Not as bad as the vocal majority are claiming it to be

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2017)

Because the movie is 5 days old as of this review, I'm going to keep this very short. Quite simply, this movie is 30% awesome, 30% decent-to-good, and 40% questionable to atrocious. Due to this conflict within the script and narrative, it seems apparent that JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson have very different visions when it comes to the characters of the universe, and the universe itself. In some cases this pays off, and in others... it doesn't.
Kylo Ren: Easily the best thing about this film. Adam Driver's performance of Ben Solo/Kylo Ren sold me in Force Awakens and is only cemented further in this film. Throughout the film, he seems to be teetering on the edge of the dark and light, and we, the audience, are lead to believe that Rey is the one who will turn him back towards the light. Thankfully, in my opinion, this isn't the case and Ren descends further into the dark.
Poe/Leia/Haldo: This is the 'decent-to-good' percentage I was talking about. While Rey is with Luke on the island, Kylo is doing his awesome Kylo things and Finn and Rose are doing their pointless thing (I'll get to that) Poe, Leia and new character Haldo are on the last remaining Resistance cruiser, slowly being chased by Snoke's personal Star Destroyer and a handful of others. We're introduced to Haldo after Leia gets injured during a firefight... She got blown out of the bridge of the ship, sucked into space and then she Superman'd her way back to safety (Not a fan of how it was shot, fine with them showcasing that Leia is force sensitive) Anyway, it's due to Leia's injuries that Haldo is then in charge of the cruiser. This causes conflict with Poe and as a viewer, because Poe is a main side character, we're meant to take his side when he says she's doing a bad job. It's interesting to see it play out. This supposed legendary commander doing seemingly cowardly things but it does play into one of the most beautifully shot scenes in the entirety of the Star Wars franchise. Ya know what one I'm talking about.
Finn/Rose's arc: While Kylo Ren may have been the best thing about the film, the Finn/Rose arc is the worst. It starts off interesting with Maz making an appearance and informing the trio of Poe, Finn and Rose of a master
codebreaker who would be able to get them into Snoke's personal ship undetected so they can stop the First Order tracking the Resistance through light speed... Unfortunately, this all unravels fairly quickly when they travel to the codebreaker's whereabouts, specifically the planet of Cantonica. A planet where the rich and sleazy all come to make bets on races where the animals are treated poorly, and they all gamble and only care about their money and how they stample all over the poor. This may have been interesting... except this is what Finn and Rose talk about 80% of the time we spend here, about how the rich deserve to be punished just as much as the First Order. And all of this leads to nowhere. Once they get *a* codebreaker (not the one they set out to recruit), they make it on board Snoke's ship aaaannnddd... get caught. Yeah. They don't even succeed in their mission. Though it doesn't matter, because just before Finn and Rose are about to be executed. The ship explodes and they're able to escape. Rendering the entire codebreaker arc, useless. Oh, and there's a 10 minute CGI space-copter/space horse chase sequence... yeah... And what's worse is all of this ^ Is interwoven between better scenes. Whether it'd be Kylo, or Luke/Rey stuff. Removing this arc completely actually might improve the overall flow of the movie.
Snoke: Part of the 'questionable-to-atrocious' percentage, leaning more on the questionable... Why... Just why? Th-that's all I got to say really. I mean, you build him up as this beast. Show him using the force through a hologram to practically slap Hux. He Zeus' Kylo with a literal flick of his finger and yet. He got Maul'd... Yeah
The humour: I don't want to stick onto this subject because this one seems to be across the board, one of the biggest complaints - Simply, more misses than hits with the intentional humour. Though one moment that I did enjoy was the meditation sequence with Rey and Luke when she reaches out literally and he tickles her hand with a leaf... Now that I've typed that out, I take it back, I'm a terrible person for laughing at that.
Overall, as a viewing experience. I enjoyed it, apart from the Finn/Rose arc. During both of my viewings I just couldn't enjoy it. Especially because of it interrupted better arcs. Humour, while tolerable in the majority of the scenes, just isn't needed. It certainly isn't the worst in the franchise, nor is it better than, or the best since Empire Strikes Back. I believe it's a worthy entry with a lot of misteps but a lot of good things too. I kinda brushed over the good things because... Y'know, I thought it would make sense for me to tell you I enjoyed it, despite these lingering issues. Part of me is happy JJ is taking the lead on Ep. 9, because I really enjoyed Force Awakens, but another part of me is slightly worried because trading writers, who seem to have different visions, could be the final blow that would really put this thing in the ground.