A complete mess

Rating: 2/10 (31 March 2018)

Most reviewers have adequately captured why this movie is a train wreck. From awkward and poorly timed humor, to gaping plot holes, to gut wrenching moments which will be remembered for all the wrong reasons (eg Leia Poppins, Canto sequence), to destroying prior canon, to two laughably incompetent military factions, etc. I'd like to focus on a few problems I have with this movie aside from the above:
1) The sequel trilogy is now effectively reduced to Rebels 2 versus Empire 2, and without any real exploration of how or why the new republic fell so easily and how the first order came to such prominence. It just seems like a lazy, cheap set up to get people in X Wings and Tie Fighters, and a rip off of the originals. Say what you will about the prequels, but at least they tried to tell a unique story and did some universe building.
2) It didn't have to be that way. TFA was derivative, but it did an okay job of setting up new characters and villains for a creative writer to run with in ep. 8. Rian Johnson with TLJ even set himself up with some decent potential routes for the story (most likely unintentionally). Problem is, he ultimately decided to take the easy, lazy, and thoughtless way out. For instance, Rey should have joined Kylo; they set up well for this throughout the movie. And the overly long movie should have ended with Rey grabbing Kylo's outstretched hand, providing a compelling cliffhanger. In fact, do this along with removing the Canto sequence, and you have might have an okay movie. It would be something new and truly subversive to say the least.
3) Ultimately the movie ends just as it began. Small band of rebels flees the pursuit of the first order. No real progression, no huge accomplishment, considering how comically incompetent the first order is.
4) Why even bother having an episode 9? Leia declares at the end of TLK that they have everything they need with Rey. Luke declares Rey a Jedi, and Yoda essentially claims she's all set. We already know she's more powerful than Kylo and can defeat him. The first order is incompetent, or at least you now can just hyperspace kamikaze them. Honestly what's the point? The first order and Kylo seem easily beatable thanks to Rian, so where's the tension and draw for the next movie?
I will make one prediction though. After scolding Poe, Leia declares there are certain problems you can't solve by blowing something up with an X Wing. How much do you want to bet that in the next movie, an X Wing solves a critical problem by blowing something up? I'm not trying to make a joke. Just trying to illustrate how Rian and Disney had no idea what they were doing and didn't think critically through the script of TLJ.