but that's what I believe at this moment.
I'm really glad Phasma is going to gain more prominence. Not just because she's a woman per se, but because I feel it'd be quite interesting to have a major villain going against the heroes who's wielding projectile weaponry and pure physical skill instead of a lightsaber and Force sensitivity. That's something we haven't really gotten to see in Star Wars yet -- the closest was Jango Fett in the second prequel, and that was too Lucas'd up to leave an impact. I envision a pretty cool final fight with her whenever that time comes. Character development would also be pretty nice while they're at it, because as cool as she looked and acted, her personality was a little flat.
Spinny is dead, long live Spinny.
Anyone pumped for Rogue One? A Star Wars movie with Mads Mikkelsen can only be great.