Had potential to be great, but underdeveloped story destroys that.

Rating: 1/10 (17 December 2015)

Just watched the movie in IMAX. It seemed like a giant repeat of the previous story already told in the Star Wars saga. The hype surrounding this movie built up so many expectations that I was surprised to see it wasn't anything unique.
It starts of with a droid being given a secret message that it needs to deliver. Wait haven't we already seen that?
The main masked villain, Kylo Ren, is portrayed poorly and seems like a little angry insecure kid the further the movie goes on. It started good though but as soon as he took off the mask it went downhill. The actor doesn't even have any slightest resemblance to his characters parents. We find out that he was once in the Jedi academy but turned against Luke Skywalker and so the whole Jedi program was disintegrated and Luke left blaming himself. The further the story progresses this is less and less believable. Seriously, that guy?
The new characters Rey and Finn had potential. Rey seemed like an older female version of Anakin from episode I. Finn, a storm trooper that decides to flee from the First order, seemed more jumpy and nervous than what you would expect from someone trained to be a storm trooper.
Rey turns out to have a connection to the force. Apparently a mechanical light saber is now magical with the power to create illusions and calling for people that have a strong connection to the force. Disney must have decided that Luke Skywalkers light saber now is equal to some sort of Excalibur.
The female hero has a connection to the force which is so strong that apparently she doesn't even need any training what so ever to withstand a mind attack by Kylo Ren while being interrogated. She also apparently also knows Jedi Mind tricks without anyone ever teaching her the slightest. Telling a storm trooper to set her free. Oh and telekinesis powers just comes naturally as we see her pulling the light saber from the snow like she had done it a thousand times before. Because, well the force is strong within this one.
Once we see a dual between Kylo Ren and our heroes Rey and Finn. Both Finn and Rey have no problem fighting a Jedi trained apprentice, that have dark powers... Rey just needs to close her eyes while blocking a light saber inches from her face and concentrate. Luke himself however needed to train his butt off. But, hey the force is strong within this one.
The main plot is yet once again.. a death star. Only this time it is bigger and resides inside a planet. The rebels need to destroy the shields to attack it. Wait wasn't that what happened in episode VI?
What I found annoying was the weak attempt to joke in the dialogue. It was just cheesy bad. Reminded of a typical Disney kids movie. There's everything from:
* Finn asking Rey if she has a handsome boyfriend in the middle of trying to fix a spaceship while being attacked.
* Kylo Ren sarcastically saying, "A droid stole a ship?"
* A nurse comforting Chewbacca saying he must have been very brave during fighting and him nodding his head back.
What holds this movie up is Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. It is sad that they had to portray their characters with this script though. The new droid is a fresh breath of wind all though it seems like it's bound to be a dynamic trio in the making with R2D2 and C3PO also in the mix. The CGI is also good. Can't complain about the overall effects. But in general this really seemed too Disney to be true. I don't think we will see any real dark versions coming out in the future as long as Disney owns the franchise. They will all be made to just please young age groups so that more money can be made.
I expected something a lot better from this. They had time and money to make a better script with more developed story than what they did. It's not a bad movie though. But more like the average Disney adventure movie.