Star Wars: The Last Straw

Rating: 4/10 (26 January 2018)

So, I wasn't much pleased with the Force Awakens. It was too derivative and too much like a reboot to be considered "good". But, like many others, I told myself that the proof of the pudding would be in the next movie, and where that took the story.
Well folks, that pudding is truly one rancid piece of fruit cake. The Last Jedi looks fantastic. The score is great. The effects are generally awesome. However, story and character-wise, it is a mess. Someone poured week-old custard on that fruit cake, and it leaves a real bad taste in the mouth.
The main problem, which I wondered about in the previous movie, is that the writers have precisely no idea what to do with the original trilogy characters. In TFA, Han blunders along like a senior on a day outing, finally being despatched by his own son in just about as unheroic and unsatisfying way it was possible to imagine.
In TLJ, Luke is treated just as poorly, being essentially relegated to "old man complaining them young 'uns'll get hurt if they carry on". He does precisely nothing for the entirety of the film except issue warnings and doing nothing of any consequence. Finally, when he does appear to confront Darth Emo, the much hoped for display of force-prowess is reduced to "Hah ha! I'm not really here! Fooled you!"
Part of this problem is the reboot aspect I mentioned. Lucasfilm want the franchise to move on with new, younger actors. That is understandable, but the old hold-overs from the previous movies seem like almost an embarrassment to them now. Something to be gotten rid of as soon as possible and never mind if you do them a disservice in the process.
As I said, Luke has nothing to do in this movie. Leia, in fact, shows more Jedi skills than he does. It isn't hard to understand now what Mark Hamill was going on about when he said he disagreed with Johnson's take on Luke.
But if it was just the older characters being poorly served here, it might still have been a good film, right? Sadly, it isn't so. The story is full of inconsistencies and in hindsight makes little sense. Increasingly, the disconnect between the original trilogy and this new one makes no sense. In the original, the emperor was killed and the rebellion triumphed. All across the galaxy, as shown in the remastered versions, people celebrated the fall of the Empire.
In TFA, we are introduced to the First Order, who seem to be what is left of the Empire. They have ships etc, but nowhere is it made clear that they are anything but a subversive force trying to bring the Empire back. Effectively, they are the rebels.
In TLJ, now the rebels are rebels again, fighting to overthrow the First Order, who seem suddenly to be much more powerful. They have a new "emperor", in the form of Snoke, and seem to be in charge again.
There is no consistency to this timeline. Who is Snoke? He seems in this movie to know a lot about Vader and the Skywalkers, but no explanation for this knowledge, or who he is, is given. Not that it matters, because he is now dead, done away with as casually as any of the old guard. Likewise with Captain Phasma, who had potential as a nemesis figure - dead.
And Leia, or as she should be known... Skywalker Poppins. Blown into space and yet surviving with a display of force powers that makes Luke's old trench run seem like he drifted off to sleep.
That is the main problem with this new trilogy - not enough is explained that needs explaining. The entirety of this new trilogy so far is focused on whizzbang effects, pointless firefights, super-weapons, disposing of characters deemed pointless to the plot and glossing over details that leave people scratching their heads in confusion.
Oh, and Porgs. Let's not forget the truly ground-breaking, original and totally not merchandise-based cute lifeforms that play such an important part in the movie.
I have no idea what is going on with this franchise anymore. Other than an excuse to print money, Disney seem to be intent (and content) to just churn out garbage with the Star Wars tag on it. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
To think, we gave Lucas himself so much grief for the prequels that we were happy to see Disney buy him out. What a hollow victory that seems now and what masterpieces the prequels seem in comparison to this new trilogy.
So far, this trilogy has comprised the worst of the Star Wars films. The original trilogy is untouchable. The prequels at least had decent fights, and even Rogue One tried to look at the Star Wars universe differently. This trilogy seems to have no identity of its own. It has a shallow, repeat what has gone before, but do it worse mentality, that I can't see getting better with the final (God I hope it is the final!) movie, now to be made by rehash Abrams.
Now all let's wait with mock enthusiasm for the final part, probably to be titled Star Wars: The Re-Return of the Jedi, if I'm any judge.
SUMMARY: Fan-fiction by people who hated the original characters. No attention paid to details, no explanations, just more rehashing of older, better content. Dull and yawn-inducing, with new characters that are either annoying, or pointless, and for whom you feel nothing. Not worth your time or money.