I saw this movie on Monday and it's not the trainwreck brehs making it out to be, though it does have flaws.
IF YOU AIN'T SEEN IT YET SCROLL AWAY I'VE TYPED THIS MEMO IN RETROSPECT AND DON'T FEEL LIKE CREATING A SPOILER TAG...
-The movie overall does seem lighter in tone than the prequel trilogy, if there's a problem with the TFA and TLJ feeling kiddish, I get it.
-There could have been more lightsaber action, at least have Luke spar with Rey during her training.
-Speaking of training, RJ made Rey too powerful too quickly, while seemingly downgrading Kylo Ren to make them a match. Like someone said, TFA saw dude shielding himself from blasters and now TLJ doesn't showcase anything indicating his power. A girl from nowhere with 48 hours of Jedi training should not be equal to Anakin's grandson. A rising threat, yes; peers, no. I think her character would develop better if she had to struggle with her gifts.
-I had no issue with Leia Force-Flying through space; she's Anakin's daughter. I also have no issue with Luke's character. Yes, he was loyal to fault in the OG trilogy...he was 20-23. This dude is 50+, seen his nephew turn dark and murder his other students, realized the parallel between Ben and Palpatine/Anakin 50 years ago and how they rose amidst the Jedi. He's a grizzled warrior who got jaded. I have little issue with his Force projection/last bow because it shows 1) his strength with the Force, 2) his loyalty emerged at the end of the day. I think Leia knew from jump that wasn't him.
-We needed the back story on Snoke, and RJ had TWO pockets of writing to deliver it as both Luke and Ben gave their renditions of how Ben turned, actually 3 because Luke had to rehash the story to Rey. I've seen Snoke's death be compared to the Emperor in ROTJ but 1) that was the end of the story to make the cipher complete, 2) a whole prequel trilogy was made that shed light on who the Emperor was.
-A lot of yall are being sensitive that Finn isn't the new Mace Windu. No he isn't a classic badass but he's not as useless as I've been seeing on here and he was better than TFA.
-Matter of fact I think both him and Kylo/Ben are seeing a slow progression over their combat abilities, it seems like Ben has raw Force strength but isn't up to par as a swordsman as the duelists before him (Vader, Obi, etc). There's definitely a feminist agenda because Rey is already a better swordsman than him. Finn should be more capable in Episode 9, since all the elder statesmen are gone he will be forced to take on a more solemn and wizened role along with Poe.
-Despite not liking how quickly Rey has ascended, I do like (if true, which I'm personally 50/50 on) how she comes from nobody. The Skywalker Saga has us forgetting that Jedi don't marry, have sex, and create children, at least not that we know of. All Jedi come from nowhere and I think TLJ reminded that of us not only with Rey, but the little boy at the end.
-The Yoda and Chewbacca appearances were cool and were enough, any more of them would just be a love fest for the 50+ y/o OG fans and probably wouldn't have actually added to the story.
If RJ creates a 3-5 year gap between TLJ and Episode 9 to give the characters some maturation and training, Episode 9 could be to this trilogy what ROTS was the the previous one and redeem the faults people find in TFA & TLJ. The key to 9 living up to expectations is doing justice to Kylo Ren and the fact that unlike Vader, he has no master.
-Flesh out Ben's true motivations, Snoke's background and how he influenced Ben to flip. Anakin flipped because his heart was big and broken, he couldn't save his mother and he needed the strength to save his wife. Why did a teenaged Ben with no war experience and loss feel the need to surpass his grandfather in strength?
-Use these 3-5 years to show that Ben has spent the time enraged at Rey being his equal and Luke finessing him with the Force body. He's the last presumed Skywalker left so show us this man's power and skill at its fukking pinnacle. Make Rey suffer dealing with this cat before the plot is resolved.