General opinion of the film? It was entertaining but full of problems.
While the humor mostly lands, the characters are likeable enough (most of them, anyways), and the action entertaining enough to keep me interested, the movie had terrible writing, plenty of lore and universe problems, and countless plotholes that just took me out of the movie constantly and made what seemed to be a simple enjoyable film into a frustrating one. I'd say if you want to see it, wait til it is on tv or netflix.
And, only warning, spoilers abound after this point.
First, while the humor largely worked, there seemed to be too much of it and too often in ways that hurt the tone of the time. For every time it worked to help show characterization and warmth, there was one that fell flat or undermined the tone. Something good would be luke's meeting with R2 ending with R2 showing the original "help me, obiwon" clip only to be met with a "that was a low blow" style quip from luke at R2's attempt to persuade him to join back up. It showed their friendship and the heart of the old farmboy was still there under the grumpy demeanor. Compare that to the visual gag in the casino of a CGI alien "opera singer" mugging for the camera like they were in a 90's era direct to video sequel. Or the tonal whiplash of the opening scene with poe prank calling the first order as his friends and comrades try to flee for their lives. I liked that they remembered to have fun, as the prequels seemed to largely forget that, but they overdid it and often it failed as much as landed.
Next, they squander every plot setup they made before. Snoke's point/purpose/history? Gone. Rey's parents? Pointless. Why did luke make the map? IDK. The scene where he first gets the lightsaber back defines this problem. He tosses it behind him like it is shit. Rejection of the entire point of the first film in spirit and visual. Not even a solemn dropping of it and going "no, i can't anymore", just a strait up joke out of denying the potential of the previous film. Complete with forced insertion of the toy mascots playing with it.
Thirdly, while the characters were likeable enough, there were many who had problems, or were unsalvageable.
Lets start with the worst. Hodor was just bad. I think they were going for some sort of angry police chief to poe's doesn't-play-by-the-rules cop, but in the situation they were in she instead came off as entirely incompetent, if not outright traitorous. She was a new characters shoved into the picture after unceremonious removal of fan favorites like Ackbar. She refused to tell anyone she had a plan at all (as people siding with poe demonstrates). She is the ENTIRE reason for the rose/finn subplot, and the subsequent death of nearly all the resistance ships that resulted in. Her death was the loss of a character no one cared about prior to the movie but treated as something people should care about. And her method of self sacrifice left still had me pointing out how badly she failed as a leader. While some would argue that warp-speed into a dreadnaught shouldn't work that way, what I was wondering was why they didn't try that with every other large ship prior, instead of sacrificing them like they had. If her ship alone caused so much damage, having the medical frigate or others do it as well, even if only half the damage, it would have devastated the first order or even killed the head of the snake. Hell, you could have given characters like Ackbar a worthwhile sendoff as being a hero who was once a slave driving the ship right into their faces instead of unceremoniously blasted into space for the sole reason of showing off leia's superman pose.
On to the next new major character, Rose. She was ok, funny introduction, but it always felt like her sister should have been the character that had that role, not her. That might have been part of the point, but she felt out of place, like a tag-along. Even the stuff in the casino, with the decryptor, and so on had me feeling that way. The saving of flinn was odd as well, and the romance angle felt super forced. Still, I don't hate her character nor do I think they were central point in a long series of character and plot problems like hodor.
To the main characters, they largely remained consistent and enjoyable. Poe was, well, poe. Even though the joking at the intro of the move felt like bad juxtaposition with the tone of the rebels fleeing, it did feel right that his character would be the one to do that, and he remained consistently enjoyable even through the forced "lesson" about brashness. The character growth was poorly handled but that is about the worst there.
With Flinn, he went from concern about his friend, to joining the rebellion. And he beat the chrome trooper. Both of which would have been more impressive if they had been set up better, but still not bad and he was an enjoyable character to watch.
Phasma. Wasted, again. My biggest complaint about her in the previous movie was that it should have been her, not a nameless trooper, that called flinn a traitor and fought him. As if hearing my complaints, this movie does just that. And then as per norm, seems to mess it up as they try to double-down on the vibro axes, and half the screen-time and point. Disappointing, but I hope they bring her back again.
Rey. Still a mary sue. She instantly gets luke's first lesson which he himself didn't for a long time. She masters the lightsaber enough to fight multiple red guards. Her previous points of being a mary sue were still in effect as well. Enjoyable enough to watch, but it gets annoying.
Kilo. He wears his pants too high and it is weird and distracting. Otherwise, a good capture of a character conflicted every which way, still a child in mind, still seeking approval, still unsure and emotional.
Snoke. Hugh Hefner gold robe and wasted potential. Also pretty damn dumb, though it was so telegraphed that in a better written movie, it could have been a great ploy to get himself killed just so he too could be "more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Luke. Seemed the character was changed into someone who went from being unable to deny the light in a seemingly irredeemable man who murdered countless, into one who tried to murder his nephew at the first hint of darkness. Also the blue milk thing... just why?
Leia. I get people wanted to see her use force powers, but superman still wants his green-screen back. Could just have shown the bridge damaged and she use her power to lift wreckage out of the way.
But that ties into the last point. The CGI. Too much of the film looked bad for it. Be it the plastic Porg-roast chewie had, the dog-horses at the casino, or the very fake looking effects around the characters in many scenes, the visuals felt like a step down. Even things that were animatronics, such as the crystal foxes, looked fake because of the bckgrounds.
...That was longer than I expected.
