I saw it today, and have mixed feelings about it. I did enjoy it, and I will most likely see it at least one more time in the theater. However, I do agree with most of the "disappointments" discussed in this thread.
The score was the biggest disappointment, for me. The prequel scores were all significantly better, and I'm no prequel fan. Other than a few, well-timed inclusions of the classic themes, the rest was totally forgettable.
I also really struggle with the implications on Luke's character, but perhaps the following movies will have some really good explanation for why he would just give up and go hide.
R2, in "low power" mode, under a tarp all these years, because Luke left? Dumb. Threepio pointing out his red arm was stupid too.
What bugged me the most about Snoke was actually the "Supreme Leader" title. Maybe he'll promote himself to Emperor, once the First Order controls the galaxy. I guess the remnants of the Empire are still so vast that they have the resources to build new classes of Star Destroyers, updated gear, and a bigger Death Star than ever.
Another thing that bothered me, along the lines of how Rey is so strong with the Force despite zero training, is how she was such an amazing pilot. Likewise for Poe. The flight scenes were over-the-top compared to anything we've seen previously. I like how they treated the lightsaber duels here, but the flying is like the the over-choreographed acrobatic lightsaber fights from the prequels. It would have been much more appropriate to see Anakin flying like Poe did. Maybe Poe is super force-sensitive. Rey just must be a natural, like her grand-daddy.
I was bummed that Rey's AT-AT wreck house didn't materialize like all the concept art showed. Instead, it just turned into a little bit of shade for Rey to eat her lunch in. It was just an AT-AT wreck, laying on it's side, all boring like. Not even a good pose, and no indication of turning it into a shelter, or a hangar for her quad-engine ship.
The Starkiller base really didn't work for me, on so many levels. Sure, Star Wars has never been realistic, with it's single-biome planets and such, but this just doesn't make any sense. It's a planet, orbiting a star, but sucking off the star. The physics problems are just astronomically stupid, before you even start to think about things like how it could possibly aim. How can it even maintain an orbit, while it somehow sucks the matter away from the star it orbits? How can it pull that much energy into itself without destroying the planet?!? Big enough solar flare activity from our own sun could devastate the Earth, but this thing can somehow suck a star off all the way through it's atmosphere, to the point of diminishing the whole star? This is just silly, far beyond being essentially Death Star 3. Also, exactly how long does it take to fire a weapon at planets in other solar systems? Does the beam go through hyperspace somehow, or does it take years or centuries to get to the target planet at the speed of light?
The ending bugged me too. They should have given Luke at least one good line to end it, or maybe had him actually take the saber and look it over (mirroring Vader checking out Luke's saber in ROTJ). The helicopter shot they ended with felt totally weird.
But STILL... I'd rank it better than ROTJ and the prequels, and I feel a sense of relief that it was as good as it was. Not great, but I'll gladly take it.
