Stop wining about this movie!

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2015)

I watched this film earlier today, and I came out of the theater with a quite good feeling. It was perfectly fine. More or less what one could expect from a SW movie.
When I came home and read the reviews on this site, I was amazed at all the negative opinions. OK, the movie is not perfect. But no movie is. Some of the critique, I can agree with. Some of it, I can understand. And some of it is just plain stupid.
I agree with... The storyline is not very original. Old wine in new bottles, for the most part. But if you think it is bad, then the original stories are also bad. So what's your point?
I can understand... The main villain is not a very strong character. OK. I get that. I had the same feeling at first. On the surface he seems like just another young Anakin. But considering his Vader-complex, his insecurity and inadequacies make him more interesting. This adds a new dimension to his character that we have not really seen in previous SW movies. The mask? Well, he wants to appear to be a bad ass, and the mask helps. He wants to hide his insecurity and weakness. He cried when he killed his father. He is torn between good and bad, and that makes him (slightly) interesting. Much better than young Anakin.
Rey defeats Kylo Ren. OK. Not quite believable. But then again, he was shot. And she had the element of surprise. I reacted to it too, but I can accept it.
I don't agree... Some reviewers here say that Rey is a bad character. I think she's great! Gender aside, she is strong, brave, skilled, cool... Anything you would expect from a leading character. Much better than Anakin in Ep.1-3 or Luke in Ep.4. On par with Luke in Ep. 5-6. The only flaw is that she has no obvious weakness (impatience, clumsiness or whatever). This would make her a bit more interesting. But if she was a he, the negative voices would silence. And that bothers me. What are you afraid of guys? Why can't young girls have an idol who is more than just a pretty girl?
And the light saber fight IS good. Rey performs extremely well. Her lack of sword skills are clearly intentional and well rehearsed, so don't use this as an argument against her. If you want to see poor swordsmanship, watch the embarrassing performance of Obi-Wan in his fight against Vader in Ep.4. Or any fight in the original movies, for that matter. Ouch!
Some complain about the lack of back stories for the characters. Why did Ben/Kylo go bad? Why did Finn defect? How did the First order emerge? And so on. In my opinion, these "plot holes" are necessary to keep the mystery alive and have something to build on in the upcoming two films. Tying up every loose end is the most effective way to kill a story. The movie keeps us guessing, and I like it.
Too little Luke? What??? I thought it was too much. The final scene is entirely unnecessary. It would be better to cut when the Falcon takes off towards the skies. Or perhaps only give a hint of Luke. Once again, keep the mystery alive. Luke is inferior to the idea of Luke. Kinda like Jaws (the shark). Think about it.
It seems that many people had (extremely) high expectations on this movie, and probably their own ideas about the story line. Of course, this practically guarantees that people will be disappointed. But put all those expectations aside, and you will see that this is a very entertaining and cool movie. Not perfect by a mile, but definitely worth seeing.
Stop wining!