The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2017)

This review contains spoilers******** You have been warned.
This movie, in my opinion, is certainly not worthy of the praise it has gotten from critics, but I do feel that some reviews that I have seen have been too harsh. Yes, there are some parts of the movie that made me want to walk out, but there are some moments in this movie that took my breath away and left me satisfied as a Star Wars fan.
THE GOOD
First off this movie looks gorgeous (as it should) and the direction is fine. Rian Johnson was creative with the story and it was much better than Abram's A New Hope Pt. 2. He did an excellent job with Luke Skywalker, and Mark Hamill arguably gave his best performance as the character. His death at the end of the movie was one of my favorite moments of the franchise, and I was almost brought to tears when he looks up at the binary sunset as John Williams' iconic score plays. While I, personally, would have went in another direction with the character and would have loved to see him face off with Snoke, Rian does the character justice. The scene with Yoda was also fantastic and was one of my favorites from the film, and I also enjoyed some of Rey's training, especially the scene with all the reflections of her in a halfway encounter with the dark side. The ending with the kid also ended the film on a nice note, and John Williams' score was great as always.
THE BAD
There were more than a few bad parts, and I will highlight three.
1. I was disgusted to see how Leia's character was handled. She most certainly deserved an honorable on-screen death, and she was robbed of it. She should have died in space with her calling out to Luke as a nice touch. Instead, we get a bs pseudo-resurrection scene where she miraculously makes it back to the ship. I was thoroughly disgusted and now she has to die off-screen.
2. Finn and Rose's sequence in the casino was completely unnecessary and served little purpose. Also, Finn should have died on Crait, sacrificing himself for the Resistance, as it would have wrapped up his fairly weak character on a strong note. Instead, Rose comes out of nowhere to save him, says a really cheesy line afterwards, and faints so poorly it was almost as bad as Talia al Ghul's death in The Dark Knight Rises. (Please look up this scene if you have not had the pleasure of watching such a poor on-screen death). The romance between the two didn't bother me, but their kiss should have been earlier before the battle, and Finn's death would set up her character nicely for the next film.
3. "How 'bout we make the most powerful sith ever shown on the big screen and have him get killed in the worst way possible!" Rian really screwed up with Snoke. I really loved seeing him use his powers in new ways, and the way he threw Rey around during their encounter really downplayed the 'Mary Sue' elements of her character that were presented in TFA. But why would you kill him half way through the second movie in the most anti-climatic way possible? I was completely baffled by this choice.
THE UGLY
Some of the humor in this movie is just plain awful. Yes, there are some funny parts and a couple good one-liners, but every character has cringey one-liners, and it's terrible. Rian had no idea what the tone of the movie should be, and it shows. The movie also contains one of the worst attempts at humor I have ever seen, which was when the bottom half of Snoke's body just drops to the floor in a completely unnecessary scene. The scene rivals some of Jar Jar Binks' worst lines and that is saying something.
CONCLUSION
All in all, this movie has some of the best and worst moments I have ever seen in the franchise. It is a step up from TFA, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The good moments, however, are completely worth the price of admission, and I would have watched Jar Jar laugh for two hours straight just to watch those incredible moments.