Progressive film that is Progressively disappointing

Rating: 1/10 (31 January 2018)

I left the theater on the night I saw Star Wars The Last Jedi thinking that it wasn't a bad movie. It wasn't great. But it wasn't awful. At the same time I left feeling bothered. A kind of itch in the back of my sensibility. Something I couldn't put my finger on. I thought about it all night and into the next day. So I decided I would write out the plot on paper to get out everything i still had in my memory bank. As I wrote I began to see more and more clearly the reasons why I felt the way I did.
I felt this way after the first 10 minutes of Aliens 3. I loved Alien and Aliens. Ripley had taken us on a compelling and exciting journey and we left feeling satisfied. I loved the surviving characters that were left at the end of part 2 and felt satisfied that they made it through. And then at the beginning of part 3, the writers kill off every beloved character and impregnate Ripley with an alien so she could die in the way she feared most.
This is what The Last Jedi felt like.
I wont get into the caricatures they made of every character or the plot holes or the story inconsistencies. But they all exist. and I understand. I think i know why. I think we are at a unique point in history. So much awareness and understanding is exploding in this country.
We need more movies where all the women are heroes and martyrs and powerful. And we need more movies where men are shown to be men. reckless and angry and wishy washy and cowardly and power hungry and animal abusers and bullies. I believe there are ways to convey all of this. There are many really good movies that have been doing this wonderfully. But I think with the Last Jedi they tried but failed.
I will say that it was alot of fun to see visually. It was gorgeously shot. There were a few very creative ways they expanded the mythology and universe that i really appreciated. The action sequences were riveting. The lightsaber fights were amazing. But I wish it was a different movie. I would say go see it and if you leave thinking it wasn't bad but it wasn't great, leave it there and don't overthink it.