Agreed on both points. Poe was done dirty, the Holdo Maneuver is OP af, and the entire movie was designed to show off and put the director’s personal stamp on the franchise more than it was attempting to respect the lore and its audience.
Not to be that guy but I’m still complaining about the silent space scene. The Last Jedi was the 10th movie in the franchise (12th if you count the animated movies and 13th if you count the made for tv Ewok movie) and it was the first time there was no roar of engines, no sounds of weapons fire, the sound effect of jumping to hyperspace didn’t even play. Star Wars isn’t 2001. It’s not set in our universe. In the Star Wars universe sound waves travel through space.
Be that guy! Part of being part of a storied franchise is staying in your lane. TLJ deliberately went out of its way to set itself apart, which is NOT how you’re supposed to do it.
The trilogy would’ve been much better if either director had done all 3. Either J.J. Abrams with a fun nostalgic return to form, or Rian Johnson with a fresh new take. The whiplash from them fighting with each other over the direction of the plot just ended up being a huge mess. I’m pretty surprised they weren’t just told what the plot was going to be, kind of seems like a screwup by whoever handled that.