Skarjo wrote:I think my biggest gripe though was that, given that it's presumably the big bridge movie between TFA and whatever the third film is... nothing actually changed. Every character is pretty much exactly where they were at the start of the film. None of them had their circumstances change or progress or develop.
Poe had the most obvious arc. He went from trigger-happy pilot to someone willing to retreat and save lives rather than fight, setting him up for a leadership role.
Finn's hero arc was properly fulfilled here. In the first movie, and as illustrated early on in this one, he only wanted to protect himself and Rey. He lied about being able to destroy Starkiller Base and didn't seem worried about saving anyone other than Rey. There was a significant element of self-preservation to Finn, but by the end of TLJ he's willing to sacrifice himself to save what's left of the Resistance.
Rey's arc is more slight I'll admit, but as the hero of this whole trilogy this is just the middle chapter of a longer arc. She goes from desperately wanting Luke to be a parental figure to admitting the truth about her parentage and standing alone, more confidently, as part of the Resistance. She also learns more about the force, the dark side (through better understanding Kylo Ren, who she starts calling Ben by the end) and the conflict inside her. At the beginning she doesn't understand Luke's point of view because she has this black and white view of morality, by the end she better understands what Luke was saying.
Kylo Ren stepped out of the shadow of these parental figures. He grew up with his parents as war heroes who eventually drove him away, and thought killing Han would bring him peace. Here he kills Snoke, an adoptive father figure, and assumes his title to fully take control and come of age as it were. In case of both Rey and Kylo the film is about them maturing and taking control of their own destinies.