The last portion of your post misses the entire point of the movie. The whole point of the movie is learning from the past, not killing it. Every one of the other points you're complaining about has been debated and rebutted to death. Things like Rey's parents, Snoke, etc... JJ never even had a clue about. Maybe you should blame JJ for setting up just a retread of the OT. Is that what you would have preferred?
No, I understand the supposed point of the film. I just don’t really buy it. Abrams is to blame as well I agree, but Johnson also could have used more creativity than just tossing out a lot of the important plots and not giving us answers. The questions posed are essentially all given non-answers. You can say he answered things in unexpected ways, but really all he did was avoid plot threads set up previously.
Why does every Jedi/force user suddenly need to be part of a specific bloodline or something? That didn't even ****ing matter until the prequels made Anakin space jesus. Luke's importance in the OT being Vader's son was never about Luke's power, it was about his familial tie with Vader and his ability to save his father. That's why Luke was "the only hope". Go watch some vids with Lucas talking about the story of the original trilogy if you still think it's about Luke being space jesus 2. And frankly, wouldn't that be more boring if Rey were Luke's kid? It's what tons of people expected when they yawned at TFA being the OT greatest hits remix.
It’s not about being tied to a bloodline necessarily, but
The Force Awakens did plant that seed like she was more than a nobody. So getting a non-answer and just saying her parents are no one is completely unsatisfying.
As much as I like Rey and Daisy Ridley she’s a very over-powered character for no apparent reason. All the things that she’s able to do in the span of one film without training makes her seem as such. I could buy her being able to pilot a ship for instance. That’s fine and makes sense. Being good in combat. Sure, she has her staff and has been in duels before. Even still though the fact that the lightsaber, which is a weapon of importance to this franchise is something that she can just pick up and use no problem is a bit much. Especially when she essentially defeats Kylo who’s more skilled and has some training in their first encounter is hard to swallow. Force powers I have an issue with. Luke and Anakin didn’t really have any powers the first time we saw them. Both had to be trained to harness their abilities. Here comes Rey though who can do it all just because. Even if you view them as minor powers she’s still able to use the Force to her advantage and doesn’t really falter.
I think it’s a combination of her having basically every ability of Luke and Anakin in one film without an explanation of why or without her being trained that makes me view her as over-powered. A lot of this falls on Abrams again but Johnson could have given more of an explanation.
What would you have liked Snoke to be? Did you want him to give a monologue during the movie about his entire past and how he's connected to a character 80% of audiences don't care about? Would you prefer if he lived into 9 so that it could be ROTJ 2.0? If Snoke were going to be explained in any way and expanded on, it should have been done in TFA. He was never interesting to begin with, he simply existed as the emperor figure for Kylo in TFA. Why is having something new, like him being dead and Kylo being in charge less exciting to you than another rehash?
This is kind of a cop out of a response. As I mentioned Snoke had potential but we never saw that potential reached. Having him get killed off right away was certainly an unexpected twist, but it also feels lazy and is unsatisfying. It’s another example of
The Last Jedi literally cutting down a character/plot point put in place by the previous film.
Knights of Ren, again - JJ. Could have been in TFA, they're in one shot and mentioned once. Where would they go in TLJ? They're actually mentioned in TLJ (the handful of students Kylo took), but they have no place in that story. Would they just follow Kylo around his ship? They couldn't have been the guards. At least now they have an actual reason and opportunity to suddenly be in IX. It would make sense for Kylo to have them as his personal guard similar to the Praetorians to Snoke.
Again like Snoke this just felt lazy. This is at least one thing Abrams can possibly rectify in Episode IX though as we don’t see them as far as we know so they possibly are still around.
Finn has an arc in the film, it might not be enjoyable for you, but it exists. Again, what would you have preferred for Finn? It seems like a lot of you guys think a character failing at something they set out to do or messing something up equates to a plot hole. Canto Bight certainly could have been a little more interesting as a whole, but for the character of Finn he has some interesting things going on in the film. He gets to see both sides of the war, how people just like to profit off it, etc - so he can make his decision for himself about what side to join and not who is "good" and "bad".
I didn’t say anything about this being a plot hole. It’s just a dumb plot for one of the main characters to have gotten. Most people agree this is the worst part of the entire film. Even those who love it don’t really defend it. I’d have preferred one of the main characters get a plot of significance rather than be wasted in a plot that does nothing to advance the story and is there only to give him something to do.
How is Holdo stupid? Would it make sense for a commander to tell a pilot who just ****ed up and got a ton of people killed their master plan? No, it's not important for the ***** to know what's going on. Poe goes on and screws stuff up further for himself. The only reason the First Order finds out about going to Crait is because Poe, Finn, and Rose.
So rather than telling Poe what her plan is, she allows him to resent her and strike off on his own and almost messes up her grand plan and kills a lot of her people. Pretty stupid if you ask me. I get it that they were at odds with each other, but it felt like they wanted to have a strong female put the man in his place even if it overall is pretty stupid.
Luke dies a pacifist on his own terms. No one kills him, Kylo doesn't get the satisfaction of beating him. What Luke does inspires those around the galaxy who were just like him to believe they can be more and for some to join the fight. If he had to die, that's a pretty good way to go. I don't really see him being the type to go out in the glory of battle or something like that.
Luke’s death simply didn’t resonate with me. His character deserved something better to go out on. He died on his own terms and honorably by saving the Resistance, but it felt pretty cheap to have him not actually be present. I don’t think he necessarily had to die in the first place, but if that was the route I wouldn’t have done it until Episode IX at least and in a fashion where he was actually present. The projection thing could have been a clever trick but shouldn’t have been how he ultimately dies off to me.
Anyway, everything I just said has been said by tons of others a million times before. If you don't like the movie, good for you. But I think a lot of your complaints about things like Rey and Snoke are misplaced on Rian, when your real issue is with JJ. And if you honestly think the message was "let the past die!", then yeah you missed the point of the movie.
I’m not saying your opinion is wrong. If you like the film then good for you. I wanted more than a director thinking they’re clever by subverting expectations and wasting plots and characters. The Sequel Trilogy ultimately feels like wasted potential, which is a shame as it was something a lot of us wanted and were unsure we’d get especially with all the main characters of the original cast. It happened and rather than being a satisfactory follow-up to the story feels like it’s just a cash grab like any other sequel. It’s disappointing more than anything.
