don't sleep on the new star wars

[Certain]

The four flaws that I still am thinking about (extreme nerd post about to happen in this thread), in reverse order:

4. Han Solo never used Chewbacca's bowcaster.

This struck me as odd right away, and I'm glad someone brought it up here. But whatever. It was trivial.

3. Kylo Ren's power.

This one may be explicable if you ascribe to the importance of focus when using the Force, though that still does not explain why he was using the Force at Darth Sidious levels. But it contributes to a larger issue that the First Order is not nearly as threatening as the Empire, Snoke is not nearly as threatening as Emperor Palpatine and Kylo Ren is not nearly as threatening as Darth Vader. The bad guys are going to have to seriously up the ante in the next one.

2. Rey.

She probably is Luke's daughter. Get ready for that predictable twist. And that makes her entire plot line in this movie very contrived. You're telling me Luke Skywalker's daughter just happens to be an immensely Force-sensitive poor girl on the exact planet where BB-8 gets lost while holding a piece of a map to Luke Skywalker? You could argue the Force drew her to BB-8 since it works in mysterious ways, but that still seems like a pretty major contrivance. Other elements of her power do manifest themselves before she realizes she has the Force —for instance, she's a great fighter and pilot. I don't mind her having such a complete "awakening" and being able to use the Force so early on because we obviously are to interpret her as an enormously powerful future Jedi. But I do hope they avoid making her Rey Skywalker. We don't need that.

1. Finn's transformation.

God, this one is getting to me more and more. They brushed his turn from stormtrooper to resistance leader off as though it were nothing for him. If we are to believe that stormtroopers now are kidnapped at birth and trained for their whole lives to serve the First Order, why is Finn so charismatic? How would he have developed such an interesting personality? Furthermore, if stormtroopers are slaves and also the people Finn grew up with, why is he so OK with murdering them? In his very first battle, he kills stormtroopers with no hesitation. Wasn't murder the reason he was running?

With all of that said, it still was a very good movie. And there still is plenty of time —at least two more movies with this cast —to resolve three of those issues. I am looking forward to the next one.