Did you miss all the posts about why people think it's bad?

Edit: I have not met one person in real life who liked or disliked this movie. They all think it's very meh.

From the "general" audience I would say the reaction has been quite positive without a doubt. 

It's mostly "Star Wars geeks" or hardcore cinephiles that have their bone to pick. It's the same thing with Jurassic World except The Force Awakens is a better film than Jurassic World, but the general public really enjoyed both. 

To me the movie was basically exactly what I expected. Good performances from the actors (Abrams is good at this, even the little kids in Super 8 gave very good performances), lots of nostalgia, a wishy washy plot, and a large set up for the next movie. 

This is basically what Disney does ... they make good/competent films that treat the source material with a fair amount of respect. That's basically their formula with the Marvel movies, I've never been "blown away" by any of their Marvel movies (not even Avengers) but they're all fairly well made. 

It's not like the 80s/90s where you'd walk out of a comic book movie and say "what a giant turd that was! They totally did not care about that character/comic at all" type thing. Disney is smart enough to respect the fan base to the extent that they won't do anything egregiously stupid with the franchise. 

Personally I don't think they can ever top the OT, just because I mean what can you do post-ROTJ? Some other Skywalker/Solo kid turns bad? Well even in the EU that's the best they could come up with. 

Well, the "general" audience pretty must likes very blockbuster.

Loved it, Went to see it 4 times with massive groups, out of all the people. Only one didn't like it and he doesn't like anything really.

Perhaps the emphasis on originality in plot is also overstated. Look at Avatar (Pocahontas rip off), Jurassic World (Jurassic Park rip off), The Force Awakens (A New Hope rip-off). These are 3/4 of your biggest films. 

The truth is I don't think people really want to see something new, and honestly most sequels that *too* different from the source material end up being failures. The Matrix Reloaded is certainly original and very different from the first one ... but that dissapointed most people. The prequels were very different from the OT, that alienated a lot of people and created a tremendous amount of backlash that is still very much around today. 

Maybe the truth is big franchises are like comfort food. Don't try making a fucking pizza if someone is asking for a hamburger. Maybe that's just it. 

Even Terminator 2, which is one of the best sequels of all time ... it is kind of a remake of the first film, it's just this time Arnold is in the protector role and there's a different Terminator. Godfather II? Yes there's some original things here too, but ultimately it's basically the same movie as the first one ... Michael Corleone IDs his enemies and has them all killed in an operatic montage to end the film. 

Wow, I can see you're a huge fan of George Lucas.  Did he kill your puppy?

Actually I have a lot of respect for George Lucas. What he did with the original trilogy, and American Grafitti, Indiana Jones, was great but on top of that he's genuinely a very, very nice man with great principals. Even *now* when I listen to him speak about storytelling, he is right about most of what he says (ie: Star Wars is a space/soap opera, not about spaceships and what not). 

But there's just a disconnect between that and the films he makes today. I think he just lost his touch a long time ago, which is kind of sad, but storytelling/film directing may well be a limited talent, much like a great athlete loses his skill over time. We've seen many directors simply "lose it" as times goes on, so it's not just George Lucas that this has happened to. 

Even Spielberg today, while still a good filmmaker, I mean how often do you get the feeling that he could make a Raiders of the Lost Ark or Jaws today? Those days are long gone.  

I predict that that I'll write a thread titled "Rogue One Sucks" or "Rogue One is better than The Force Awakens".  It's a win win for me. 

I see many people claiming that the other six movies are full of plot holes, things that don't make sense, and inconsistencies. Feel free to point them out since I really haven't seen anyone do so.

Also, tell me what the GREAT action sequence was in The Force Awakens? I can't think of one and can list at least one GREAT one from each of the other six films. I'll do so now.

The Phantom Menace - The pod race and the Lightsaber duel.

Attack of the Clones - Everything from the arena on until the stupid ending...

Revenge of the Sith - The awesome opening space battle. Countless light saber duels.

A New Hope - The attack on the Death Star.

The Empire Strikes Back - The Snow Speeder scene on Hoth.

The Return of the Jedi - The speeder bike scene on Endor.

The whole escape from Jakku from the moment Finn meets up with Rey to the chase in the Millenium Falcon.