Nope. Totally Overrated. Rogue One Was Better, and This Was in Some Ways a Disservice to the Franchise. Big Miss.

Rating: 5/10 (29 July 2017)

I can't believe I'm going to say this because I heard so many great things about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but I actually liked Rogue One, which I just saw a few weeks ago better.
Cameos alone don't make a movie good. If you're not doing anything constructive with them, that doesn't make the movie good, and it could worsen it.
This movie was a mess. My main complaints, however, were first of all "Fin". I was hoping his overacting and overreacting would calm down or disappear after the first 10 minutes as an opening side character, but they kept him in. His acting and demeanor did not fit the Star Wars universe, and he did not conduct himself like a disciplined Stormtrooper would. He was an awful choice as a lead character here. Fortunately, "Ray" was much better and helped to at least make the movie bearable and watchable to offset him.
Second of all, what an awful call to kill off a main character in this. It was totally unlawful and unjust to the Star Wars universe. The way the scene was handled, in addition to proceeding scenes was careless and done without any effort, like it was nothing. That's a joke, and I was really disappointed. I understand the actors are just doing the script and everything, but it was bad for everyone involved.
And my last big gripe with the movie was that it was just all over the place in that too many things were happening because of coincidence or at just the right time with no explanation why. There were so many instances of this that it's not worth going over because it would take forever.
In addition, I'm sorry but Carrie Fisher's character in this was so uninspired and the "original characters" often talked like cardboard characters. This is not a criticism because I love and have a lot of respect for them, and I think this more has to do with the production, script, and directing, which seems to have just wanted to add these characters at all costs, even if the story wasn't a good fit for them.
On a plus side, there definitely was a lot of action and the girl "Ray" really saved the movie from being a total failure. It was entertaining, and it had its moments, Star Wars moments, the end was good, but this is a totally overrated movie.
I can say with certainty right now that Rogue One was much better. This one was almost a disaster, but I have too much respect for Ford, Fisher, and Luke to call it that. It was fun to see them all again, but I think they could have been used and served much better. I'm actually going to forget I ever saw some of the events of this movie if I ever watch another Star Wars. This is like an independent work of fiction to the Star Wars universe.
5/10