8) The Many, Many Unanswered Questions
Watch the movie, then watch the trailers and read the interviews again – there is a surprising amount of footage, dialogue and story that didn’t make it into the final cut. It’s obvious from this comparison alone that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was trimmed considerably in the edit (where the hell is Constable Zuvio?). But just watching the film without prior knowledge of the trailers, it’s clear that there’s quite a bit missing, mostly in terms of backstory.
We never find out what the relationship between Han and Maz Kanata is, nor what happened between Han, Leia and their son, nor how Maz got hold of Luke’s old lightsaber, nor how the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire.
We also don’t discover who Lor San Tekka is, nor where Han and Chewie got their new ship, nor who the Knights of Ren are. Such unanswered questions mean the universe we’re returning to feels only partially established.
J.J. Abrams likes his ‘mystery box’ approach, but even if the obfuscation is intentional, it’s still extremely frustrating.