But in this trilogy, they're just handwaving the politics to the point of self-parody, where we're supposed to support the rebels just because the audience should always support rebels, and supposed to hate the First Order just because they like to copy Leni Riefenstahl and vaporized a supposedly important planet in TFA which the movie had spent exactly zero seconds setting up before that point (yes, kind of like the original trilogy, but back then it was original - plus, they had an iconic villain in Darth Vader). I was hoping for better in this movie - and instead, we get nothing but 'the evil empire chasing the rebels'. Except I guess for the one tiny bit of nuance when Benicio del Toro points out that immoral arms dealers are selling to both sides. Which, somehow, was enough to get my local newspaper's movie critic to express his admiration for the movie.

I can't agree on your last point - I do like Rey. She's more likeable than either Luke or Anakin in their respective trilogies, I'd say, that's not really the problem for me. Not that she couldn't use more character development.