So I went in with expectations that the movie would likely be as good as the Star Trek reboot, and, to me, it was. I have a good bit I can criticize, but I also had a lot of fun with the film, more fun than I've had with recent comic based movies. I do agree with you, but only slightly. As a movie, I think it's a strong 7/10. But I'm ok with that. I might have said 8 originally but I was really hyped. My third watch will likely decide. I don't rate JJ and it was a JJ movie. I do have a high opinion of Rian Johnson though (I loved Brick) so I'm hoping more can be done with the sequel. What worries me is whether Disney doesn't allow these movies to have an edge. If they don't, the franchise will suffer in mediocrity. I want risks and edge like what Empire brought. We'll see how it goes.
Even though it's not my favorite of the OT (I'm torn between A New Hope and Jedi for different reasons), Empire is my go to example of how great a Star Wars movie can be. I was actually going to point to it as an example in contrast to TFA, saying "See? You don't need a Deathstar 3.0 to have a great movie." I don't think I'm familiar with anything else by Rian Johnson but Brick was an amazing film. Even with some of its flaws, when you consider that he took a well established genre and put it in a whole new setting it's a great movie. If he can do something similar for Star Wars, it'll probably be a great film. As for Disney and their willingness/unwillingness to take risks, when the news that they bought Lucasfilm came out, I and a lot of other people pointed to their success with Marvel and said "See? They can be trustworthy." This past year though, I'm starting to have doubts. Age of Ultron felt messy and Ant Man wasn't all that exciting. At the same time, while I don't read Marvel Comics any more, I've heard a lot of people criticize Marvel saying that they're unwilling to take editorial risks and a large influence behind that hesitance is they don't want to do anything that could disrupt the MCU. As a result, you get fan service garbage like Gwenpool.I do have a high opinion of Rian Johnson though (I loved Brick) so I'm hoping more can be done with the sequel. What worries me is whether Disney doesn't allow these movies to have an edge. If they don't, the franchise will suffer in mediocrity. I want risks and edge like what Empire brought. We'll see how it goes.