Visually Well Made

Rating: 3/10 (10 July 2019)

I can appreciate the quality of the film based on the time and effort (and money) that was put into it. What I cannot get past is the disregard for what the previous films set up.
This isn't a cry baby rant like what defenders will say. It is an honest look at why this film ultimately became a disappointment in my eyes.
1. Luke is no longer the champion of light. Instead of his disappearance being attributed to having some ultra important mission, we instead see that he has given up on everything due to one major setback. Everyone was eager to see his return as Luke at the height of his power but instead we see him get bested by Rey who has no actual training.
2. Jedi training no longer has significance. All the other films placed a high importance on training. I like Rey as a character but they way handle her training has no meaning. She doesn't accomplish any actual training but seems to use a light saber and the force as if she was a master. I know that this can be attributed by her being gifted but Anakin Skywalker was the chosen one and he still needed years of training to become a fully realized Jedi Knight.
3. Finn and Tally's actions make no sense. I mean this in two ways. The first is that their side quest becomes a complete waste of time as they choose to free a bunch of slave animals instead of finding another way to complete their quest. They literally say at the end that it was worth it even though it means that they will be arrested and all of their friends and the resistance will die. The second point is that Tally stopping Finn's sacrifice makes no sense. I know she does it because her sister just died and she has feelings for Finn but it again means that all their friends and the resistance will die. She does not know at this point that Luke will show up. Also, she is able to understand that her sister's sacrifice was important to the resistance given the result but she still stops Finn from doing it even when she knows the consequences.
4. Weird additions to the physics of Star Wars as a whole. Apparently, it makes sense now that you can just use ships as hyperspace weapons. Why wasn't this applied to either of the Death Stars if it was so effective? The rebel alliance could have used their fleet with droids programmed to fly their ships into the Death Star once the shields were down. The next weird thing was Leia being able to survive space by using the force. Not sure what the importance of having this in the movie was. Kylo has just decided to not kill her but the bridge is attacked anyways. They could have shown her powers with the force in many other ways that wouldn't have resulted in a WTF moment.
Again, these are just some of the major decisions that made this movie questionable on a story level. These new movies will never reach the level and success of their predecessors if they continue down this route of tearing down the universe that has been built over decades. Money talks and I know that many people agree with these points as the recent decline of Star Wars movies is factual.