Lack of character development and a poor comprehension of the star wars universe

Rating: 3/10 (13 January 2016)

1. The things that Finn and Rey did in this movie were not consisted with how their characters were presented. For example, each one of them, when faced with a difficult situation, decided to LITERALLY run away. Minutes later, they were fighting the First Order with full ferocity. There was no character development as to why they suddenly stopped being whiny kids who want to run away, to the saviors of the new republic. People that literally run away like that don't randomly turn around to be heroes.
2. The First Order was not menacing and dangerous. In the other star wars, you fealt a constant sense of dread throughout the movies. The empire was an overbearing, menacing force. You could feel the hopelessness of the rebellion. How could the first order be a serious villain when Poe can shoot down 5 tie fighters in 7 seconds while having a blast doing aerial acrobatics? How could you possibly lose a battle with that guy? There was never a sense of danger. In the original star wars, I would tense whenever the rebels lost a ship, because their situation was dire and hopeless. There is no sense of triumph, since the odds appear to be stacked in the republic's favour.
3. Rey learning how to use the force in 20 min and then obliterating a guy that has been training his entire life was the stupidest thing I have seen in a movie for a very long time. How did somebody in the boardroom not catch this? Have they actually seen any of the other Star Wars movies? The force is NOTHING without training. Luke, Anikan and Lea didn't even know they had the force.
4. The fight between the light and the dark side is meant to reflect the internal struggles that we face every day with temptation, anger and fear. These are negative emotions that can lead our mind to dark places. Once those emotions take hold, we can become narcissistic and selfish. However, we are too blind to see it when it happens. When those emotions take hold of us, we all turn to the dark side, even if we are good people. That to me is the essence of star wars, and it has been a theme for every star wars movie and game. The light side of the force is peace and calmness. I think that the writers of this movie really missed the point on this... Kylo Ren was praying to the Darth Vader helmet so he could be more angry and closer to the dark side, because he had too many light side thoughts coming in. Peace and calmness don't invade your consciousness, they come with mindfulness. The dark side is something that happens due to an absence of mindfulness, not a desire to be evil.