Mostly reposting this from the other thread talking about TLJ and TFA:
I think TFA is simply a better overall movie with a stronger plot than TLJ.
That's not to say that TLJ is a bad movie; it's a good movie. It's also not to say TFA is a great movie; it has its flaws, and is highly derivative. I'd argue TFA simply has better pacing, more internal consistency, and a better usage of its overall cast, even as a stand alone movie. TLJ does have elements of greatness and a lot of ambition, but has serious flaws in plotting and doesn't really move beyond some of the flaws its predecessor had. And some of those elements seem self-inflicted.
The biggest issue structural-wise with TLJ are the subplots. As others have argued, they may serve to further drive home the "failure is the greatest teacher" theme. But if you're going to do that, than you have to makes sure your subplot don't become redundant, and you have to make sure they're well written. TLJ fails on that front: numerous people have pointed out several inadequacies with the logic and presentation behind the space chase, and Finn's subplot has openly been admitted as one that got chopped up over production. TFA, in contrast, has a very neat and tidy collection of subplots; while they may lack a theme, per se, they do all contribute to the overall narrative and follow logic much better than TLJ.
TFA also succeeds very well at maximizing its ensemble cast and writing characters consistently. I will praise TLJ for its handling of Kylo Ren and Luke as being more ambitious and successful enough to fulfill most god that ambition, but I feel there's issues with the rest. TFA gives us a fantastic new lead duo of Finn and Rey, both of whom have character arcs which, even giving some credit to the Force storyline in TLJ, are somewhat larger and more rewarding in TFA. Han is a treat in TFA, but we see he's still support for the new cast. In contrast, while I think Luke maybe deserved one more shot at the position of protagonist, he does end up kind of demoting a bunch of new characters to do so. Poe and Leia are also more supporting characters in TFA, but again, that's their role. TLJ also struggles a bit with characters like Holdo, who are schizophrenically written in order to pull off Poe's story.
Part of the reason for my judgment in the two previous paragraphs is because of my personal favorite character, and one who I think was a unique new addition to Star Wars, and with a better executed character arc and message than *anything* in TLJ: my boy FINN. We take a nameless and faceles Stormtrooper, the patron saint of nameless background henchmen, visually showcase him having a crisis of conscience with brilliant physical and facial acting from John Boyega, then begin his evolution into Finn. Over the course of the film, FN2187 makes incrementally more heroic choices: intitally, he simply displays human decency and a refusal to be party to murder, then he intelligently determines he has to leave so he takes a pragmatic risk in freeing a nominal foe to escape, and when separated from that man, makes a still pragmatic but compassionate and responsible choice to complete that man's mission and help both that man's droid and a stranger caught in the crossfire. He befriends them both, and while intitally willing to leave them afterwards to continue to run, is drawn back to help them, and ends up making a selfless choice to head right back into the First Order to save his friend, and ends up charging a superior opponent to protect said friend. As a result of these choices, Finn gains new friends, a new moral paradigm, a new sense of identity, and a name.
And then in TLJ, he gets screwed over in a poorly plotted subplot spinning off another poorly plotted subplot, ostensibly to experience a character arc 1/10th the size of the evolution he already went through, and accomplishes nothing and changes very little.
Oddly enough, the First Order is quite a bit more intimidating in TFA than in TLJ, even though we see more of their conventional forces, experience a more lopsided conflict, and have them technically win in TLJ. Now, I will have to admit some of this is likely attributable to me rolling my eyes at the attempt to immediately instate the OT's paradigm of overwhelming evil and miniscule, outmatched heroes... But I do think I can easily argue that element of OT Revanchism is stronger in TLJ than in TFA in regards to the First Order. And more importantly, TFA simply has a more energetic, logical, and competent depiction of the First Order; officers don't waste time smugly chuckling, they get #### done.
Hux doesn't just stand there acting like a cartoon villain; he's actually on point, quick to react, and arguably outperforms both Ren and Phasma in serving the First Order, all while being more terrifying because he seems like a fanatic instead of a comedic weasel. TLJ does give us the wonderful Captain Canady, leading his cool Dreadnaught into battle. But the film's attempt to contrast his professionalism with the other First Order officers exposes the issue; his temperament and activity only contrast in TLJ, and would just be par for the course in TFA. When the Resistance launches an attack on Starkiller Base, we see the First Order mount a solid, if failed defense: Hux immediately deploys all fighters, and it takes a lot of work to actually expose the base's weak spot, showing these guys did learn something from the Empire's idiocy. But in TLJ, everyone's suddenly an idiot. Canady has to launch his own fighters to defend his Dreadnaught, Hux can't see that two fighters almost destroy the Raddus, so go ahead and use the hundreds of fighters you must have to finish the job instead of just following them like idiots, and even though it seems like even an idiot would theorize about a hyperspace ramming tactic, nobody has any preparation for it.
I can totally understand loving TLJ. But I don't think you can argue that it's as consistent as TFA, and that feels like a major issue to me.
