Original Diehard Fan with Mixed Feelings

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2019)

I'm keeping this short, but here goes....
a) LOVED that we have a female being the major focus of the story. Ridley does a good job, and I really liked her.
b) The FX and scenery were excellent as always, Star Destroyer awesome imagery.
A & B are why I gave this a seven, This is really about 6.5/6.75 for me. It would have been a 6, but the tipping point was Maz. She was an awesome character addition and I wish there had been more of her. The character was under utilized IMHO
c) HATE the fact that heroine's story is pretty much a rehash of original Star Wars movie (New Hope). I think JJ Abrams is brilliant, but WTF dude, give us new material, don't rehash old plot lines (he wowed me with 1st ST movie, but here he does the same thing he did with 2nd Star Trek movie, and you do NOT F*&k with the original Wrath of Kahn. Just don't!).
d) Finn was like a funny sidekick role, but his character could have shown a lot more depth.He's got a lot of dark emotions that should have been developed
e) Kylo Ren I'm not a fan. The angst was too emo, which made him wimpy. I just wanted Rey to drop him every time. He was like a petulant little boy playing wiht the big boys. Didn't work for me. The backstory wasn't fully expanded on as to how he went dark. yeah you see what happened, but you don't see the total explanation, just superficial stuff. It just made the emo vibe unrealistic, unsympathetic and I couldn't connect with the character. I mean you can hate Vader in the first movie even though you don't know why he is so dark, but your reaction to him as a character is a solid emotional reaction of loathing. Ren just doesn't give you that. If you're going to be on the dark side, you can be redeemable evil. Apparently they don't know how to write that kind of depth. It doesn't help that I felt there was something off with Adam Driver either. CAn't put my finger on it, but the long robe garment didn't inspire evil either.
f) Delighted to see Solo fall (long story)
g) I loved the ending with Luke (Hamill has totally matured into a hero with major angst. You see it in his face when he turns around to look at Rey. That's great acting when you convey that.
h) Carrie - Loved her as always and Gawd I miss her. She's just wonderful. Kick A$$ heroine even as she aged.
i) Overall a decent movie, but they went with too much FX and not enough character development. But then I'm an author and I know how to do both.
j) I don't know if Abrams wanted to take things safe because he was going into a powerhouse franchise or what, but I expect better of him. His reboot of the Star Trek franchise with Chris Pine was wonderful. I was expecting the same here and came away unsatisfied.
All opinions are subjective, but so others will disagree vehemently, agree on some of my points, or all. It's about what works for the individual. But my opinions are based in the writing world, so I'll see things a bit differently