IMDB SW fans... are you kidding me?

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2017)

Bottom line SW:TLJ is the best Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi - and it isn't even close. The writing/directing is light years ahead of the last 5 SW films - probably closest to being on par with the quality of Return of the Jedi, just without the ewoks.
This is space opera/science fantasy at its finest - at least in the medium of film.
So why my (?) title? Because it appears the majority of reviews coming in on IMDB, opening night, are opinion generated discharges of hate. It's baffling. It's like people went in with some expectation, and when this wasn't a ESB the reboot? They stopped watching.
I can never prove to anyone the quality of this film. I can just tell you what I saw. Two dimensional characters from The Force Awakens suddenly have depth, humanity and.... real dialog! At its worst TLJ can be a little heavy handed with direct/obvious lines, but often this is very intentional and a lot of humor is derived from these moments.
The visuals are absolute top shelf and somehow functional effects at the same time. The effects are used strictly for story telling purposes. This movie is actually pretty spare, with every moment mattering - this hasn't happened in a SW film since ESB!
Fanaticism should never inhibit someone from appreciating fine film making.
In time this review will be absolutely buried and forgotten, and hopefully so will most of these initial low reviews. Time will treat this film very kindly.
SW fan who is also a big fan of this movie: 9 out of 10