It's amazing how emotionally evocative and well executed Han's death scene was, given how predictable it was.
In fact, that sort of goes for the whole film too. The film is as "safe" as many people expected, with its plot essentially being a retread of A New Hope on a larger scale and relying on a number of familiar tropes (most of which were already made apparent before the film was even out), but it's all handled really, really well that it's not that much of an issue. It's the kind of derivative sequel that's purposely trying to ease audiences back into this universe before future installments take off into more original exploits. All in all, it certainly washed the bad taste of the prequels out of one's mouth, and I look forward to see more of this new era in future films and other media.
Captain Phasma was a bit of a disappointment, though. Hyped up and made to look cool and distinct, only to be underutilized in the film itself. She probably had a bigger part in an earlier version of the script, but she's basically a nonentity here, outside of her design and rank. She's just there so they can add another action figure to the roster. It's akin to how Darth Maul turned out all those years back, only she's even less prominent than he was.