However, the space segments of the film were cringe-inducingly bad. They were the military/tactical equivalent of the Padmanakin romance scenes in AOTC, except the TLJ space scenes took up roughly 40% of the film. Star destroyers sit idly by and watch their dreadnought get slaughtered by an x-wing and a very lucky bomber, Poe doesn't notice what a bad idea his raid on said dreadnought was until Leia points out to him that the Resistance lost most of their small attack craft as a result, force-sensitives can survive and fly in space (Leia) without the aid of protective gear, the vacuum of space will only suck you out of an open door or hole in a ship if it's convenient for the plot, Holdo decides that being obstinate and generally being as much of a dick as she can be is a better idea than working with her new subordinates and gaining their trust, Finn and Rose knowingly leave their fully functional ship parked in a location that will cause them to be arrested after being told they can't park there, Rose prevents Finn from making a good tactical move that would have left the Resistance in a much stronger position at the cost of his life (and it's portrayed as a good thing)... Ugh.
I get that the theme is to show everyone failing and learning from their mistakes, but the force-user arc had much more believable fails. The fails in the space arc were so exaggerated and boneheaded that they insult both the characters' intelligence and that of the viewers. Poe is not dumb enough to not notice his own mistakes after the fact. Hux surely did not get to where he is without knowing that having all of your ships engage the enemy instead of just one is a good idea. Finn and Rose are not dumb enough to not realize that leaving their ship in a known no-parking zone will bring the law down on them and jeopardize their mission. How did Holdo get to such a high leadership position when she's worse at working with her subordinates than Vader was with his? How does Rose not realize that allowing Finn to sacrifice himself will destroy the only door-breaching gun the First Order has on the battlefield, leaving the Resistance secure behind an impenetrable door and rendering Luke's interference unnecessary? Come on, these characters are not that dumb.
Overall, though, I do approve of the film since it brought in a lot of much-needed character development for the newer cast members. A lot of the hate I see directed at the film is about the cast being depicted as flawed human beings who make a lot of mistakes instead of acting badass. While I do believe that certain parts were poorly done or straight up bad (see above), I also believe that the characters being depicted as flawed was a good thing overall, because that was the whole point of the film: showing the characters failing and learning from their mistakes. Poe screws up repeatedly, learns from it, and becomes a much better leader. Finn screws up horribly, learns from it, and becomes a better person. Rey finally screws up and has nobody there to cover for her, and is nearly killed as a result. She learns from it and becomes more mature. Luke goes through catharsis and emerges stronger than ever because of it. Even Kylo becomes less weak over the course of the film.
My ranking of the films from favorite to least favorite now looks like this:
Return of the Jedi
The Phantom Menace
The Empire Strikes Back
Rogue One
A New Hope
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Attack of the Clones
While TLJ was mostly great, the sheer amount of dumb stuff that happened during the space scenes really drags it down a few pegs. If the film had ditched that arc to focus entirely the on Luke/Rey/Kylo arc, TLJ would easily have been much higher on my list because that stuff was great. It's still a better film than RoTS and especially AotC, though. The only reason I have TFA above it is because that film was of a much more consistent quality throughout, while TLJ was really great in some parts but really bad in others, which makes it somewhat painful to watch.