The Last Jedi is one of the better Star Wars films

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2018)

Upon seeing Last Jedi I was excited to compare my thoughts with my friends to see if we all enjoyed. It was unanimous that we loved the film, so much that most of us saw it at least twice in theaters (which for a college student is more money than we really should have spent).
So it was quite a shock to me that so many people outside of my community seem to despise this film. Even a month after seeing it, all the reviews I see the most of from the average film goer is that it is a poorly written disaster, and I just don't get it.
The thing that film does the best is develop its new characters, giving them more personality and more of a stake in the fight against the first order than Force Awakens did. Rey is becoming the Newest Hope for the Resistance and having Luke to guide her as well is being thrown into both sides of the Force so early into her training has really helped make her one of the more interesting characters moving forward. Poe is truly coming into his own as a leader, going through a major character arc in one of the most dangerously alarming hours of the Resistance, one that might have been the final hour. After his plan to escape had failed, he finally learned that you have to look not only at the immediate threat in front of you but the lasting effect your actions can have as a leader. Kylo has not only taken up a role as Supreme Leader but has also shown the cracks in his armor. The next film could very well play into his signs of regret or restraint to finish off his family and the Resistance. As for Finn, well I guess he's just kinda there. Not everyone was perfect, but outside of Finn the new characters have all gotten major development that will indefinitely play into the next chapter.
The film also had several new planets and ships that were all designed and shot beautifully...although I didn't expect any less.
Another good point to the film is it isn't overly reliant on the old characters to solve every problem. It would be so easy for the filmmakers to make the new characters lame and not develop them because they already have beloved characters in the series. Leia is the most abundant character from the original trilogy, and she spends most of this movie unconscious. Luke has a lot of development and reasoning behind his hermit lifestyle and his new, more grizzled world view. He is a big player in this film, but does not take away from the new characters in any way. As for Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO, they are basically there to cameo and don't do much else. Which, in my opinion, is a pro for this film.
But as with any film, not everything is perfect. The existence of Canto Bight can be boiled down to getting Benicio del Toro in this film and making sure that Finn and Poe's plan is a failure. The Porgs were made to cover up Puffins in the exterior shots with Luke and Rey, but are beyond over used and are far away from funny. And Snoke seemed like he was way too easy to deal with.
My biggest problem in this film is Leia's ability with the Force. Unlike most of the other cons which are fairly minor or are done to get the real key players into place...this decision was made only for the shock value. This one instance completely cheapens the Force and the importance of Rey and Luke. While I was able to get beyond it because she isn't consistently using the Force, it has bothered me upon every viewing of the film.
Overall, The Last Jedi has a couple bad calls in the writing department, but those were more than made up for by the incredible story actually being told as well as the great character development that is taking place in the trilogy. The Last Jedi exists to serve as both a set up for the finale as well as a film to take things just a little darker and make the stakes mean more, much like Empire Strikes Back's role in the original trilogy. And I think the Last Jedi serves that role very well.
As for the few complaints I have seen about the "weird tone" of the film...its the same tone as the original trilogy. You have the humor and light heartedness that brings out the darker moments. To complain about that for this film means you must also have that complaint for all the other Star Wars films.