Good film but they told the wrong story.

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2015)

I never write reviews so this is my first. I was only inspired to write by the hugely negative and unfair reviews focusing on events not concerning the film. I don't care about the directors past works(people talking about star trek, wtf?), nor the other films or the possible future films, just the film in question.
I'll keep it short.
The film had great performances from everyone, cant fault them. Nice comedy, good rapport between characters and i did sincerely care for the them at the end and will look forward to what happens to them in the future.
Whats stops the film being great for me is the definite wrong focus on the main plot. To me, the main plot should have focused on Han Solo and Leia and Kylo Ren. After watching it i just felt that it was a sub plot and it felt as though but it had the emotional plot device in the film and was used to a negative effect. I understand that killing Han Solo was a powerful way to involve the characters and also the audience to make them invested in the future and give them a reason to fight and keep watching, it was a good move in IMO.
They could have dedicated a good 20-30 minutes of the film to delve into Leia and Han and the past 30 years and why we should care about Kylo Ren. It would have really built up a suitable ending for such a legendary character.
With this as the main plot, they could have still achieved what they did with the death star story and given a better introduction the newer characters and given them a good reason to care about the future.
The person who should have had the most adverse and emotionally charged reaction to Hans death was chewie. Not only was he there and watched Han die, but he has also spent all of the time i assume with Han in the past 30 years. Rey and Finn have only met Han for a small time and also didn't believe he existed and they act like he was their father whilst chewies response is largely glossed over.
It would have been great to have had chewie have an emotional showdown with kylo ren and we would have been completely gripped watching a wookie break down and go full beast. He could have dealt a good blow to kylo and been saved at the last minute for certain death by the newcomers and therefore given chewie a reason to identify with the new guys and also to drive home how important Han was to chewie.
Instead chewie gets a few head nods and sighs and within 15 minutes on screen he seems to be ready to go off on another adventure. They still could have had Finn and Rey split up and still pledge to see each other again and Rey was always going to see Luke in the end to develop her force. It wasn't very necessary for kylo to awaken it in her when that was clearly going to happen anyway in the future.
If they had focused on that instead of the death star, they could have capped off the history and explained the passage of time whilst letting the death star story do the setting up of the future, it would IMO have made the film stand on its own two legs. They also didn't include Leia in the kylo thing. It felt like it didn't mean very much to Leia which felt odd. Instead of a story of literal rebellions and empires, they could have had the heart breaking story of an estranged son rebelling and breaking his parents hearts only to commit patricide and give fuel to Leia's campaign not only as a resistance leader but as a grieving mother of a broken family.
It was a good film though but i just felt they got the plots in the wrong focus. I feel like such a powerful plot device should always be center stage, it would have really made this film something special, instead Han went out like a fart in the wind comparatively.
Now that Hans story has been told, they have squandered the opportunity to send him of right, a bit of wasted opportunity IMO.
I do however look forward to the next one.