I didn't mind Ren's Zuko arc--there's absolutely nothing wrong with a sympathetic victim. What really bugged me was how they turned Hux (who looked like Riddler in the first film) from this badass looking overarching villain I couldn't wait to see in the future films into a total pansy who bends down for Kylo. Also the fact that they killed Snoke (terrible name, sounds comedic) so early without any sort of explanation for who he was or duel really felt anticlimactic. They absolutely did not need to kill Phasma (that death was pointless) and though she technically could return since she just fell into a fiery pit it's unlikely. When they went to go find a master smuggler dude I got excited that it might be Lando Calrissian. I recall Rian Johnson swearing up and down that Lando wouldn't be in the film, but JJ also swore that Benedict Cumberbatch wasn't playing Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Luke's death was really epic. It was pretty clear he wasn't really there for a few reasons (Kylo and Ren just snapped that blue lightsaber in half, he wasn't leaving footsteps in the dirt unlike everyone else, and he looked way younger, I think to resemble the way he did back when he first fought Kylo) and I thought it was pretty cool when he says 'see you around kid' as the rebels escape into the Falcon and Kylo screams. Did anyone catch the brilliant parallelism with the line where Luke says "What do you want me to do? Walk out there with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order?" when that was exactly what he did at the end. The way his cloak collapsed as he died mirrored the death of his trainers Obiwan and Yoda, and when he looked up into the sky there were two suns over the island, mirroring Luke's first scene in A New Hope when he looks up at the double-suns over Tatooine.
Admiral Hoda had a great character arc. She was there to parallel Poe (who always wants to act like a hero, even when it could cost them the war) and by the end you realize she really just wanted the best for everyone. It might be presumptuous, but I doubt people would have the same negative connotation of her if she was a male character. The worst scene in the movie was Leia flying through space. It looked awkward and random and wasn't executed properly. We've established Leia to be force-sensitive but the scene still felt a little funky and Mary-Sueish.
A lot of people hated the twist of Rey turning out to be a nobody, but I loved that. I saw fans saying that it 'destroyed the franchise and ruined their childhood' when they revealed this incredible heroine to be born of no particular bloodline, but that was the entire point. The whole theme of the movie was everyday people turning into heroes with Finn and Rose (although I felt like her character was totally unneeded). The Porgs were super annoying and would've been funny if they got rid of that overdone Chewbacca scene and cut out like half of the other Porg scenes.
The starfish smuggler guy surprised me. I didn't expect him to turn evil near the end but it was interesting that he gave that girl back her pendant--so he's kinda a complex character. The casino planet was unneccesary (along with the attempts to disable the tracker) but honestly I felt like that was kinda the point--humanize the world a little bit and show that not every plan is going to work just because it's the most immediate path of action.
Oh yea, and Yoda's scene was INCREDIBLE and is one of my all-time favorite Star Wars scenes (if not my favorite).
Great movie, 8/10.
I'd give the others:
Rogue One: 7/10
The Force Awakens 5/10
Revenge of the Sith 5/10
Attack of the Clones 4/10
The Phantom Menace 2/10
Return of the Jedi 9/10
The Empire Strikes Back 8.5/10
A New Hope 7/10
