The Wizard of Mediocrity strikes again

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2015)

J.J. "The Wizard of Mediocrity" Abrams strikes again. This movie has lots of good qualities and good Star Wars feel to it, but in a typical Abrams fashion, good must be balanced with bad in order to create the most average end result possible. At least with episodes VIII and IX one can have positive expectations since Abrams won't, at least directly, be there to mess things up. One can only hope that him being a producer means he'll stay clear.
Generally the movie was plagued with bad/lazy writing. The script seems like an early draft that was never revised. On the other hand the movie is still entertaining, even with its numerous flaws. Try not to think about anything too hard and you'll be fine.
Spoilers from here on out.
The movie starts with an example of lazy writing. The whole setting in the initial scene is unimaginative, and having a stormtrooper basically have a panic attack from watching a fellow trooper die and underscoring the significance of the event to no end, is just stupid. It shouldn't have been too much of an effort for a talented writer to create something better, let alone for three writers. The other events in Jakku were great, but the escape from Jakku was ruined. There we have the bad guys chasing Millennium Falcon and it can still basically stay parked in orbit without the Star Cruiser following it. When the Millennium Falcon is picked up, we're back to great fun, but the whole "where the hell is that Star Cruiser" is still looming. The best parts of the movie are on the first half and then things go wrong.
Next we have Deathstar to the power of ten. Gimme a break. Then a planet destroyer beam that is slower than light but still travels to a faraway system in minutes. Oh, come on! The whole Starkiller Base is unbelievably stupid: using ridiculous amounts of resources, which could be used to build a couple of new Deathstars, to build a two-shot mega weapon on a planet. Whoop-de-doo...
And then we have the resistance. What resistance!? The Empire lost and it's the First Order that is the resistance against the new republic! Viva la resistance should be a part of the republic's military force. Which in turn brings up the question – where the hell is the republic's military!? And couldn't they really not come up with a better reason for not being able to go to viva la resistance directly? For example "the hyperdrive is about to break, we need to stop on that convenient planet where Luke's light saber is". Damn lazy idiots. And then where the hell are all the ships that are bigger than X-Wing? Or even ships that are not X-Wing? Rey turning into a Jedi was a bit too sped up and Kyle Ren was another example of lazy writing. The whole thing with Darth Vader's helmet and "oh grandpa, my evilness is crumbling down" scene was really embarrassing. Han Solo's death was not fitting for the character: he wasn't that naïve. Well that's enough listing the stuff that was wrong in the movie even though there are still plenty of stuff left unmentioned.
Spoilers end.
I really don't get it as to how it is possible that none of the three writers or any person in the huge production crew said nothing when faced with the stupidities in the script. Maybe Abrams was given too much lenience in his contract which then led to a very Abrams like, i.e. mediocre, movie.
I'll rate it extremely average which is on a scale from one to ten (10 + 1) / 2 = 5.5 which is 6/10 rounded up.