I didn't mind TLJ. It has it's flaws but it is watchable and the lack of resolution is typical of a middle movie. A few random thoughts:
I think these movies are kind of hybrid between a continuation and a remake. Rey is a kid on a desert planet who unbeknownst to her is a force sensitive who is destined to be the savior of the universe. The need to blow up a death star, star killer, dreadnought, etc. Rebels/Resistance facing overwhelming odds of superior military or the Empire/First Order. The are take refuge on an icy world where they are under siege. Student becomes incarnate evil, etc. Sometimes it easier to accept the new movies as alternative universe rather than a continued story arc.
I agree the whole Luke thought about considering killing Ben isn't as out of character as some think. It was just handled badly. It had a whole creepy uncle vibe with Luke staring at his sleeping nephew and then whipping out his saber. Remember that Yoda always saw that Luke was too rash and inclined toward darkside, looking for easy solutions, etc. That Luke might consider the quick and easy way to avoid a galactic war that could undue all he fought for is entirely in character. That it ever would get to him standing over a sleeping kid with a light saber though, just feels wrong. A better version would be for Luke's thoughts to have flashed to the possibility of it for only an instant and for Ben to have sensed it and interpreted it as a threat and knocked out Luke in a sneak attack attempt to kill him and eliminated the remaining Jedi.
For the people who complain that this director was hemmed in by the first movie, I'd say just the opposite. He was given a big fat slow pitch right down the middle strike zone and he didn't take it. The bulk of the movie should have been Luke training Rey. Not necessarily a parroting of the ESB scenes, but training. It would have set up a relationship between Luke and Rey and made her more of a successor than a parallel event and given Luke's role more meaning. Eliminate the universe's slowest chase and cut back on the Finn (pointless) side story and it there would be more than enough time to explore it.
Yeah Adam Driver is a little to whiny for the role, but I really liked the death of Snoke scene and how it explored how tough it would be to kill an accomplished force sensitive. That Kylo could effectively mask his thoughts in the way he did was brilliant, IMO.
As noted above the movie was badly structured. It you start with Luke and Rey, and focus on that relationship and training, you get out the whole compressed time period issue. Ray trains with Luke and at some point, prior to finishing her training she goes to Kylo to try to save him. Luke warns her that she is is leaving too soon and that her actions will create a new more powerful threat but she ignores him. Luke foresees that his presence would make things worse so he stays behind. He uses a force ghost to save everyone knowing that that will kill him. A better ending for Luke's character. Eliminate the chase scene and just cut to the ice base stuff at the end. It's tighter and it is a catalyst for Ren's departure and Luke's death.
The biggest problem I see that you really have work hard to over look the obvious resolutions to the issue. What? We can use hyperdrive as a weapon? Well let's ignore that and just let the FO pick off our ships one by one. The even better one is that Force Ghost Yoda (FGY) can wield force lighting. Evil overload rising up? FGY pops in zaps him with lighting until it's game over. Kylo rises up to take his place? FGY zaps him. New and better death star-thing going to kill millions? Yep FGY pops in and zaps the controls. Easy-peasy. FGY's use of lighting was mistake. It didn't really advance the plot at all.
Overall though, it was an okay movie and perfectly watchable. Definitely could have been better though.
