I think one thing people tend to forget is the fact that, at their heart, Star Wars movies are supposed to be space operas that are based on the old Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s. These things are all about the unflappable hero who is a dashing do-gooder who has little to no weakness and always comes through in the clutch. Obviously, audiences and stories have become more sophisticated since then (which is why Star Wars characters generally have more nuance), but at their root, this is what they are. Luke and Rey don't stray too far from that mold.
Something else that has popped up in this thread are complaints about why the Kylo Ren character isn't a badass from day one, which confuses me. For once, we have a villain in Star Wars who isn't from that same 1930s serial-style mold, and people complain. He isn't the Anakin "I was born a badass of mythical proportions" villain or the "nobody knows a thing about me and nobody really cares" villain like Dooku. He has a backstory that's been hinted at (and will surely be fleshed out in the next two movies). He has flaws. He has internal conflicts. He has room to grow and room to become either a success or failure. But unlike other Star Wars villains, he has to earn that success or failure right in front of us, the audience.
Remember, with Anakin, we never really see him be trained up as a Force user. He went from virgin-birth miracle child capable of blowing up a droid-control space ship by total accident (thereby saving the nascent Rebellion strike a major blow against the Trade Federation), to sulking teenage badass who saves his master's life on several occasions (mostly offscreen, of course). He goes from god-child to god-adult, and we never see anything resembling a character we can identify with. He has no flaws and never fails.
I know some people are going to say "Well yeah, we saw him fail when he fell to the Dark Side," to which I say, "Shut your fat gob." He didn't fail when he fell. He fulfilled a prophecy that was written long before his birth. He did exactly as he was supposed to. Anakin's embrace of the Dark Side is his ultimate success. As a messianic character, falling to the Dark Side is as much a success for his character as Jesus' crucifixion is a success for his character.
Kylo Ren has no such prophecy to fulfill. He's flying blind and striking out on his own because something other than an ancient prophecy is guiding him. Whether that be daddy issues, mental problems, uncontrollable rage, a need to be noticed, a lust for power, or just plain jealousy because his connection to the Force wasn't as complete as it was for another student he was training with (Rey, which would explain why she's just so damn good at commanding the Force), we get to see him come to grips with those issues, fail because he's unsure of himself, and (most likely in the next movies) ultimately become the badass he's so desperate to be. Or not. We don't know because he's not racing toward a predetermined ending like Anakin was in the prequels.
For once we have a villain with flaws. A villain who's driven to be a villain for reasons other than "the Force made me do it cuz balance." A villain who isn't a mustache twirler (Dooku) or cocksure twat (young Anakin). A villain with some depth.
I say it's about damn time.
