1) The Unmemorable Score
John Williams has been one of the great movie composers of all-time. Arguably, no one has been able to top Williams at his best, especially in his heyday of the 70s, 80s and 90s, when his work with the likes of Spielberg and Lucas bore such ample fruit. But that was then; it’s 2015 now, and Williams hasn’t created a truly great original score in some time.
Disregarding the cues from the original trilogy (those old themes of Williams’ are still dynamite), there’s hardly anything memorable about the music in The Force Awakens. It’s understandable that Abrams would bring Williams back to score Episode VII – there really is no modern equivalent – but there’s no denying that Williams, now aged 83, just doesn’t have that creative spark that he once had.