I liked it, more than TFA. It probably helps that I can't stand old Harrison Ford anymore so killing him off was the best thing the last movie did.
Luke reminded me of the version of Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond - a grumpy old man burdened by his past regrets and needing the advice of someone young to find meaning again. I guess I can see why Mark wasn't too pleased by that, but I really enjoyed his portrayal. I'm also suprised by the intense butthurt regarding his death. He died on his own terms, not in a battle and with a new hope (heh). Maybe it's because as much as I liked young Luke, he wasn't a particularly deep character and getting upset by his character being "butchered" seems weird to me. Dunno.
I'm also glad the whole "Jedi island" thing wasn't a focus point, I despised George wanting to explain everything (especially the Force) in the most boring way possible. This is a fantasy movie, as long as nothing too r.etarded happens, you can handwave it away.
Suprisingly enough, the Kylo and Rey scenes were the highlights of the movie for me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the relationship they have, but those parts were nice.
Visually it looked amazing, but nowadays that isn't too hard to achieve. That said, many high budget movies still manage to fuck it up.
Glad Poe and Finn had much more to do this time around. Poe's hot headness and learning how to be a leader and when to back down wasn't anything new, but it was presented simply and worked. I was kind of worried at the start that the new girl, Rose, would be a spergy klutz (think Tilly from STD), but she was very active and actually did things. Also glad the movie took time to have Rose and Finn grow close together, but not have them instantly fall in love. Their casino planet sideplot made me roll my eyes a bit, but it was fine.
Now, Rey was good in the scenes with Kylo, but I do feel there's still something missing with her character. I can't quite pinpoint it down and I'm too tired to think about it now (those 3D glasses are a pain in my ass, they make my head hurt the rest of the day), but I wonder if she needs to be just a bit more of a fuck-up. I am so grateful they made her parents nobodies, I so feared they'd pull some bullshit like "oh yeah Obi-Wan/Snoke/Sheev is your dad". I do agree that it would've explained why she's pretty OP in fights without any Jedi training, but eh. Maybe they'll talk about this more in the next one, who knows. It's not a part I really care about much.
Phasma was so fucking pointless, lmao. I get the feeling they just threw her character into the story (meaning back when they were casting TFA) so people would stop reeing about BUT WHERE ARE THE WOMEN ???, but then didn't know what to do with her. And I know WHY they had the porgs, but I did expect them to do something of relevance to the plot. Those ice/crystal foxes had more relevance to the story than them and they weren't being shilled to death by Disney.
I am suprised they didn't kill of Leia. There were like 3 times in the story I expected it to happen, but she ends up surviving. I guess they had enough scenes of Carrie to tie up Leia's story in the 9th movie.
One thing I appreciated was the fairly tight setting that mostly focused on the resistance losing ships and trying to survive the First Order's onslaught. It felt more intimate. The timeline of the movie is a bit scketchy though and leaves the impression everything takes place in ~a day.
Don't know how I feel about Snoke's death. I'm torn on it being a good choice since it allowed a mentally unstable Kylo to take over and possibly alienate his own followers, but it also feels like a waste of character. I'm not asking them to give his life story, but maybe give hints on WHY he was so feared and powerful (beside the obvious).
