Slightly amusing but rather painful

Rating: 4/10 (11 January 2016)

This movie had many nice scenes, moments, sometimes quite good character play, but they are poorly linked and have a bad structure. If I would tell a tale like this to kids, they would probably ask 1000 questions or just throw at me a bunch of pillows.
The pain comes from the fact that this movie could improve highly just by adding a couple of short scenes (explaning some of the motivations of the characters), sharing a bit more background info with the audience about why things are happening the way they are (the Rebel Alliance won, but it seems it doesn't matter, because there's the First Order, which is the Empire 2.0 only with a bigger Death Star (how is that monster financed btw? the Empire's resources are mostly gone with their defeat)). And there are 990 similar questions.
Some of the actors are doing great, even if the character/role is poorly written. E.g. Rey or Solo are pretty believable characters and fun to watch (Chewbacca is one solid character, same as always). But some other actors really struggle. The renegade storm-trooper is a great idea, but the acting and background is poor. Really, the guy has been working at sanitation? So elite soldiers are doing mopping and vacuum cleaning? Or stormtroopers are not the elite anymore? And shouldn't he be though? Or at least a bit fearsome? Btw fearsome. The new "Darth Vader" is as fearsome or terrifying as a 5 years old, hysterical kid with a loaded gun. Of course we would be afraid... he is dangerous. But does this kid becomes the dark lord by default, does he radiates evil and just by a look turn our blood cold? No. In general all the evil characters are weightless and actually it's hard not to laugh at them or feel pity. And without a strong evil side the struggle and fight of our new heroes becomes forgettable and light, missing the drama in general.
They have left a lot of questions open and new episodes are on the horizon. But sadly this movie left me in a mood that I just don't care. I don't care about the New Order, about Luke Skywalker returning, or why 3PO has a red arm. We have seen poor storytelling and all the CGI effects couldn't make this right. Sorry, but SW saga has been closed for me with Episode 6 ... and even the Disney/Empire's marketing machinery can't change that.