Underwhelming

Rating: 1/10 (23 March 2016)

tl:dr - Watch once but doubt you'll bother watching it again.
Main review: Similar to others, I was happy to hear that Abrams would be directing this sequel but I should've known better. Also, just like others, I became a fan of Abrams with Lost and Cloverfield. However, as time has gone by, I'm now of the opinion that he doesn't actually do anything special with any of the movies that he directs. And this is just the latest example.
I mean, how can you not get Star Wars right? The immensity of the lore gives you endless possibilities to work with. Unfortunately, it feels as if he just wanted to play it safe by using the same old formula and just not willing (Or able?) to think up anything original. Iconic characters from the original Trilogy just seemed so out of place in this movie. It's almost like he didn't have a clue as to what to do with them. Don't get me wrong, some of the scenery and effects in this movie were good to see. Kylo was okay and some of the sequences were good to watch but it just didn't save the movie. If you removed the Star Wars name and all lightsabers, this probably would've been seen as a terrible movie and be going at 2/10 on IMDb but, because it's Star Wars, it's rated highly. There was just something that.. I'm not sure what it was but something was missing. I still can't put my finger on it. The plot started off okay but seemed all over the place as the movie progressed. Okay, a planet got blown up - So what? I couldn't care less. Snoke? Don't care. Kylo? Apart from some stuff he did, who cares? The First Order? Don't care. Why even have Phasma there if you can't make her seem cool or do anything useful? To be honest, I had a hard time caring even when Han, Leia or even Luke made an appearance. Barely anything made me care about any of the characters, even the original ones - And I LOVED the Originals and Prequels. The whole thing seemed bland, dull and boring for the most part. And Abrams, in my view, is to blame. I have no idea why this is 8.4/10 on IMDb as I type this.
And that's excluding all the problems with the plot, some of which are below: - A planet-sized "Starkiller" was made within 30 years? Using what resources? How? Where did they get the people from given the size of the First Order? - Finn just happened to walk in the right direction in the desert and meet Rey? Er, okay. - Oh, how convenient that the Millennium Falcon was there to help them escape. - Oh, Poe died? Hmm. Oh wait, now he's not? Oh.. okay? - How convenient that Rey seems to fly the Falcon so well and take out the bad guys. - How convenient that Han finds their ship at the perfect time. - How convenient that Han has gone back to who he used to be and Leia is in a similar position as in the original movies (omg look! she is a born rebel!! omg). - How convenient that they find Luke's lightsaber. - Rebels save the day at the perfect time! - Let's blow up a planet that we don't care about to show how powerful this new weapon is. Oh, you were targeting the Senate.. Er, okay? Who cares? - How convenient that Finn et al sneak into the enemy camp ("Starkiller") and walk around without being caught. You'd think something of that size would have millions of troops. - Yes Rey, escape but not do the obvious and wear a Stormtrooper uniform to blend in. - Oh look, Rey can now climb walls and knows what button to press to go wherever she wants because.. Well, who cares. - Oh look, let's kill Han for shock value in one of the lamest ways possible. - Let's also shoot random stuff to blow up the Starkiller as Poe did. Because shooting at random stuff always works if you don't know what you're doing. Rest assured, as always, it's all good because the good guys will get away because that's how below average movies work.
Please.
All that I thought at the end of the movie was that Disney made a mistake by not allowing Lucas to work in some major capacity on the sequels. At least the prequels, even with problems, were good to watch. TFA wasn't good to watch but actually boring in various places.
I'm hoping Rian Johnson learns and improves on the below-average plot for Episode VII as he directs Episode VIII otherwise, if I were Disney, I'd seriously start reassessing how to proceed forward with the franchise.