The disappointment of the year

Rating: 4/10 (30 March 2016)

Star Wars franchise hit the bottom with the Force Awakens 7th episode. I was so let down I really couldn't believe what I just saw, and let me tell you why.
This is a single dimension, one layer cliché action movie. It's so generic I'm baffled folks at Disney/Lucas greenlighted is a long awaited new piece of Star Wars universe. Apart from nice looking battles it doesn't bring anything to the table. The story lacks depth and sense, characters are shallow, and not properly developed or introduced. The events just 'happen' one after another, without really explaining why and how they do. Take the whole conflict amongst the Republic and the First Order - who are they, where they came from, who runs it and how. Nothing, null, nada.
But the word that comes to mind all the time while watching Force Awakens is 'miscast'. Rey and Finn were OK, as main characters go. Entirely forgettable, but OK. I'd expected bigger role for an actor like Chris Isaac, but instead he got just few minutes as Poe the pilot. Han Solo is a different case - his return was sort of a cameo taken beyond any limits of decency. Ford is apparently too old for the role, he lacks the kick and looked awkward in the battle scenes. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool idea to include him, but It appeared as both Solo and Leia were supposed to cover this rather shallow and straightforward plot with their 'look I'm back' pointless performances. Didn't work though..
But the biggest of them all is Adam Driver aka Kylo Ren aka the Anakin's grandson. Wow, really...? The first moment he took his mask off I literally burst in laugh, and I wasn't the only one. With his face expression of spoiled brat, he came nowhere near the bar set (pretty low-ish) by Hayden Chrisensen's Anakin/Darth Vader. There was nothing in this character that suggested his great power, evil or.. anything really. "A mommy and daddy left me" kind of attitude combined with silly childish anger made for a grotesque character, that's simply an insult both the fans and to the series.
What didn't help is that we didn't get a chance to really meet any of those characters. The 'daddy conflict', a cheap rip off from Skywalkers, was just pathetically oversimplified (and poorly played), we've no clue who Rey is and why is she so powerful... what's worse, we've no idea what's the evil behind Kylo's childish face and that tall hologram...
Episodes 1-3 were bashed for not being in par with the saga, but looking back at them from Force's perspective - they're near masterpieces of sci-fi action genre. I'm getting through them with my daughter now and the depth of characters, rich script full of interesting plots, well developed characters, even Christensen's Anakin - they're all joy to watch. There was so much fuss when Abrams took the saga, he'd been brought up on Star Wars, he's gonna turn it into a masterpiece people said. So far nothing indicates any of that and I fear next movies, that are probably being produced as we speak, will only get worse.