The bad taste in my mouth only got worse.

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2016)

This may contain spoilers.
A lot of things in life still amaze me, the most recent of which is the number of people giving positive or "10/10" reviews to Star Wars Episode VII. The only force that awakened in December 2015 was that of the dishonest critic and Disney's ability to manipulate audiences into making money. I left this movie with an unsettled feeling, similar to that which I had after leaving Star Wars Episode I. I was supposed to feel good - I wanted to feel good. But I didn't. The bad taste that I had in my mouth only got worse over the following weeks as I realized why. This movie was story telling at its worst, not to mention a complete rip-off of Episode IV.
Many YouTubers have rightly pointed out the obvious similarities between Episodes IV and VII. I won't belabor those points. But I will comment on the poor story telling.
For starters, everything seemed very rushed. This left the audience with dozens of unanswered questions and needing to accept absurd realities. It's probably better to list them as they come to mind than drone on in paragraph form:
1. The entire movie is catapulted forward by a lone storm trooper deciding that killing innocent people wasn't the right thing to do. They mention, almost in passing, that the new storm troopers were stolen from childhood rather than from a clone army. So how does Finn know right from wrong? At the very least they could have done some kind of flash-back, had dialogue or 5 minutes of additional screen time detailing why he felt so conflicted and decided to break from the mold.
2. There was far too much use of comedy - even Harrison Ford couldn't pull it off. The initial trilogy and even the prequels had an air of seriousness about it - the stakes were legitimate, lives were on the line, etc. This movie just had a degree of playfulness that seemed to break from the past movies and that which seemed appropriate.
3. Kylo Ren's character is made weaker and weaker throughout the film. It starts by the captured pilot talking trash to him (again, poor use of comedy) rather than being in fear. It continues as he rages out like a petulant child on numerous occasions. This is followed by his removal of his mask and near tearful state as he discloses his intentions to Rey. This, of course, is followed by him not being able to break Rey (more on this later), getting partially schooled by a light saber-wielding novice in Finn and then getting definitely schooled by a seemingly force-competent Rey. He's just a weak character. Not one to be feared in any capacity.
4. Rey has skills that seem to come out of nowhere. We have to assume she's someone who has innate skills and is force sensitive. But in her flashback we hear a voice that says something to the effect that "this is the start of your training" - to which she flees into the woods in tears. This is followed by a scene where she a) defies Kylo Ren (a trained Jedi/Sith/whatever) by not letting him into her mind and b) uses a Jedi mind trick twice to enable her escape. Then to top things off she overpowers Kylo Ren's use of the force to grab the light saber from the snow and best Kylo Ren in battle. This sudden ascendancy to greatness and Jedi-ism was perhaps the worst element of the entire movie. Zero development. It made no sense.
5. The entire plan and assault on the new Death Star is ridiculously rushed. Perhaps the worst moment in this series of events is where Han flippantly states "it's just bigger - it must have a weakness somewhere". Within 1 minute, Finn (who we now come to discover is a janitor, only making his besting of Kylo Ren even more implausible) tells them the weakness, a plan is hatched and everyone is off in space. Just seemed so rushed, not to mention a tired remake of the original Episode IV.
6. What the heck is C3PO doing with a red arm? This is just a stupid unanswered question.
7. R2D2 is in possession of this map the entire time and is sitting idol because Luke is not around. And yet we can't find Luke without R2D2's element of the map. So in theory we should never find Luke because R2D2 should never wake up. And why does an elderly man on Jakku have the additional piece of the map? And why does R2D2 come to life magically? I'm sure this will be explained in the next movie, but to leave so many holes and unanswered questions is just poor story telling.
8. Why did the Tie Fighter get sucked into the sand and explode in front of Finn? Zero explanation.
9. So you power the Death Star III by destroying a nearby sun? So you basically kill the entire solar system automatically. Why shoot a (slow) beam of destruction at those planets?
I could go on. If by some miracle you are reading this and haven't seen it, wait until it hits Red Box and rent it with a bunch of people so you don't have to spend more than 20 cents watching it. Disney doesn't deserve more than that for reproducing and old story and doing it so poorly.