Not Bad - Not Great

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2017)

Well let me preface this with some negativity – the only two 'Star Wars' movies I really liked are (1) "Star Wars" (who really cares what they call it now-a-days – I surely do not), and (2) The one with all the little guys running around dressed in 'lhasa apso' outfits. The second movie I mentioned might be weak on plot – but it sure is strong on cuteness. The other movies I painfully sat through and completely forgot everything about them within a day or two. Oh wait - maybe not completely. There was this one redeeming character that I miss dearly. That character would have to be the eternal 'Jar-Jar.' Yes, Jar-Jar may have been the perfect model of bumbling annoyance, at least he was memorable.
So with all that being said, on my way to the theater, I really thought I had completely wasted my money. On my part, this was a family outing to the cinema and I lost the vote. Yes – I knew I was going to pay to watch something I expected not to like. But, as Yoda would say, "Money you wasted – but wasted completely it is not – hmmmmm – ahhh." Firstly the movie is way too long. About a third of the time was taken up by CGI and useless interactions between pointless cameo-characters – all of this could be deleted and nothing would be missed. If the editors had sliced thirty minutes, this movie would have easily moved into second place on my scale. Yes – this story would even top the cute little-furry-dog-creature movie.
Another thing that drove me up the wall was the multiple yelping references to, "The Force." Pleasewhine about "The Force", once, maybe twice and move onsheesh. On that point, I thought during this "Star Wars" time-frame, the Jedi Knights were some kind of a hush-hush mysteriously dangerous group that history forgot and normal space-folks simply refused to talk about. Eh - what do I know – or care for that matter? Other than what I mentioned above, the movie was OK. I do think the script writers actually delivered a really good product, too bad the plot was so muddied with all the lag-time between splashy space-scenes. Needless to say, I was losing interest fast. Ah but not to worry, redemption came in the form of three, late-entry characters. Yes those true heroes of this epic have to be the hairy likes of Baze Mailbus - wielding some awesomely destructive weaponry and a never-back down attitudes, and his bestest buddy, the master of one-liners and martial arts, Chirrut Imwe, and let's not forget K-250, probably the funniest robot - ever. I hate to say it, but without these three additions I would have lost all interest. Nothing bad about Felicity Jones, she was just a bit weak as a stand-alone lead. If the previously mentioned trio had entered sooner, this movie would have been excellent.
In closing, I think there was a lot of potential lost. It could have been shortened or Chirrut, K-250 and Baze should have appeared sooner. Felicity and these three would have made for a very entertaining movie. So there were parts of this movie I really enjoyed and I cannot give this thing one star – but it is not deserving of a ten either. For me I am glad I saw it, but doubtful I will watch it again.