Things I observed from the movie:
Finn reminded me of Will Smith from Men in Black, and Rey reminded me of Jennifer Lawrence from the Hunger Games
The biggest twist in the movie for me was that Rey was the real Jedi and hero(ine) of the movie. Only Finn was seen holding a lightsaber in the previews and all the Disney stores were full of Finn figurines - none of Rey at all. I came in expecting Finn to be the main character and was pleasantly surprised. Rey / Daisy Ridley's performance was great and I'm sure she'll be a huge star going forward in the mold of Jennifer Lawrence or Emma Watson.
Man, Kylo Ren is one scary dude. I'm a Star Wars noob and haven't seen the original trilogy, but in the prequels, Darth Maul didn't talk, and Count Dooku, Papeltine and Anakin weren't that scary per se. Kylo Ren was a real dark character. The scene where he knew exactly which stormtrooper betrayed him was cool. Poe's torture scene was also very intense despite not showing anything. You hear him scream and Ren walks out with the location of the droid - that was powerful. I imagine Darth Vader must have had a similar presence in the prequels.
The First Order had very obvious dictatorship element to it. From the fact that they address Snorke as the 'Supreme Leader' ala Iran or North Korea. The scene where Hux speaks to the army on their new weapon was almost a direct copy of a Hitler speech in Nazi Germany. From the red and black flags and banners in the background, his slight foreign accent, his style of speech, and most blatantly obvious the Nazi-like salute the stormtroopers made at the end where they raised their left hands in a first (contrasting with the raising of the right arm but with your hands straightened)
Why didn't Finn give Rey the lightsaber as soon as they met on the Starkiller Base? He kept it (and didn't use it) until they were confronted by Kylo Ren at the very end.
Definitely the best movie I've seen in 2015! Very curious to see how this series evolves! Rey as Luke's daughter is what the movie is hinting towards (and what everyone is expecting), would be cool to see if they can have some kind of 'twist' away from that.