Maybe Storytelling is a Lost Art

Rating: 2/10 (24 December 2017)

Bottom Line: The Last Jedi was a pointless story with pointless character deaths that undermined the Star Wars universe.
Maybe Disney knows how to make money and good movies are just not the way. This new trilogy is doing very well for Disney, but is a mashup of recycled clips that completely miss the point of why they were there originally. Middle movies are always difficult, but The Last Jedi was particularly devastating to the Star Wars universe. As a Star Wars fan, I'm a little tired of the "good guys" being the underdogs and fighting the big evil. These movies would have been much more believable and interesting if the Republic was starting to reestablish itself and the First Order was becoming a credible ISIS like threat. Snoke ended up being a non-player in this new universe, so they should have skipped him completely and had Kylo Ren as a want-to-be emperor instead of a want-to-be Darth Vader.
These movies have no discernible theme, so far. The original 6 were about the redemption of Anakin through a prophecy that said he would destroy the Sith, but left out that he would destroy the Jedi and himself in the process (the force needs balance after all). The Jedi were the imbalance and Anakin set the force right by embracing the dark side and destroying them all. These larger themes are forgotten in this new trilogy leaving them hollow with little more to think about than what merchandising will come from them. What is more difficult to grasp is that most of the plot elements dead ended leaving you with the feeling that you wasted all of that precious screen time.
One of the greatest tragedies was how R2-D2 was left as a nostalgic prop. In the original 6 R2-D2 was the one who guided the fate of the galaxy by subtle influence on everyone else, and was the only character who knew the whole story from beginning to end. In The Last Jedi he is nothing more than an old robot and his significance was missed completely.
A few interesting things that occurred if we view the movie as a series of clips, Force Skyping was an interesting addition to a universe that did not have this type of communication in 1977. The concept of good and evil being a matter of perspective, how arms dealers sold to both sides, and how the Force is bigger than the Jedi were more realistic elements then the black and whiteness of the original view of the world.
There are too many ridiculous plot elements to go through here, such as the resistance fleet very slowly getting away for the entire movie, and Rey being upset by Kylo Ren not wearing a shirt as if the destroyed AT-AT remnant she was living under in the desert her entire life as a scavenger had strict fashion protocols.
Overall, it's another mish mash of recycled concepts that miss the point. Just watch the original trilogy again and sit this one out.