Damage Control aka. "Working with what you've been given"

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2019)

It is a shame to what happened to Star Wars.
The first in the last trilogy was setting some stuff up, but following a familiar plotline. It was a good movie, but a mediocre Star Wars installment.
However, it all came crashing down when The Last Jedi was released. It was simply a middle finger to the Star Wars fans. All the mysteries built up were toppled in an instant, all the fan-favorite characters were misused, with immense plot holes, forced virtue signalling, an irrelevant side-quest that added nothing to the movie, and much more. It simply destroyed the long-time established characters.
It was so obvious in this one that JJ tried his best to fix all that was simply trashed in the previous film. Mind you, this does not redeem JJ or Kathleen Kennedy, since a clear lack of planning from the start was inevitably going to ruin the franchise, but at least there was some damage control done here.
Was it void of virtue signalling? Not really. I found the exploration of newly added force abilities to the characters actually braver, although some were a tad bit too much.
The movie definitely felt more like a Star Wars video game than an actual installment into the franchise, despite it being the one that finalizes the story. A lot of scenes were filmed as such.
The CGI on certain characters (Leia being the obvious one, without spoiling too much) was sub-par. Rogue One had it better (there, I said it).
The saga was supposed to be about Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, but it turned out to be about Palpatine. Most of the plot points nullified the achievements of Luke Skywalker to an extent. What were the previous ones for, then, if it all boiled down to Rey being the ultimate hero? Was she the one who brought balance to the force now?
The only way I can keep loving the franchise is by reminding me of this one true fact: the whole saga is about the adventures of two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke, Vader, Palpatine, Kenobi, Rey, Solo, Chewie, Leia, Lando; they all come and go, but those two remained true to character and cause.
Final verdict: it did a good job as damage control, given that JJ was handed over a disaster, and they did well with what they had in hand, but overall, despite not being "too little", the attempt was "too late".
Goodbye Star Wars saga. F for respect for all the entertainment you have given us, including your ugly sides at times.