The death of another great story...

Rating: 2/10 (28 March 2018)

As you can tell from the title I found this movie disappointing. It goes down the same track as The Terminator, Alien and the Batman sequels*. (Briefly rescued by Nolan*). A powerful story turned into a shallow one due to weak writing and what appears to be no research conducted to understand the depth of the original storyline, the characters and the cross-over to this new era.
Star Wars 1-6, Rogue One, Clone Wars, Rebels incorporates one great storyline. Creating a new storyline outside of this bubble is tough however it comes down to the writers ensuring the original is well researched when this new storyline is created. JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson have failed in this respect.
Review:
Firstly there is the odd gold nugget in this movie. I've read a lot of reviews about Yoda's laughter like a lunatic after the tree take-down moment and his overall appearance. IMO it was warming to see him appear at Luke's low point offering sage advice. It was a good moment. The part where Kylo Ren pulled back on killing his mother was notable and the hint of an alliance between Ren and Rey opened up some interesting possibilities with the story.
Specific areas of frustration was where Luke Skywalker discarded his light-saber like it meant nothing. This was given to him by Obi Wan, was his fathers before him and was cut away from him by his Sith father. This item would not have been chucked so frivolously. I found an article where Rian noted this point and mentions that Luke is not going to fire it up and say, 'Let's go'. From Rian's perspective he stated Luke's done with that, that's why Luke's on the island. From my perspective I didn't expect him to 'Go' take on the First Order because he had his light-saber back. That is a very shallow point. I did expect him to reflect on a tangible part of his past being handed to him, I don't believe Luke would've chucked it. Based on his character, the epic history behind it and the sentimental connection he would have reflected on getting this item back, everything that had been occurring while he was away and likely passed this to Rey to be used for good after training her.
Leia's Superman moment and Luke's green milk moment was terrible, the casino part of the movie was irrelevant, Finn getting rescued before his hero moment and Snoke being taken out was a let-down among many.
Summary:
Movie is watchable but if you're a passionate Star Wars fan you will be disappointed. Go in with very low expectations. :-(