George Lucas' words while making The Phantom Menace have oft-been mocked, but when you look at the saga, and consider The Force Awakens in that context, there is some truth in them as well. You always (across the trilogies) have the master and the student, with the latter replacing the former; the struggle about going over to the Dark Side; the redemption. Lucas was heavily inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell, in particular The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and the 'hero's journey' is clearly set-out throughout Star Wars, but the rhyming goes beyond just that. In The Force Awakens, you've got a bunch of new, young heroes, but it's almost certain there's going to be a Skywalker there (probably Leia's, possibly Luke's, maybe both ), who (and chances are it's Rey) will then turn out to be a Jedi. You then have the Obi-Wan (or Qui-Gon) role of showing the heroes the ropes, this time around in the form of Han Solo, meaning it wouldn't be a surprise if he died in this film - the mentor always does (though it'd still be devastating). Even the imagery, with the best example being Rey on Jakku looking out at the sunset and dreaming of a better future, mirrors (or rhymes with) what we've seen before. There'll be variations and new twists, but because it's Star Wars, you can already piece together how a lot of this movie is going to go. That doesn't ruin it, but if you're expecting something completely different, or a big shocking twist on things (like, say, Luke being Kylo Ren...) then you might feel somewhat disappointed.