Weak effort relying on endless battles in absence of character and plot

Rating: 3/10 (28 December 2015)

First: I have been a Star Wars fan since the early 1980s. I LOVE Star Wars. By the time Return of the Jedi came round, I could feel a disturbance in the Force, and the Sith plan to destroy the magic of New Hope and Empire Strikes Back was fully enacted by Phantom Menace et al.
Now to The Force Awakens. Clearly some effort has been made to recapture the look and feel of New Hope, but no effort whatsoever given to plot, dialogue or character development. The film is MINDLESS. Huge, gaping plot holes are filled with endless laser battles, no doubt designed to sell the console games that will follow. After seeing Awakens at the cinema, I returned home disheartened. I watched New Hope again and can say that on all counts it is a far, far better film. It has a tight storyline, good characters, plenty of humour, the action zips along without getting boring. We all KNOW what a good film New Hope is.
Now to the SPOILERS (though not major ones) - what is so bad about this film? Here we go:
1. The PLOT. Droid carrying data vital to the rebellion lands on a desert planet and is found by a descendant (no doubt) of Anakin Skywalker who doesn't realise they are strong with the Force. There is a chase by Imperial troops (OK, "First Order" troops) lead by a Sith knight wearing a black helmet and cloak and carrying a red lightsaber. The young Jedi-to-be escapes in the Millennium Falcon. The Empire (OK, "First Order") have built a planet-sized weapon which fires an energy beam capable of destroying planets, which they demonstrate. The Rebellion attacks this with small fighters but to do this a small groups has to land and de-activate shields or whatever. A lovable father-figure character is killed by the guy in black with the red light sabre. The young Jedi-to-be has to fly to a remote system to meet a Jedi master. DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR? So, they couldn't be bothered to write a new, interesting story. Just dig out the old.
2. The CHARACTERS. We met a series of one-dimensional characters (a clichéd fighter pilot, a shouty Nazi ginger-haired general, a wise old woman who's only purpose was to hand over an old lightsaber). The new Darth Vader impersonator had the old daddy- issues but in reverse. Poor old Max von Sydow (one of my favourite actors) got just enough screen time to MacGuffin the plot along. Only Chewbacca got any kind of character development. Finn was pretty good but utterly unbelievable - someone raised from birth to be a mindless stormtrooper suddenly develops a full character and a sense of humour?? Ren is a beautiful woman but utterly unconvincing - a top engineer as well as learning various Force tricks by herself within a few days. There was no subtlety to be found anywhere.
3. PLOT HOLES and MACGUFFINS. How could a fully formed New Empire arise, and build a weapon of that size, within 30 years, completely undetected by the Republic? OK, space is big as they say, but surely someone would have seen something? Why would a Jedi Master leave a map to his whereabouts if he clearly doesn't want to be found? Why would a certain lightsaber be found in a convenient box kept by an old lady (who conveniently dismisses this by saying 'its a long story' - well tell us, we're here for 2 hours and we're bored of spaceship battles!). I haven't really been aware of MacGuffins before (unexplained characters or events that move the plot along) but this film is full to the rafters with them.
This film is lazy, lazy writing in the extreme. Still, its what the kids want these days and the money is rolling in, so who am I to argue. My time was the 80s when the films were fresh and exciting. These days, it seems, any old junk will do.