Two movies in one!

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2017)

Almost 1,500 reviews at this point so I'm obviously most likely writing this for myself only, but that is ok as I feel a need to sort through the impressions. Just like with TFA there is a lot to like here, but there are also just like in TFA a painful amount of lost opportunities. First off, this movie was a wonderful experience, there is absolutely no doubt about that and the positives far outweighed the negatives. Having said that the negatives that were, were all related to the general story arc and unfortunately pretty significant. There also seem to be a general trend in Hollywood that we need more humor and self-depreciation in movies nowadays, which proved valuable in films like Ant-man, Deadpool and especially Guardians of the Galaxy, but which went for example completely overboard in Ragnarok, making it a painful slap-stick mess. In TLJ some jokes and gags add comic relief depending on timing, whereas others are just plain disrespectful to the franchise, such as the response Rey receives after giving Luke his light sable.
Disclaimer, from now on there will be massive spoilers. TLJ is really two movies in one, with one following Rey, Luke and to some extent Kylo Ren and the other following the resistance with a focus on Finn and the new girl Rose. The first movie turns out to be among the finest Star Wars ever delivered, and Daisy Ridley is magnificent and flawless and quite frankly carries the whole movie. Adam Driver delivers another very solid performance, but this time the screenwriting partly let him down, as he was faced with situations that gradually made his personality more black and white cartoony in contrast to the conflicted character we were introduced to. In the end this movie belonged to Mark Hamill though, what a rush to see him confront Kylo Ren in the final sequence, and how it brought back memories from him entering the nest of Jabba the hut or confronting his father. All of it brilliant.
Coming back to that second movie nested into a great Star Wars movie, focusing on the resistance, very little made sense. The whole goose hunt for the code breaker, which ended up in nothing and did nothing to move the story further, no doubt designed to introduce a regular breather from the main story with Rey, Luke and Kylo. Unfortunately, neither John Boyega nor Kelly Marie Tran as Rose are very relatable or offer any convincing acting in this movie. Boyega's Finn is some form of Han Solo copycat in the story, but where Oscar Isaac's Poe has that kind of hot tempered, boyish charm, Boyega is not even close to pull it off. I hate to say it, but the Boyega/Tran portion of the movie felt like a Disney diversity stunt altogether, not doing the very worthwhile underlying cause any service. Leia's little space Sleeping Beauty sequence was ridiculous and didn't make sense and would have made a wonderful sendoff of the late Carrie Fisher, and although I understand they hade many scenes already shot they didn't want to waste or deny the audience, surely that scene could have been re-edited to the end when they again where under heavy bombardment. Now they really have a problem in the next one.
Other have commented that it feels as if Rian Johnson deliberately ignored many of the setups JJ Abrahams introduced in TFA, and it is hard not to agree. In the case of Snoke he even made a mockery of it, showing the mysterious and ancient Sith Lord lying like a gutted pig on the floor with his tongue sticking out. It is not that it was beyond Kylo to do something like this, but it removed the whole dynamics from the Kylo Ren story line and it would have made more sense if the victim was the other protagonist, General Hoax, who is nothing less than ridiculed in this movie. I do feel that people accepted Kylo Ren's explanation of Rey's parent too easily though, and I think and hope that this is one key reveal that was saved for the third act. My own theory is that Rey really is Luke's daughter with someone he met 20+ ago, but who never told him she was pregnant and decided to hide her away from the dangerous world of Jedis and Luke Skywalker in a place called nowhere or Jakku, knowing that the whole New Order was looking for Luke. It is to me the only explanation that makes sense, partly given her extraordinary connection to the force, and partly because these three trilogies are about family, and more specifically the Skywalker family.
Overall a great experience with half of the movie faultless and wonderful, but I sure wish JJ had done it instead, imagine what could have been. I enjoyed this movie without doubt, but it had fillers, and the sense of wonder and, for lack of a better word, pride I felt when seeing TFA, really wasn't present this time. I'm from a generation that saw the originals a little kid, and they have been one of my most important filmic influences ever since, but with Han, Luke and obviously Leia now gone, it finally feels it has gone full circle. Disney will keep churning these movies out, and from now on I will not count the days to the next one anymore. I will of course see them at will, just like I enjoy a good Bond movie now and then.