Did I see the wrong movie?

Rating: 3/10 (19 December 2017)

Honestly, I was apprehensive before the showing of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was primarily because I was one the few people that were frankly disappointed with Episode VII - The Force Awakens; and, as a result I ignored all the build-up to prevent any feeling of regret this time around.
Sadly it didn't matter, because once again I left the cinema an unhappy man. I will start with the positives. There were indeed some stunning visuals - now I am definitely not a movie expert, but to the casual albeit big Star Wars fan, the locations looked on point - although I was distracted by the lazy Crait - Hoth and Ahch-To - Degobah similarities, just like the use of Jakku to be the the new Tatooine from The Force Awakens. Regrettably, this is where the positives end for me as these great visuals were not utilised at all - how I wish the original trilogy could have had this technology to enhance the action and lightsaber duels.
Speaking of lightsabers - the one thing I was looking forward to most in this episode was the prospect of seeing Luke Skywalker engage in a duel. We did not pay money to see Snoke's totally inept guards get killed by Kylo Ren and Rey all too predictably and a weirdly younger-looking hologram of Luke to duck under a hopeless swing of a lightsaber. Then to top it off the "twist" at the end was a pointlessly depressing way to destroy what was a truly legendary character - if the previous 2 hours + hadn't already done so. Although after Han's death it again was far too predictable.
Yet, I must tip my hat to the writers as one thing I didn't see coming was the death of Supreme Leader Snoke, to the detriment of the whole franchise. The great question of The Force Awakens was - Who was this mysterious all-powerful character - a brilliantly interesting addition to the franchise (too many are feebly bland - i.e. Rey). Well, that doesn't matter anymore - all those theories count for nothing because he was ridiculously killed off just to show how superficially "conflicted" Kylo Ren has become. I must concede - this left me furious.
Much has been said of Disney's attempt to ruin this galactic franchise - it's all too true: 'BB-8 what a great idea for a toy', how long till we see stuffed toys of the Porgs. There was far too much "comedy" - even though I did laugh when Luke merely brushed his shoulder after being shot at. I haven't even mentioned the frankly boring casino "lets free some horses rather than enslaved kids - Yay" sequence and the terribly uninspiring plot in general - the rebels are slightly out of range - let's just follow them for the whole duration. The Force Awakens may have disappointed me but it left so many questions as to where this new trilogy would go, now we have all the answers and I can safely say that this trilogy is heading nowhere and it's not a nice place to be.
Help us episode IX you're my only hope!