Nice wrapping, no substance

Rating: 5/10 (10 December 2017)

To be exact this movie is around the 6,5-6,9 depending on if you view it as part of a series (then lower rating due to story) or a standalone flick (then a bit higher).
As part of a series and as a standalone it's strengths are the special effects, grandiose delivery, music and star wars feeling from nostalgic elements. The negative in the positive is that even the nostalgic elements feel calculated instead of natural.
It's weaknesses are the lack of creative story making, bad acting which is too funny at times, and lack of star wars lore consistency.
Also it felt like a feminist manifesto with the main character all the way. She can do everything, better, stronger, without training from sheer being better. It's all her, and don't you dare doubt she can do it. I would just like to remind everyone even Anakin Skywalker (choosen one and whatnot) was not proficient in lightsaber wielding and the force without practice. Even if we just project the moral of what we saw, the message should not be that you can do everything better than others without practice. It should be that if you practice long and hard enough you can achieve anything (whether boy or girl).
Basicaly it feels like they wanted to make a really "star warsy" movie that introduces young audiences to the themes and reminds old viewers what happened in ep 4 without actually working on a strong story. They just mixed up the details a bit and made it a next episode. I call them fillers in series, guessing ep 8 will contain the real story.
ps.: honestly though, you'd think making the death star 2 times and getting it destroyed by a meager force would have taught the empire something, but these space Nazis never learn. i guess no one had a better idea as to what menace should be stopped.