Making this can’t have been an easy task though. Making TFA right was a near impossible task to achieve. Make it too similar and people complain. Make it too original and people complain. The Starkiller thing isn’t a particularly good idea, but cinematically it works fine. Rey’s sudden growth with the Force is weird and rushed, but cinematically it worked fine. Also it would have been hard to sell this new trilogy if she spent three films learning at the same snail pace as Luke did. Also I think people would have complained then as well, because it too would have been something we’ve already seen. Regardless of how much some people hate the PT, and how indifferent Abrams seems to be towards it, they’ve made their mark on the franchise and that can’t be ignored.

I’d love to know how much creative control Abrams had over the cut once they started cutting down the 4 hour version. It wouldn’t surprise me if some Disney studio executive came in and told them to focus on the action, and only keep the bare necessities on the more emotional, character building parts.

It’s also kind of funny that we’re actually arguing about this at all, because no one’s ‘really’ disagreeing here. On some smaller, nitpicking points yes, definitely, but mostly we’re all in agreement. We all just seem to lean towards either accepting the strategic/unavoidable flaws, or condemning them.
More or less every review here, at least those that’s more than one paragraph, have pointed out the same flaws. People just deal with them in very different ways.