"Seems to want nothing more than for the audience to pat itself on the back because they know what Yavin 4 is: It's a fun game to play at Comic-Con, but it doesn't make for much of a movie."

This is exactly what the new Star Wars films are to begin with.  Entirely superficial, soulless cash-ins on an established franchise that offer nothing new to the formula nor really any enduring and memorable entertainment.  The Force Awakens was a character action piece about ... the woman so memorable I never remember her name ... in which the least interesting character, is her.  It progresses nothing and there is no character development.  The characters are in exactly the same place they were when they started.