Some random thoughts..
The over-dramatisation with slow-mos etc in certain parts annoyed me. That's just modern action cinema though I suppose but I thought it was overdone with the bombing scene. It made a bit more sense later on when it turned out her sister would be a player in the story. A lot of Leia scenes annoyed me in particular Princess Mary Leia Poppins. I... still don't know how to feel about the whole Luke vs Kylo Ren face-off; I was having ep3 and ep4 flashbacks and in this case would have been happy to have another 'rehash'.
The whole Rey Luke arc was quite underwhelming although it certainly had some good bits. I don't think this is entirely the plot's fault. Luke out of the major 3 original characters to me is the hardest to identify with. He looks (purposely) like a dishevelled hobo and I found it hard to make a genuine connection between him and the major hero of the original trilogy. His aura is diminished and it's bit like why do I care about this old hobo. The closest I felt to a Luke Skywalker that meant anything to me was when he 'faced' Kylo Ren. Completely different situation to Han in TFA.
I found the 'this is how it happened' 'no this is how it happened' 'okay this is how it really happened' back and forth between Luke and Kylo Ren's re: their versions of events to be quite odd. I think they could have just given the real version without that, it didn't seem to add anything to the story. Rey could have been lured without it. Luke could have still been flawed without it.
Snoke and Rey's lack of backgrounds.
Snoke: I thought this was a major letdown that he just turned out to be a nobody or not worthy of a background. As an aside, I think Kylo Ren killing him was meant to make casual viewers second guess what would happen with Kylo, but if they remembered this was a trilogy, what the f**k would the 3rd movie be about if Kylo had really turned? Rey as Supreme Leader? General pussy as supreme leader? Snoke's death locked in the rest of the movie's main plot. Still, the scenes leading up to it did have me thinking one would turn so there's that.
Rey: On the flipside, I like her parents being nobodies if it's true. Its a twist I can get behind. I wasn't expecting it to go that way especially when she was drawn to the darkness when training with Luke; thought that it was a hint her lineage was from the dark side.
Should Fin have died? I think so. His near death scene was a little out there. I like his character but it would have been an opportunity for the bad guys to really take something from the audience. Maybe that's to come in episode 9?
Overall, I liked TFA better.
