Good, not great

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2015)

The movie is entertaining and occasionally funny, the action sequences and special effects are great, but the plot is convoluted, shallow and forgettable. Is it just me or does it appear that movies have evolved into just one long mishmash of action and explosions punctuated only by brief periods of meaningless dialog?
Not that the original Star Wars trilogy was a work of deep philosophy, but they had structure to their plot, and more gravitas overall.
What I find particularly disappointing is the shallowness of the evil characters in this movie. They just completely lack the depth of someone like Darth Vader, in particular Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) to me just comes across as a mediocre actor. I found Domhnall Gleeson (as General Hux) much more convincing in his role.
Daisy Ridley (as Rey) also offered a lackluster performance, a whole league below of what you would hope for in a big production like this.