There are issues

Rating: 5/10 (17 August 2017)

First of all, yes I acknowledge that a 6 is probably too low a score for this movie. It is well above average and deserves around 7, however in my opinion it does not come close to a score of over 8 and therefore I did this to show my displeasure at that high a score.
To begin with I think that all the visual effects are stunning, same goes for sound design (as expected from a movie with this large a budget).
The action scenes are also well choreographed, edited and shot. And for me these are the high points of the entire picture.
Where it lacks however is in the story and to an extent, the characters. The story is a very generic one which follows almost to the letter the first of the franchise. It is, in my opinion, uninspired, dull and playing it far too safe (which is understandable due to the reception of the previous revival of the Star Wars films.)
Like I said the characters are also not the best. My favorites of the new ones are probably Poe Dameron and Finn. This is because they get the most screen-time containing actual character development and real CONFLICT.(They were also funny.)
The main character of Rey however, has none of these. She is sometimes dead-pan in delivery (= not funny) and faces no REAL conflict. Whenever you think she is going to be at risk and that you will therefore receive some sort of dramatic tension she resolves the issue without much effort, often using the force and it's techniques, which according to the rules of the universe, should take years to master. All of this combined, results in her appearing more like a poorly written 'Mary- Sue' fan-fiction character than the main hero of a movie in one of the most adored franchises in the world.
I hope the issues regarding Rey's perfection gets resolved in future installments so that I can hop onto the Rey hype-train and not get disappointed further.