I just got back from watching it. Thoughts:
I loved the resistance ship warping through Snoke’s ship.
I also hated it, because of course that’s how you destroy huge ships, and yet they didn’t do that to the Death Star, or any other ship previously, because reasons.
Finn’s character was paper thin in this movie. In The Force Awakens he actually had meaningful dialog and a somewhat interesting story. He’s just along for the ride here.
Poe’s character was an idiot. I was under the impression that Poe’s character was not supposed to be an idiot.
I’m 100% certain that Rose was just a Star Wars fangirl that wandered onto the set with a thermal detonator and threatened to blow the place up if she wasn’t given a role.
I enjoyed having Luke in the movie. It was nice to see his character again, and while it may not have been the greatest ending; they could have done much worse. I felt his fight with Kylo Ren was appropriate.
I feared for the worst at the beginning of the movie when Poe began the whole “holding for General Hux” scene. It didn’t devolve into total stupidity, but like Ragnarok, it was too jokey for my liking.
Snoke should have put up more of a fight. He’s played as some ancient Sith master with vast powers unknown, and then dies instantly because he’s a total idiot.
I liked Rey more in this movie than TFA. She’s a good choice for this role and I look forward to seeing how her character plays out. I also did not dislike their decision to have her parents be “nobodies” (assuming that’s what it ends up being). Who says our heroes have to come from some Jedi lineage?
I also thought Kylo Ren was better in this movie than TFA. He’s way less of a petulant teenager now. His character just seems very weak, though. This is our main villain, and he struggles to dispatch a handful of Snoke’s guards? He should be force pushing them into oblivion and slicing them limb from limb, and instead he’s relying on Rey to help get him out of a jam? I hated the prequels, but at least Darth Maul and Anakin/Vader were genuinely imposing villains. Hopefully his powers grow between now and whenever the next movie is released.
I expected Leia to die, obviously. I’m not sure how they’re going to handle that now, but I sure hope it’s tasteful. I felt she did a fantastic job in this movie, but the space-floating scene was poorly handled. It almost felt unfair to have her die, which everyone was expecting, only to have her do that and come back. Through all the movies she never exhibited force powers to that extent, so having it show up like that seemed bizarre.
The code breaker character was just odd. He seemed like a plot device more than anything. I don’t even understand how he knew about the plan to secretly evacuate the resistance ship, and since Finn and Rose didn’t either I assume, their reactions in that scene didn’t make much sense.
The cinematography and direction were well done, I thought. The scene with Ren and Skywalker getting ready to do battle with the AT-ATs in the background along with the gorgeous sunset was one of the most beautiful scenes in the entire series in my opinion. Why the salt flat was red under the crust I’m not sure, but I don’t really think it was necessary for the guy to taste it and tell the audience that it was salt. That seemed a tad ham-handed.
The music was Star Warsy.
Overall Rankings
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode IV: A New Hope
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Rogue One
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Clones