A Star Wars film for non Star Wars fans

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2017)

I don't normally bring myself to write reviews but I felt compelled to after watching The Last Jedi (predominantly for a sense of catharsis rather than thinking i'm any good at writing).
The Last Jedi is overall quite a good film. It has a solid storyline with genuinely surprising and interesting twists. I liked the Porgs (in particular the part where Chewie is about to eat a roasted one), the battles at the beginning and the end of the film are enjoyable, the acting and directing is good and I personally found the comedy to be enjoyable. For this it does deserve some of the praise that has come its way (hence the seven)
The problem I have with it, is that it is clearly a film aimed at impressing critics and maybe bringing in a new generation of followers rather than for fans of the franchise (nothing wrong with that except i'm a fan of the previous films and I wanted something different).
And with that in mind these are the things that irritate me about the new films and in particular The Last Jedi. Nothing in this film (or the previous one) has made me care about Rey. I have no interest in what happens in her journey. All I can think of when watching her is that Anakin, Obi Wan, Luke etc etc have all had training and I am supposed to just accept that Rey can pick it all up through a brief connection with Kylo Ren?
Kylo Ren just makes me think of a Force wielding Red Mist (Kick Ass 2 in case you didn't get the reference). We don't find out how Snoke turned Ben Solo or why he feels such an affinity towards the dark side. For all the faults with the prequels (and i'll admit I actually enjoyed them for the most part) at least Anakin had numerous reasons to turn.
And for me the big thing was Luke Skywalker. I wanted to see Luke as a Jedi Master at the peak of his powers. I wanted to see him beat Snoke and Kylo Ren with all manner of previously unseen force powers, and although I knew this was unlikely to happen what I got instead was so far removed from my ideal scenario that I found it deeply unsatisfactory.
As previously mentioned it's a good film overall. If you have no real attachments to the previous films or have no desire to see your favourite characters stories pan out in a certain way then it probably warrants the critics scores. If you deeply care about the characters from the original trilogy however, it might be worth just leaving it. I certainly have no interest in seeing the next film after this.