Not the rave as touted

Rating: 4/10 (24 March 2016)

I saw the movie and it was OK, but definitely not what I was expecting after all of the rave reviews. I think these reviews came from people who never saw the previous movies? I was very disappointed with how the movie flowed.
It appears that the characters were all acting separately. Instead of the interactions shown in all of the previous movies this one was just not flowing like it should have. I expected the same camaraderie and pacing from the other movies. It just seemed choppy.
I was floored when our evil character turned around and lifted his mask to reveal his face so that the audience could see it. It would have been so much more exciting to have him lift the mask slowly, for Han only. Plus, this character is a far cry from the type we had in Darth Vader or even Darth Maul.
I did not like him at all. He was just too flaky - whiny, weird, whatever. He did not strike fear in anyone. We needed a real evil character - not one constantly throwing temper tantrums. He really should have been a cyborg or something - anything but what he turned out to be.
Even the relationships between Kylo Ren, Han Solo, and General Leia were convoluted. I did not feel they were presented in a way that made me feel any connection - even to Han and Leia.
I just hope the next installment makes up for these strange changes and gets back on track to better follow George Lucas' original films.