Did not like it. On par with the prequels, but hated those. Really enjoyed TFA, but this one had bad story, bad pacing, and doesn't feel like star wars. I saw it with my 12 year old son and when it was over, he was like,"meh." I am taking my wife and daughter Sunday and for the first time I am not looking forward to seeing a Star Wars film.
Oh, and I hate the animal cruelty story/subplot/PSA that they threw in there. And the whole, "All guys are the bad guys" message from the code breaker/arms dealer. Plus the "she comes from nobody from nowhere" crap after literally the whole movie is building up to the who are your parents reveal. So much college campus granola protestor crap sprinkled throughout this movie.
And Luke just up and dies? After finally being a badass and saying, "see ya around, kid". No, he apparently won't. And Snoke, badass...umm nope...dead in 5 minutes. Who is he...doesn't matter. The whole thing was so bad except the fight with the red guards. But after it was over...back to crap.
Oh and amazing leadership on both sides. Rebel leader not telling anyone her plan so that she lets a mutiny happen. Plus the whole crappy, pointless Finn and Rose side mission was an unnecessary risk that eventually led to the near destruction of the Rebels. JUST FRIGGIN SHARE YOUR PLAN! And Kylo Ren/First Order plan of sending EVERY Tie fighter after the Falcon leaving your big weapon vulnerable. Just dumb. Ugh, like watching a prequel all over. Felt like a prequel with the stupid dialogue and bad CGI. I mean the riding through the casino was just as bad as the end of the clone wars.
So, yeah, it sucked.

For those who are defending on the point that it was original, I think we all want and like original stuff. I just want GOOD original stuff. Having 3/4 of the movie spent watching the Rebels slowly running out of gas was just painful. Can't believe this was how they decided to have a B story for everyone except Rey, Ren and Luke. If you wanted to do a chase, look at Empire or even the second episode of the new Battlestar Gallactica. The cylon fleet was able to track and keep up with them like every 45 minutes. So the crew was having to calculate a new jump point constantly. The Cylon plan was to literally exhaust them because as robots, the cylons don't need rest. This was a very creative way to have a drawn out seige in space. So much better than, "fly fast that way" for 2 hours of runntime.

Me too. I think what bothered me the first time is that they threw out all the stuff TFA setup. But I guess the point is that the rebellion is starting over and a new era of Jedi is beginning. Plus the whole movie is about how you deal with failure. Still think the Finn and Rose subplot sucks, though.

I am really curious where they go with the next movie. I think it will have to do a time jump, like 10 years from TLJ . That way the rebellion has had time to grow and rebuild (as well as the first order). And they'll just kill Leah off in the crawl saying she has died in the interval. Maybe it will begin with the funeral. Kinda sucks that she'll die off screen, but that's the only way I can see it. I mean how can the rebellion just be 40 people against the first orde?

My biggest criticism remains: after TFA I couldn't wait for the next movie. After TLJ, I could care less. No cliffhanger, rebels decimated to only 40 people, and no real threat (First Order is a joke). Feels like TLJ ended the series instead of being a bridging middle of a trilogy.

Just for fun, I was going to re-read the Zahn trilogy that I hadn't read since college. Boy, they are bad. They have not held up. I couldn't get through the first book. They were great at a time when we never thought we'd see another SW film again, but they did not age well. Plus everything written before TFA was released was abandoned and no longer canon (if that matters to you). So, in a nutshell, the Zahn trilogy is the best of all the expanded universe, but don't expect OT or Prequel quality. More like season 1 clone wars quality.

"If he talks like a snake, it is a mistake."