JJ Abrams is overrated

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2016)

I was pessimistic when I learned JJ Abrams was going to be taking on Star Wars. While he was "successful" in the reboot of the Star Trek films, he seems incapable of directing a film without a contrived plot that is about as coherent as something written by a 5th grader.
Okay, I had no problem having Finn crash land and run into Rey and BB-8. It's everything after that. Amazing that the Millennium Falcon just happens to be on the same planet in the same village that these two need to escape from. Amazing that they get picked up in space by non other than Han Chewy. Amazing that Han and Chewy decide to take them to the same backwater world where there is a wise ... individual who just so happens to have Anakin/Luke's lightsaber. Yeah, I get it, the Force works through everything, but come on. This isn't the Force at work. We've seen this sort of collection-of- coincidences-equals-plot in the Star Trek reboots. When looked at with a critical eye, this sort of plot is about as sturdy as a cardboard box in a hurricane.
The rest of the story was pretty simple. There's a giant planet- destroying base (quite original) and it's going to destroy the Resistance. This is the third such super-weapon plot device in the Star Wars franchise. They've ceased to become impressive, especially given how easily they are destroyed.
And the characters? Han Solo ... the best you could do was make the hero of the Galactic Civil War reverting back to a smuggler? It's like his character did absolutely no evolving in the 33ish years since we first met him at that cantina. Rey was fine, but I think we all sort of can predict her future. Why not giving us her full name or showing us who her parents were, that means you're hiding something. I wouldn't be surprised if she is a Skywalker. What a great story to pit two descendants of Anakin against one another? Finn. A bit over the top, and it didn't necessarily fit in with the Star Wars universe. They should have toned down his character a bit. Kylo Ren. Not bad. I think everyone was expecting a Vader clone and we got a guy who is still learning. Captain Phasma. Who? Everyone got excited about the chrome stormtrooper. All she did was walk around issuing orders and then get taken prisoner. That stormtrooper with the shock stick thing was more of a bada^^ than Phasma. General Hux. Definitely not on par with previous villains. Too young. They could have cast a much older actor and the role would have done better.
I'm glad that Abrams ISN'T running the next installment. Maybe we'll get more story--a more complete story