^ Pretty much what
@Dienekes said. They're going to have to full a lot of stuff out of their rear end in the next movie to justify that level of apparent inconsistency.
Kylo Ren.. what a joke. He should have kept the stupid mask on, at least until he ran into his father near the movie's end. Instead, halfway through the movie the mask comes off and all of a sudden you're face-to-face with this weak-voiced, whiny-faced little rat who does not at all resemble the force with Jedi and Sith blood in his veins who survived betraying Anakin and single-handedly destroyed his new Jedi Order. I understand they wanted to show that he was brimming with internal conflict (daddy issues - the continuing theme in this series) and thus was nowhere near mastery of his potential, but they went completely overboard in how they portrayed that conflict. What could've been a more compelling and realistic depiction of that inner struggle instead came off as the unmoving teary-eyed fits of an angsty millennial emo teen who mistakenly stepped off the set of a Donnie Darko sequel. Unless they plan to have him do a -lot- of clean up with his training completion in the second film, I don't see the character faring any better than Hayden Christensen's Anakin.
And speaking of Anakin, if Ren intended to follow in Vader's footsteps, he definitely succeeded. Unfortunately, the Anakin he emulated was the pretentious, love-struck little brat that wasted everyone's time in Attack of the Clones. And you're going to tell me that they're able to build an even -bigger- planet-sized Death Star in 30 years, and on top of that they're going to -not- learn from the mistakes of the first one and decide it's a great idea to build an even bigger one with a significantly larger shaft to infiltrate, which is exactly what Poe exploits to destroy it? And Luke's lightsaber ending up in the hands of Paz after falling down a chute with his severed hand? The same lightsaber that she keeps a floor below her bar in an unlocked storage unit for anyone to just walk into and nab? No matter what backsplanations they use, there were far too many convenient coincidences that seemed thrown in to facilitate the rushed pace of Abrams' trilogy timeline.
That aside, it didn't stop me from enjoying the movie, and it was a refreshing return to the feel and humor of the original trilogy (they could've skipped the stupid break in the fourth wall quips from Poe to Kylo Ren about who talks first, though
). Poe Cameron was great, and I'm interested to see more of him in the second film. BB-8 stole every scene he was in - what a fun character! I thought Rey's character development was too rushed but I like the dynamic developing between her and Finn (who I also thought was well cast for the role). Finn is pretty much the wildcard at this point, but I am enjoying his character development at this point and he seems like a very realistic and relatable character.
Most likely prediction for the next movie: Kylo Ren makes leaps and bounds in his Sith training as a result of clearing the emotional baggage he had by killing Han (note the parallel with Anakin becoming Darth Vader after the only person he loved, Padme, dying). Meanwhile, Rey learns from Master Luke, where it is revealed he is either his daughter like
@Poccington suggested (she jacked Luke's lightsaber over Kylo, after all) or she is Kylo Ren's sister/twin. Tragic ending ensues when the one paduwan who betrayed him, Kylo, returns and slaughters him, fueling the conflict for the third movie.
Alternative prediction with a darker twist: Rey trains with Master Luke, developing more strength and control over her abilities with his guidance. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren experiences more trouble in developing his powers, and his training with Supreme Leader Snoke is going completely downhill, with his progress even waning. In a flash of insight, Kylo Ren realizes that his power was at its strongest when he was embracing the path upon which Master Luke was training him. His fall to the dark side only diminished the strength he had, if only because he was meant to be a Jedi (this could explain his relative lack of Force strength by the time he met Rey), and his killing of his father was a complete mistake. The realization causes him to rebel from Supreme Leader Snoke, leading to his powers enhancing as he starts to embrace the light side of the Force. Rey (and watching the way she fought with the light saber tipped me off to this idea), it turns out, is an unmanifested Sith (the trend seems to be that those with absurdly high starting levels of innate Force ability have ended up being Sith - light siders tend to have to work more to develop their powers, i.e. Luke), and in a tragic turn of events, submits to the dark side and ends up killing Master Luke, fueling the conflict for the third movie.
:wall:
