There is one thing that bothered me about this. Kylo Ren should have been dead after the shot. Compare it to the damage the gun did in other parts of the movie.
That, my friend, is the power of the dark side for you
I saw this movie last week and while I liked it, I felt the plot was too much like Episode IV...
Oh and Rey is such a Mary Sue, that scene where she does the Jedi mind trick was too much! lol :bugeyed Kylo was pretty cool though!
I feel the similarities thing is overblown by people (not you specifically, I'm talking about general commenters I've seen on the internet). I saw this graphic online that had the plot of Episode IV, crossed out some of the words and replaced them with the equivalent from Episode VII. Problem is that it often twisted the plot in both films to suit it's agenda, even making up the odd plot point or two and left out a huggeeee portion of The Force Awakens' plot (like literally, Finn was hardly even mentioned in the "comparison").
I think if you focus on Rey solely, there are some similarities to A New Hope, but that's if you leave out the entire subplot of Finn, Han/Leia, Kylo and his parents etc. Finn's story especially is one we've never seen in Star Wars. Honestly the only part of TFA that bothered me with it's similarities was the Starkiller (although there was some nice variations on that). Apart from that, The Force Awakens had more than enough differences to satisfy me and feel like it's own film in it's own right.
Ignoring the story and focusing more on the business side of things, I'm not surprised that Disney went for a familiar territory for the film, in fact I think it was even needed. I remember when Disney announced it's plans to make Episode VII, there was A LOT of skepticism as to whether Disney could make a good Star Wars film. Would they Disneyfy it? Would it feel like the old Star Wars films we all grew up watching and loving? It was absolutely crucial that Disney nailed their first attempt with The Force Awakens as the performance of all the subsequent Star Wars films depended on it. By re-introducing some familiar aspects from the original trilogy, it would play along much better with audiences (many of whom wanted 'an Old Star Wars film') and thus help give everyone faith that Disney is capable of making excellent Star Wars films. While I, personally, am not overly bothered by the odd familiarity with A New Hope, I do hope it distinguishes itself more in Episode VIII and IX.
I do see the issue with Rey being quite a perfect character. While she does have some weaknesses, I think that'll be explored much more in Episode VIII. That's what happened in Episode IV, Luke's weaknesses weren't really explored until Episode V.
