4) The Force Really Is Strong With This One
The Force is loosely defined in the films, allowing those who play in the Star Wars sandbox to share their own interpretation regarding what powers are available to the Jedi forces. In the expanded universe, a variety of astonishing abilities manifest themselves on the dark side of The Force, but in the films so far, all we’ve seen is choking and lightning.
The Force Awakens finally takes the opportunity to play around more with what The Force can actually do, expanding Kylo Ren’s abilities far beyond anything we’ve seen before. Interrogation scenes where Kylo literally rips secrets out from his victims minds are incredibly chilling and the moment when he holds a laser blast suspended in mid-air is just effortlessly cool, instantly establishing Kylo as a force to be reckoned with (pun intended… in retrospect).
All of these incredible demonstrations of Kylo’s power undermine how weaker combatants like Finn and Rey were able to hold their own later in the final battle, but I’ll leave that one for the hardcore fans to thrash out on the message boards….