Since RJ literally destroyed what could have been EP8, JJ can still salvage some of what could have, should have and would have been in the proposed EP8 leading into EP9, but its going to be a hard sell. You can speed read by doing what it seems Disney did on RJ's script, read only the first line below and then forward to the last line.
RJ F'ed up EP8.
Rey's parents were indeed "nobody" as she wasnt birthed by the people she knew as her parents. She is the balance of the force having both dark and light sides. As I stated somewhere else in some other SW thread, look at her again in EP7, she changes from calm to angry, passive to aggressive when she is confronted, in combat or in contact with the dark side. The "absorb/download" others powers ability is there in EP7. Its just a shame with what we were force fed, pun intended, in EP8 with no revelations or realization of Rey's true identity. Not just her past but who she can and will be. Ball not only dropped, it wasnt even looked at.
Kylo Ren, seems to have been handled with the same outcome minus the "mo power, mo better" vibe that was to drive him. He could have, should have, would have been open about his intentions to over throw Snoke. Instead his character just takes over after a sub par 70's Solid Gold dance number with some red Tonka Toy looking, stop motion moving, umm, ahh, guards in what looked like a movie theater.
That brings me to,
Ill let you all in on a little art dept secret, the color red is used to visually distract or attract the eye. It can be something as simple as a throw blanket on a sofa to distract from the fact a production has no budget for furniture or the surroundings do not match the character in question (I.E. Stan is a junkie living in a run down house yet the budget only allows us to film at the directors trendy apartment so lets darken the room by putting a red blanket halfway over the table lamp allowing us to throw color and hide the $4k sofa). Red was overly used in EP8 for no other reason but visual. There was no mental mind games going where red signified a change being replaced by blue or vice versa.
Luke, quite possibly the most wasted pop culture character of all time in the end in EP8. The could have, should have, would have Luke is a self exiled crazed master Jedi that has seen both far back and farther forward into the future to come to his own realization not only the Sith need to to be stopped but the Jedi as well. Without one there can not be the other as the balance is offset. To truly destroy the Sith, the Jedi must also be destroyed simultaneously. The entirety of the Jedi knowledge has been forced into his mind. Through seeking a positive outcome, and a balance/solution, Luke looks into the dark side. Not to join it but to seek out what drives dark force users to become "evil". This is what ends up driving Luke to madness. To understand your enemy you must understand what drives them, but the dark side will show you what you want to see yet not always what it really is. Therefore, how do you know what you are seeing or feeling is real? Again, this can be looked upon as actually being in RJ's EP8, but handled horribly. Now were left with a Luke force ghost that will likely embed his knowledge and power into Rey then "let go" allowing her to make final decisions. It will be a great time to have force ghost Ben to make an appearance as it should have been Ben in EP8 with Yoda looking onwards. Yes Yoda was the teacher, but Ben was his mentor.
It seems as if RJ had no idea what to do with both Fin and Poe. All the same for Chewie (that oddly enough looked like a guy in a monkey suit) nor the droids. Instead of focusing on the existing characters we're given the terribly written, acted and portrayed Rose, Captain purple long neck out of left field, in a seriously WTF character of WTF characters a hacker thief with a laughable stutter, hilariously 90's hip hop ball cap thats not only rewarded but given an all out escort by the First Order after he has helped infiltrate and potentially destroy its main fleet ship. All of these new characters need to just go away in EP9 and the focus put back on the main characters. But, will Disney not only learn but accept its mistakes made with EP8, doubtful at best.
What is it with RJ and kids in his movies? That is what killed Looper for me and the same thing is shoe horned into EP8. In the end EP8 isnt a Star Wars movie. It doesnt look, feel or run like a SW movie. Instead its near a parody homage to the genre with commercial style humor built in, can you hear me now? If RJ wants to make art house Star Wars movies by all means, give the guy a Star Wars Story but keep the trilogies looking and feeling like Star Wars. The worst part is, I think RJ could have made a great Boba Fett film.
There is too much now to fix, resolve and little left story wise to go on with EP9. The only way to save this trilogy or even end it making any sense, there needs to be an EP10.
