One of the consistent hallmarks in all Star Wars movies to date, IMO, is horrible casting combined with pretty bad acting. A few good actors have been sprinkled in here and there, but it hasn't been enough to right the ship.
E.g., who saw the kid who played 8 year old Darth Vader (who did the pod race scene) and thought "this is the one"?
There were probably 10 trillion kids trying out for that part--and they picked THAT kid?
But then the actual pod race scene (and the pod racers) were pretty cool! You have to take the good with the bad with Star Wars.
The Millennium Falcon, for some reason, is every Star Wars geek's favorite Star Wars vehicle.
So did everyone catch the new design (old design?) to the ship in this trailer?
The gap between the two large triangular "pincers" at the front of the ship is not there. It's filled in with ship.
Very clever move. This will require every Star Wars geek on the planet to get the new M.F. collectible stuff/model kits/Lego sets and this alone may well be good for $1 billion in global merchandising sales.
Smart!