Even though I like the characters, there is reason why Rey is, in attempting to show girl power, a Mary Sue; Flynn while trying to be cast in the Han Solo model doesn't quite make it...attempts at humor (he's a janitor, rather than a sentry) diminish the character. Poe is a cypher--most of his greatest aspects are assumed, spoken about, but not seen. Han is a plot device (also with attempts at humor sacrificing the character), Chewbecca is wallpaper. Rylo Ken is more whiny teenager than dark villain!
The show banks on nostalgia and hope, to make us see more in the characters and story than there really is.
In first viewing Rogue One was better.
I agree a lot with what you say here Kip. I liked Rogue One a lot better too, however I think Rogue One could've done a better job of fleshing out the characters more than it did. I wish we had seen more of Cassian's backstory and the history between Saw and Jynn. I also wish the blind mystic had been a Jedi.
But as to TFA, yeah, I mean the movie banked heavily on nostalgia and the idea that the prequels were so bad-which in hindsight they weren't-that TFA was this great return to Star Wars. All it was was a warmed over Episode IV, with less interesting characters, and watered down villains. It was like the Resistance and First Order were just pale imitations of the Rebellion and Empire.
And I really didn't like how TFA crapped over the original trilogy characters making them essentially failures. Luke runs away. Han runs away. Leia has become this hardened general. R2D2 was deactivated for years it seems. Han wouldn't have found the Falcon in all that time? Come on.
I also think that Rey was a Mary Sue. And it was about girl power. But in this climate you aren't supposed to say that, but it's true. I like Daisy Ridley but I thought Rey was too powerful, too quickly, and stuff came too easily to her. In Episode I, Anakin had lost pod races before he finally won the crucial one. And in that movie he destroyed the Trade Federation command ship by accident essentially. In Episode II he gets his arm cut off and in Episode III he takes that lava bath, and he's supposed to be Lucas's Chosen One. Heck, the only straight victory Vader had in the entire saga was Episode V, and even then, he fails to collect Luke so he can turn him to the dark side. And when you look at Luke, he destroyed the Death Star with assistance from Han and Obi-Wan, got beaten decisively by Vader in the next film, and only beats Vader in Episode VI because Vader doesn't really want to fight him (IMO), and he's fried by the Emperor (albeit he wasn't trying to fight the Emperor), and we see in Episode VII that he ran away.
Yet Rey, in her first film, has already defeated the Jedi mind trick, had learned how to pilot the Millennium Falcon, defeated the top enforcer of the First Order, and this is all before she begins her training with Luke. They are going to have to power Ren up something fierce for him to be seen as a legitimate threat to her and I think they made him so whiny and weak in the first movie that it's going to be hard to pull off. I hate that they took Maul off the table because this new round of films needs someone that exudes menace and is a credible threat to the heroes and right now it's not Ren. The second movie in the trilogy is where the main hero loses a limb but I can't see them doing that with Rey. I think girl power and reluctance to show violence against women will make them skittish about that. So if she doesn't lose a limb she might have to lose another friend to give her some kind of loss. Finn, here's hoping they keep you away from Rey this next film because it might be him on the menu.
If they want to keep with the girl power theme just create a female Sith, Dark Jedi, or Imperial character instead of Ren. They've got plenty of examples to draw from.
Some I think they should look at are:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Aurra_Singhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Seventh_Sisterhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Asajj_Ventresshttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lumiyahttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vestara_Khaihttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Talonhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Maladihttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Barriss_Offeehttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Maris_Broodhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sev'rance_Tannhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ysanne_Isardhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Natasi_Daala