"Remember your failure at the cave..." #Fail #Fail #FAIL

Rating: 2/10 (20 December 2015)

"Remember your failure at the cave..."
This is what viewers will need to be saying to JJ Abrams after this travesty of a "new" episode. We got duped by all the pre-release hype and this thing fails miserably.
*** VERY LIGHT SPOILERS ***
Here's a litmus test for ANY movie that you watch, especially one hyped as much as this one was: If at any point in the movie, you are so disinterested, you would get up and walk out and not feel you were missing anything... the movie's a failure. If it's hyped as much as this one was, it's an EPIC failure. #Fail #Fail #FAIL
No spoilers needed. How many ways did this movie fail?
Bad acting: Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher looked reluctant and like they mailed it in. No screen presence whatsoever. The girl is adequate and I guess Finn as well. The rest of this is nothing but a way to wedge in a reunion of all the previous characters in less than impressive ways (including the previous droids). Kylo Horrible. The spoiled brat thing was both puzzling and wasn't sold. Did you ever figure out what a massive effect James Earl Jones' voice as Darth Vader had on the previous originals? JJ doesn't get what it takes to create a real nefarious PRESENCE as Lucas clearly understood. Kylo is way less than intimidating. I could go on and on here.
Bad casting: Really bad casting. I have nothing against Oscar Isaac, but he's not the right guy for the role he's in. Neither is the actor for the antagonist, Kylo (as detailed above).
A Reboot: Name almost any scene in Episodes IV, V and VI and they can be found in this film in different configurations.
Uncreative: Because of the reboot aspect, there's absolutely nothing creative about this movie. JJ Abrams sat down with a clean slate and THIS is what they came up with?! Even the reboot sequences are hurried and without much background. Example: Rebels huddle in a room for 15 seconds and figure out how to blow up a new Death Star that supposedly is 100x bigger and more impenetrable. There are loads of other scenes delivered with almost no background and with a hand wave.
Comic Scenes: JJ couldn't decide if he wanted this to be funny, serious, dramatic or what. Some reviews say the comic lines don't work -- a lot of them were funny in the moment, but when woven into the overall fabric of the movie, you realize something's missing.
I wasn't going to leave a review but SMS comments by my son, who did NOT grow up with Star Wars back in the 1970's and 1980's put it so perfectly, I had to include it:
"The few people who wrote 'good' reviews (here on IMDb) on it were like 'I'm just happy it was Star Wars. I love Star Wars. It was Star Wars. It was amazing. Go see it. Don't listen to the naysayers. Title says Star Wars...' Blah, blah, blah..."
Exactly.
For the sequel to this rubbish, JJ, you're going to have to earn it next time. No more pre-release movie hype that plays off the pent up anticipation of a past generation of viewers. "Remember your failure at the cave..." The cave of a movie house I walked out of last night knowing I and everyone else had been snookered.
Won't watch again and won't buy when it comes out on BluRay. Litmus paper says "acid."
A very generous 2/10.