So if I had to sum up my thoughts… I liked it. I didn't love it. It definitely wasn't great. I still liked it on its own though. But when I think about the movie more and more after seeing it in terms of what it was trying to do with certain plotlines/characters, as well as how it's the middle part of a trilogy (coming right after an installment as underwhelming as The Force Awakens), yeah, this movie's a disappointing mess. Not an offensive mess that personally aggravates me. More an underwhelming mess where my reactions are either just "oh, that's it?" or "you know, all of that was kind of pointless in hindsight". It's being connected to this trilogy that is the film's main weakness because as a continuation of the first film, it's half-assed with a lot of the payoff, and connecting to the third film, it's difficult to get immersed in hype.
Basically, despite liking the film (and especially Kylo Ren) while I was watching it and not minding too much of the film since I didn't care much for The Force Awakens aside from how much of a clone it was of A New Hope to feel betrayed by disappointing payoff, I agree with a lot of the complaints people are making in the Star Wars Universe thread. Robzilla, Batoma, andre, and Daz summed up mostly everything more astutely than I could. Basically, The Force Awakens already half-assed so much in its plot that when this film gives disappointing payoff to certain expected explanations, it doesn't trigger me that much lol.
@Kaido:
! I actually liked the revelation that Rey's parents were nobodies. I don't know how many complaints I heard before this film about how if she was related to the Skywalkers or Obi-Wan, then Star Wars would feel way too centralized on a few people. But now people are complaining that this is too random, I guess you can't please anyone lol. Kylo making this revelation was probably his biggest and most obvious "fuck you" to the audience and it was hilarious. Now, are we supposed to take this as the conclusion to Rey's backstory? I doubt it! Remember, in TFA when she discovered Anakin's lightsaber and had a bunch of visions triggered, the last thing in that vision was the voice of fucking Obi-Wan. I look forward to seeing how this comes together in the next movie. I mean, it's not like the plotline about Vader being Luke's father reached its conclusion in Empire; it went on to play a very large role in the finale. So don't count Star Wars' chickens just yet.
! Here's the thing. As one of those people who didn't like the idea of Rey turning out to be somebody special, my problem isn't with her parents turning out to be nobodies in and of itself. It's the fact that this plotline got dragged out until the end of the second act of The Last Jedi when it really should have been resolved at the end of the The Force Awakens. I don't feel like it really added anything to Rey's character. See, whenever this type of "you're not special" reveal happens, it's typically to show that the hero's real strength is not in lineage or destiny, but through their own uniqueness in willpower, compassion, etc. But that doesn't really work with Rey because nothing is really special about her in terms of personality. She's just… a good person. Andre's post in Page 84 of this thread was a perfect summary of how hollow she is as a character.
! Don't you notice how from the moment Ben makes Rey admit that her parents are scumbag nobodies and onwards, nothing really gets added on to Rey's motivations or character development? It's just a footnote that happens, then gets passed on like it didn't happen. It actually adds more to Ben's character than Rey's because it makes him feel envious and attached to her as the one person to trust after turning on Snoke and wanting to let go of the past. Rey? Not really. Especially because, like Andre also noted, she was never under any real threat of being tempted by the Dark Side no matter how much the movie tries to frame it that way with her hand moving slightly to Ben and the one scene where she wanted to go into the hole through Force Vision and how Luke said she wasn't afraid of the Dark Side. We could have gotten that in the cave, but we don't. We just get that weird mirror reflection allegory that I guess means that her answer to looking for meaning in life is inward rather than towards her parents? Meh.
! And on top of all this, the other issue that comes up is that the one thing that DOES make Rey special is her special connection to the Force. You know, all of the Mary Sue accusations she gets from fans for being skilled in the Force, lightsaber wielding, spacecraft flying/fixing, etc. (these complaints are pretty apt). So to pull a "your parents aren't special" reveal doesn't feel like satisfying payoff because that means she's just... lucky. Unofficially blessed. So it all feels like a waste of time that doesn't properly explain that one thing that makes Rey special, her uncanny ability to be a really fast learner and so powerful. And no, losing to Snoke doesn't change that. In fact, Snoke summed it all up greatly when he talked about how pathetic it was for Ben to be defeated by a girl who held a lightsaber for less than a day.
! In contrast, even if most of what he does is pretty much filler in this movie and the character development of wanting to help the Rebels should have been dealt with int the last film, I can at least tell what Finn's motivations are, what makes him a valuable asset in a way that isn't being born lucky, and what his character development is supposed to be. I can't say any of that for Rey. And it's not even like I hate her. I like her actress' acting, I got over all of the Mary Sue stuff after The Force Awakens, and I liked the relationship she had with Ben and I loved the Force training gag with Luke. But she leaves me feeling indifferent. No real investment whatsoever, I only care about how her presence complements the progression of other characters. Which is a rather awful way to describe your protagonist.