I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I was just a bit disappointed.

If I were to try to put my finger on it, it would be that the film felt impatient and that it didn't trust the audience to stay with story and character building.

I think the film is at its best IF you like Rey and Finn. If you buy into them and you're rooting for them to succeed, then there's an immediate enthusiasm and positive vibe. And I think that's what the casting did for so many fans. But for me, it felt flat and I needed more than what I got.

The beginning with Rey on Jakku and the fleshing out of her existence was nice, but I wanted more of that story so I could know why she was there, what she was doing, what was holding her there, and all that. Not in exposition or implication or in "it'll come later", but in visual progression.

And so as she Levels Up and gains new super powers (ie., Force abilities), it feels false to me b/c I'm not fully engaged into her char and that leads me to want more growth / reason / effort on her part to have those abilities. Otherwise, to me it feels unearned.

Similarly, Finn was so quickly established with such broad strokes that I had really no feeling about him. And he was (imho) just so boring. I would have liked it if they would have gone full Coward with him and instead of "I refused to kill for them" instead made him like one of the peasants from Hidden Fortress who was a legitimately afraid and unwilling to die.

With this disconnect, the movie itself felt more like watching someone else play a video game. And it's a video game they've already beaten so they're just showing you how to beat it.

I never felt any real sense of jeopardy and the ebb and flow and rhythm that I'd like to feel in a film just wasn't there.

Personally, I think if the film had been simplified with less "stuff" in it, I'd have enjoyed it much more.