I actually suspect this is part of the problem The Last Jedi had, on one level it wanted to be a new Empire Strikes Back that tried to redefine what Starwars could be but ultimately it didn't really change things much at all, perhaps because Disney/Abrams didn't want them changed?
The problem for example with Luke just giving up and living on his island for example. The obvious alternative to that is that Luke really has gained some wisdom from the ancient jedi texts and his own soul searching. The most obvious direction to me would seem to be some kind of view of the force were negative emotions and the darkside are acknowledged more yet this would potentially upset the existing Jedi/Sith situation.
Equally the Rey/Kylo plot which was I think by far the best aspect of this film would also have potentially upset things if it was followed though on. If Rey either joins him or at least doesn't outright reject it then your also potentially meddling with the Jedi/Sith setup with the potential for these two characters to inhabit some kind of middle ground.
Honestly I think this was a significant problem the prequels had as well. If your going to shift your films focus towards characters like Anakin and Kylo then you need a more nuanced view of such characters. In the OT this wasn't an issue because it was Luke's character who was the dynamic focus and we got a more nuanced view of the "light side" to give it depth. Anakin flipping between heroic and "dark" like a switch just didn't work for me, didn't feel believable as a character, just making him a bit arrogant/petulant wasn't nearly enough.
I think you're letting preconceived notions get the better of you. For one thing, the more I think about it the more I think drawing connections between LJ and EMPIRE are spurious at best -- given how much you are faulting LJ in the comparisons, and between the OT and Prequels as well.
I understand why, because we must know the path we've come from to know the path we're on and where it's going, but I feel many of us are missing the forest for the trees doing this.
In regards to Rey's power I do have a problem with her. What we know from Rey in this movie assuming they aren't lying to us is that her parents were nobodies. So Rey somehow has a lot of force power that she receives for no particular reason at all. Her character does not learn how to use the force through a logical story telling arc like Luke did in the originals. She just receives all this power like a dragon ball Z character might. How is she just as powerful if not more powerful than Kylo Ren who was trained and studied using the force for many years?
Who says either of them are all that powerful?
Here's the problem with STAR WARS: it has to exist on at least two levels -- within the mythos and without the mythos. There is roughly forty years between EMPIRE and LAST JEDI, but awareness of the Force has trended in opposite directions. On our side, the Force has become more popular. Not just in our imaginations, but also through sophisticated cinematic language. Back in the 80s, it was inconceivable to pull off some of the special effects we now take for granted in film. On our side, our familiarity with the Force JUMPED UP with the Prequels, where the Force was no longer an outdated religion but EVERYWHERE. Further, Industrial Light and Magic DEFINED CGI during this time -- so the combination of Force, CGI, and the powers of Lucas are in FULL SWING.
TFA/TLJ's problem is WITHIN the mythos, in that in the forty years since the events of EMPIRE the Force has gone the opposite way -- so: how can find a balance between polarities? Rey establishes the Force as near MYTH in TFA, so the idea of power levels WITHIN the film is not the same as WITHOUT the film.
And rather than watch the events of the film, which predicates itself on the mythos within the fiction, as well as it tries to concede to a more sophisticated and opinionated audience, people denigrate the film for not being ... how did you put it?
a fun and awesome way that fans want to see
While this may be hard for you and the detractors believe: the filmmakers honestly believed that this was it. That what occurred was fun and awesome and yes, they fell short of what you expected but what you expected honestly you don't even know. No one has described it in any other terms than what they did not care for. And there's nothing wrong with that either, because it's fucking impossible to figure out something that works for everyone.
