No. There is no plausible scenario where rust buckets that are falling apart and are trapped on the ground will win against ground attacking star fighters. It was stupid and you're gushing over it which was exactly the point I was making. I'm sure they will make a really interesting entry in one of the cross-sectional technical manuals but outside that they were dumb. I'm not discounting the technical manuals either, those are really interesting to me. I had several and wore them out growing up and would definitely read one for this movie. But the salt skimmers were still stupid death traps.
I know you already conceded that "winning" wasn't the point... but then you seem to dismiss that detail and go back to arguing that using the speeders was derpy because they couldn't win (ie they had "no chance" against fighters)... What I think you are missing,
is that was the point ... as in, it was a desperation move. They were literally backed into a corner with seemingly no alternative... so Poe, in typical Poe fashion throughout the film says "Let's hop in some fighters and
do something cause its gonna work cause we're the good guys." But then, when they are hallway to the target, his guys start getting shot down like flies, precisely because, as you astutely point out...
they had no chance against the forces they were facing... Poe, having grown as a leader over the course of the film, looks to his left and right
and makes the call he was unable/unwilling to make in the opening battle... he realizes that they are getting slaughtered and orders them to retreat. Remember his refusal to do exactly this is why Leia demotes him and why Holdor does not trust him. The whole movie is setting up Poe finally being able to make this call.
Same thing for Finn, but he is further behind in his progression than Poe. Old Finn, TFA Finn would have argued to high heaven exactly what you say... "We have no chance against these odds we need to take these speeders and run or hide in the catacombs... anything but facing off against the F.O." which he has always been terrified of... but
precisely because of his experience on the Cato Bight missions, he has a different attitude now. He now feels that evil must be confronted and defeated at any cost, even his own life. So he is all-in for the suicide attack on the la
Zer (take that
@Takhisis 
) cannon. This is a new Finn... a "never give up, never surrender" Finn that we didn't have before... and we have the "pointless" Casino mission to thank for it. Also note that even after Rose saves him Finn is ready to charge right back out there on foot to stand with Luke against the AT-ATs, because he wants to fight them to the death no matter the odds... but because Poe has grown as a leader, he is wise enough to see that this is their chance to escape and that their survival/retreat
is the plan... something that old Poe was unable to see when he led the mutiny. This is a new Poe... a "live to fight another day" Poe that we didn't have before... and again, we have the "pointless" Casino mission to thank for it.
The storytelling felt to me disjointed, muddy, frenetic, unsequential.
When I watched it the first time (in 3D-IMAX), my feeling coming out of the theatre was exactly that it was
frenetic... I felt like the story was moving so fast and there was so much going on... non-stop action... like I had just gotten off a roller-coaster. It wasn't even until hours later that I began reflecting on Finn's arc and at first blush, upon reflection, it seemed like... as many have said it had no impact on the story... but then I started thinking more about it and I realized that it actually was the whole lynchpin of the story... Anyway, when I went to see it again (non 3D) I realized that the First and Third parts of the movie are actually the ones that are action-packed... while the Second act (where the Canto Bight scenes occur) is actually a much more thoughtful, deliberate, dialogue and plot-heavy part of the film... there's a lot of analysis and stuff to unpack in the Second act, and so I think that its no coincidence that the Second Act receives the most complaints.
What I experienced instead was muddy story telling. I'm searching for a guy with a certain insignia, I'm marked by security guards, but I take a little time to watch a horse race through binoculars, I do get arrested but a guy who can break me out and take the place of my objective falls in my lap, and so do some cute creatures who can spirit me away. It's all fits and starts, no progression. No progression driven by characters and their personalities interacting with other characters and their personalities.
You didn't find the guy; you found some other guy. No you're not, because you're in jail with a guy who can break you out of jail, and who has just been himself taking a nap in jail until you show up to be broke out.
About that... When I watched it the first time, as I've sad, I missed the Maz scene, so I was at a disadvantage trying to unpack that aspect... But when I watched it again, I saw the Maz scene... and something jumped out at me. Maz
strongly implies that she has a romantic relationship with the master codebreaker. Now we know that the guy who is wearing the red lapel pin is not really her type, whereas the guy in the cell (DJ/Del Toro) is. I say this because she explicitly states in TFA that she is attracted to Chewbacca. She likes fuzzy, scruffy, pirate-types, like Chewy... and by implication DJ... not smooth clean-cut fancy pantses like the guy we see with the pin on. So I am thinking that the movie pulled a fast one on us and that
DJ is the codebreaker, but he was thrown in the cell, possibly because the guy in the casino stole his pin, and got him arrested somehow. DJ shows that he is basically good natured towards them and only betrays them because he has no choice. Do you think its possible that Maz alerted him ahead of time to be on the lookout for her friends and so he is actually expecting them? Just spit-balling here, but it seems odd that they would put in that bit with Maz gushing over the guy for no reason. I agree that there being two master codebreakers in the same place, particularly one just happening to be in the cell that they get thrown into seems to be a very deus ex machiney coincidence... but if DJ actually is the guy Maz sent them to meet, then it makes more sense no?
