JFC, enough with the identity politics bullshit; it's become simply a ploy for people to hide behind when they can't offer up anything of substance in response to criticisms.
The term was coined because the 'patient zero' for it just happened to be female... and no doubt the vast majority of us standing by this criticism would still feel the same way if Rey was indeed male.
I'm not hiding behind anything. You linked to a video to make your argument. I answered each point that the video raises. You can engage with that, or hide behind terms like "identity politics bullshit". To me, every argument you make in this vain is further proof that the motivation behind this criticism is sexist in nature and would not exist if Rey were a male.
Yeah, and those instances lasted all of, what, 1 minute of screen time, if that? They were more like very temporary setbacks. She successfully executes a Jedi mind trick on her second or third try (even without having to do the accompanying hand wave). She wins her very first lightsaber duel (enough with the 'Kylo was wounded' excuse [a contrivance in itself]; with any actual training at all, he still should've been able to beat her). Both Luke and Anakin lost limbs; Rey lost... her lightsaber.
There is no reason to assume based on the two instances we have of force users becoming aware of their powers, that Luke or Anakin's development are typical. Even as masters they aren't exhaustive of the force powers we know. There is no reason to assume that someone could not develop their powers faster than they did or that someone could not be more powerful than them, the last of which there are already many examples in the three trilogies. Assuming she is, why can't Rey just be a more powerful force user than Luke or Anakin? Kylo Ren appears to be a more powerful force user than both of them were and you're raising no objections to
him.
None of the films establish the difficulty of executing a Jedi mind trick. We never see Luke practice it or fail early on at executing it for example. Also, the instruction Luke receives in the use of the force in the OT is extremely limited. He gets one lesson from Obi Wan and on his second or third try can see with his eyes closed and destroy a Death Star. Rey gets an equivalent lesson from Maz Kanata (but, she is also a woman, so I guess this doesn't count) prior to the use of all of her force powers. Luke appears to spend no more time with Yoda on Dagobah than Rey does with Luke on Ahch-To. The key to using the force appears to be someone pointing out to you that it exist and then quieting your mind to channel it. It's never been portrayed as requiring much teaching to unlock. There is no reason to assume that using it is equally difficult for everyone.
I don't see the problem with a man, twice wounded, and completely unbalanced in the force, losing the second half of a fight to a woman, who is also an experienced fighter (albeit with a staff) completely balanced in the force. You don't seem to have a problem with Luke, an amateur pilot, with no military experience, not just surviving, but winning every encounter he faces, with well trained military units (known for their marksmanship!), pilots, and auto canons, and successfully making a shot that no other trained pilot even with the help of a computer can make.
At the end of TFA, she's already well beyond where Luke and Anakin were at the end of their respective first movies of each trilogy (both of whom were also introduced to their Force powers later than usual), despite zero actual training.
Again, there is no reason to think that Luke and Anakin are typical of developing force users. And even if the are, there is no reason that Rey cannot simply be a more powerful force user than they are. Your desire that she not be (even though there are many examples of more powerful masters than Luke or Anakin (but, who are all men) and your complete inattention to Kylo Ren (who in the same movies as Rey) appears to be a more powerful force user than Luke or Anakin (but, provoking no response from you) again indicates that your problem with Rey is that she is a woman.
The backstory stuff we only hear about but never actually see is irrelevant to the character as it currently stands (the introduction of flashbacks in this trilogy makes for another hard deviation from the continuity of the first 6 movies)... and why I don't bother to bring up the fact that she seems to be the only human in the galaxy who can understand Astro Droid language (and the only other one besides Han who can understand Wookiee) Lots of over-inflation of very minor details here. And who says the telecommunication thing is bad? (Of course, Luke becoming a completely different character in this trilogy - along with Han and Leia reverting to where they were at the beginning of the OT - is a whole other can of worms.) And if you don't find Rey an incredibly bland individual with whom you'd never really want to hang out (that's what that video meant by 'personality'), I don't know what else to tell you.
The backstory is relevant to Rey being a flawed protagonist, which is a key competent to the supposed argument. Poe understands BB-8. Luke understands R2D2 in
The Last Jedi. Yoda understands Chewbacca. Also, the entire premise of the new movies is that Rey and Kylo Ren are two Star Wars fans, battling over the legacy of Star Wars, with one fighting to preserve it and the other to destroy it. So her ability to do Star Wars things well, is explained by the fact that she is an in-universe fan of Star Wars (makes her living salvaging Star Wars, lives inside of a Star Wars house, has a Star Wars doll, plays make believe fighter in a Star Wars helmet, saves the Jedi texts from being destroyed, saves Anakin's lightsaber, etc.)
I didn't say that the telecommunication is bad. I said, that she lies in order to hide it from Luke, which is a clear form of dishonesty. Meaning she is not perfectly good.
Luke, Han, and Leia seem beside the general point, but as stated in a previous post, Rian Johnson has given numerous interviews explaining in detail, the rationale for why Luke is where he is. Obviously, it is disappointing to some people, but there are (to me thoughtful) reasons behind it.
I don't find Rey an incredibly bland character and certainly no more bland than Luke in the OT. I don't fantasize about hanging out with Star Wars characters and the fact that you don't want women you find unlikable to have force powers equal to or greater than the men you do is just more proof of the motivation behind your argument.
The issue is that for this part of the plot, Poe is our proxy. By not telling him anything and especially not reassuring not even the bridge crew of the existence of a sound plan, the newly introduced character Holdo is characterized to us as an unconvincing leader that seems like she'll get everyone killed and clashes with our proxy, the already-introduced Poe, shown as not trusting her. Thus, it creates a distrust from the viewership, which allows it to accept Poe/Finn/Rose plan as a logical and plausible alternative in motion (if it wasn't the case, I doubt people would have put up with how much time the movie spends on this part of the plot). It's not just Poe who doesn't get to be convincing there is a plan : the viewers too. When Poe yells at her in the command center "YOU DON'T HAVE A PLAN", the movie doesn't answer through Holdo "WE DO BUT IT'S CLASSIFIED AND YOU'RE NOT ENTITLED". It just has Holdo not answering and looking like someone who is going to get everyone killed. Sure Poe was demoted and isn't entitled to anything. But we, as a viewer, might be. Note also that Poe is merely demoted to Captain, shown as having a very close relationship with Leia despite of that, and has, again, many crew member trusting him (even, as shown later, over Holdo). He's not a random lowly pilot.
Again, the misdirection hinges on the audience sharing Poe's sexist assumptions about Holdo. He knows that she is an accomplished leader from another battle. He knows that the reason he is being frozen out is because he was demoted and has no part to play in her plan. We instantly see her spring into action and take leadership, when Poe interrupts her and misrepresents his current rank. I never assumed that she was bad. I always assumed she had a plan and that it would be revealed at some point and based on Poe's actions in the movie, she is right not to have revealed it to him. The only more prescient thing she could have done, in furtherance of her plan, would have been to have preemptively put Poe in the brig, which you are not suggesting. Again, that this is all easy screen writing or was pointless to you is fine. I thought if played out well. Poe is given an order (for the second time by a woman) that he ignores with disastrous results and learns from it. As pointed out elsewhere and earlier in this thread the Canto Bight scenes serve other thematic and character building purposes as well beyond just Poe.