The end of my love for the Star Wars franchise.

Rating: 1/10 (18 December 2015)

***SPOILERS BELOW***
I can't believe I'm saying this, but this movie makes me miss George Lucas. I think we all owe George a huge apology. I didn't care much for the prequels at all, but at least they were original and you can tell there is a passion behind the story and the film-making. You can clearly tell episode 7 was made by the Disney corporate 'machine' and is aimed at leaching money from our nostalgic wallets.
The fans got exactly what they asked for. That is, if they were looking for a movie with Stormtroopers, check. A death star with a vulnerability that can be easily exposed, check. Explosions, check. Numerous chase scenes, check. A story that works around all the above requirements and does nothing to explain what is going on or what our beloved characters have been doing the last 30 years, check.
About an hour in, I felt it was obvious that the movie was rushed and story be damned. Another death star assault? Another cantina scene? (neither which come close to the originals and were totally rushed through) Rey basically becomes a Jedi over the course of 5-10 mins? Poe and Finn become best pals and create a strong brotherly bond after knowing each other for what, 7 mins? I was shocked at how rushed this movie was to accomplish some of its plot goals.
Oh, and there is just as much, or more CGI in this film than the prequels, don't be fooled. Truth is, practical effects take much more time and effort than CGI, and again, this movie feels very rushed, so this should be no surprise. Shooting this movie on film was also a waste of time as it might as well been digital. I mean seriously, for all of the talk about being careful and using CGI sparingly, we somehow get a scene involving 4 terribly over CGI'd tentacle equipped aliens that chase our heroes about 30 â€“ 40 mins into the movie. I think it was one of the worst scenes in any Star Wars movie, period. There are also a few CGI characters (Snoke, the Junk Dealer, Maz) that were totally unnecessary to be CGI, but they did it anyway.
***BIGGEST SPOILER OF ALL TIME BELOW***
How Han Solo was handled was so disappointing. And whatever was done in this regard was going to draw a strong reaction from the fans. And sure, I know Harrison Ford doesn't want to be in the whole trilogy and you all know that he will come to an end in this movie. But the manner in which he meets his end is so tragic in how bad it is. The greatest and most beloved hero of the Star Wars universe dies without a fight, but with a whimper and is then just discarded like a piece of trash. It was an insult to his character. We waited 30 years for THAT? Why bother? It just seemed like a real FU to fans of the original trilogy as in 'You like your Han Solo do you, he's your favourite character and the only redeemable part in this mess of a movie, right? Well, we're going kill him in the most cowardly, pathetic, ill-conceived way we can. The Mouse is in charge now, screw your original trilogy!"
I just don't know why they bothered to have the original heroes in this movie at allÂ…oh wait, I know why, to get a bunch of nostalgic Star Wars fans to shell out their hard earned space bucks in order for Disney to recoup its $4 billion investment asap! Business is business and this movie screams it and reminds you constantly every time the plot is advanced and important details are glossed over.
It saddens me to be so negative about this as I love Star Wars and really like JJ Abrams and I also think Lawrence Kasdan is a genius. All I can think is that Disney had way too much say in the end product in order to satisfy their long term plan of releasing a new film every year, and new toys, books, games, etc. They will ensure this franchise will speak to the lowest common denominator and ensure Star Wars becomes just 'another franchise' in their stable of acquired (and extremely lucrative) franchises.