Plot was poorly handled, needed about another 30 minutes to allow the time to settle in. Hopefully an extended version will be made.
I disagree. The problem was it had too much plot.
I think it would have benefitted from cutting the smugglers’ freighter story, maybe even Maz’s castle, and developing everything else more. It rushed from one set piece to another.
Given the lack of tension involved in the destruction of the Starkiller base, it didn’t even need a superweapon element to the story. I would have preferred a different threat – for example, the First Order as intergalactic terrorists or carrying out stealth strikes in the heart of the republic – rather than them having such a powerful – but ultimately weak – weapon from the get go. Something that would have given more scope to better establish the characters of the lead villains. Instead they came across as a bunch of amateurs.