Rey

I think when your opening statement is "I don't care what anybody says!" it puts a damper on further discussion.

You're welcome.

And to answer your question, I think Rey/Daisy Ridley is OK. But don't think any of the sequel trilogy characters have the same depth and memorability of the original trilogy characters.

Kylo Ren was pretty cool in TFA, but they took off his mask and turned him into a whiner in TLJ. 

Poe Dameron was pretty cool in TFA, but they had him making crank calls and dressed down by Holdo in TLJ. 

Finn was pretty cool and relatable in TFA, but they literally turned him into a joke in the first few minutes of TLJ, when he was leaking fluid all over the floor.  And when they gave him an opportunity to do something truly selfless and heroic, it's snatched away from him by Rose.

Yes, I really hate TLJ.

We'll see.  I'm skeptical that anyone can make things right again.

I think Rey is a good character. The problem is that she is a good character for... say... The Chronicles of Narnia. Not SW.

Disney LucasFilm has lobotomized most of the mythos surrounding the Force, Jedi, and even Sith to accommodate her character. Rey doesn't follow the archetype of a Force using heroine. Rather she follows the archetype of a Disney warrior princess wielding Disney magic. And every major character in the trilogy has had their characterization severely distorted to fit around her Disney warrior princess archetype.

Finn: Even from the beginning of TFA he was a ridiculous portrayal of what a rogue Stormtrooper would be like. Any characteristics of how a rogue stormtrooper would behave were replaced by him often behaving like an awkward, cowardly, comical stooge. This is because the Disney princess archetype is often given an inept stooge who pines over the Disney princess as a sidekick. And that's exactly what Finn has been oftentimes. He was made less believable by the fact that he was supposed to be conditioned from birth. I guess that was supposed to suggest that sequel trilogy Stormtroopers are better. But it only contradicts the believability of Finn even more.

Kylo: He was trained in the Force by both Luke Skywalker and Snoke. His lightsaber skills and use of the Force look effortless and highly skilled. With one exception. Whenever Rey chooses to use the Force against him. Then he instantly turns into an inept, frightened pushover who isn't the slightest threat to her. This is something that happens often in Disney princess movies when the antagonist challenges the princess in her full magical power.

Hux: In TFA he was an ambitious, scheming brown-noser. In TLJ he became a sniveling fool providing comical slapstick. Why? Because... we needed another stooge in a Disney princess story?

Han Solo: He reverted back to being the same character he was in ANH. Rey had to teach him how to maintain and operate the Millennium Falcon again. At times he played the washed up father figure who needs to be inspired to do the right thing or have courage again. The washed up father figure is also an archetype that occurs in some Disney princess movies.

Leia: She seemed determined and filled with emotion at the prospect of finding Luke in TFA. But sends a total stranger she just met once she finds out where he is.

Luke Skywalker: At the risk of overstating the degradation his character and how it was changed, he became a cowardly, grumpy hermit. If only it would have stopped there. The totally uncharacteristic behavior continued in the fact that he cut himself off from the Force (yet still intermittently used it) and refused to teach Rey. Finally he gives in after constant prodding from Rey, only to teach her a few totally useless lessons. This was compounded by the fact that Luke also apparently suffered from Alzheimer's. He left hidden map clues as to where he was when he vehemently didn't want to be found. What caused all of this? Long ago he decided to do the most uncharacteristic thing you could possibly imagine for his character (given his faith that he could turn Darth Vader back to the Light). He tried to murder his own nephew because of a Dark dream about him! Hamill played a Luke Skywalker devoid of all his redeeming qualities to assure that the Disney warrior princess would be the only protagonist in the spotlight.

Rey: She doesn't need training in anything to reach the master level, even lightsaber skills and the Force. And if she does she'll train herself.





So despite the pluses and positives of the Rey character in general, the mythos is being ruined to accommodate her. This hasn't been done for any other SW character.

There are arguably other issues: her chief motivation was finding her family only to end with empty subversion, all of the other motives of her character seems to be for things she claims she doesn't want. But those are lesser issues I won't go into detailing about.