Disclaimer: I was in an awful mood when I saw it. Too much family.

Anyway, as a stand alone movie this is dope, dope, dope. If the characters had no history prior to this movie—if this was the first installment of a series—sure.

However, combined with Episode 7 and as part of the larger Star Wars story, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It renders most of 7 useless and pointless, since 8 gleefully subverts or ignores everything that film set up. Given how average 7 is, that isn’t the worst thing, but it does mean that these 3 aren’t going to feel as connected as the previous two trilogies did.

Plus, there’s just too much in the story that is unexplained and/or seems implausible. How did the First Order obliterate the Resistance so quickly? Why is Rey so powerful with no training?

Finally, a true old man comment: there’s just way too much going on in this movie. Fewer plot points with more development of the ones that remain, please.