The Original Trilogy and even Prequel Trilogy set up the Skywalker family as possibly the most important people in the Universe. Anakin was labeled the "chosen one" who would bring balance to the Force, and he did but only after his son helped him redeem himself at the end of Return of the Jedi.
In The Force Awakens as far as we know The Skywalkers and their sacrifice to bring balance to the Force across 6 movies was still in play and Luke was in hiding but he left a map to himself for some odd reason. One could assume it was that he was training to be more of a badass then ever by going to the original Jedi temple and would return to cement the Skywalker legacy. At the same time we see Rey with a mysterious past who could be either a Solo/Kenobi/Skywalker herself and seems to have a connection with Luke's lightsaber and even flashes back to key events in his life when she encounters it. Meanwhile, Han Solo's kid has turned to the tutelage of a Dark Side user that saw the rise and fall of the Empire and could be an ancient evil the predates even the Sith! We establish that Leia is part of the Galactic Republic but still operates a "Resistance" under the table as the First Order scrambles to piece itself back together from the remnants of the Empire. The Resistance is dealt a huge blow with the loss of most of their capital system and fleet, and Rey defeats Kylo but loses Han Solo before traveling to meet Luke who stares at her with great apprehension opening the door for him to come back and kick all kinds of ass. Cool setup!
Then The Last Jedi basically comes in and says Rey is not important, the First Order is now the dominant military force in the galaxy once again, the Resistance are now the Rebels again, and Snoke was just a guy in the way of Kylo being the new bad guy so let's cut him in half. On top of all that, Luke tosses his lightsaber over his shoulder in the first scene in a questionable comedic moment and it turns out he just wants to die in seclusion. All of the mysteries setup in the Force Awakens mean nothing and The Last Jedi essentially resets the Galaxy to the same nature of the Galactic Civil War. In the end Luke does do some crazy ass powerful crap without leaving his island, but what we see of Luke is not a natural progression of his character from the original movies and even Hamill himself has bitched about it.
I know it sounds like I am ripping the movie, but I am merely laying out what I perceive as the big pain points some fans have with it. Now we are basically where Episode VII should have started us with only one movie left in this trilogy. They have a lot to clean up storywise and the Skywalker story as of right now basically ended with Luke giving his friends time to escape but still made the whole "Balance of the Force" narrative from the first movies seem shallow. Just my observation. I still mostly dug the new flick.
Originally Posted by MasterShake
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