As a die hard Star Wars fan it pains me to write this review....

Rating: 1/10 (16 December 2017)

"The Last Jedi" was by far the worst Star Wars movie that has entered the series. The actors themselves are great, but it is the story that has completely ruined the direction of the Star Wars franchise. There may be some spoilers ahead so if you have yet to see the movie please do not read further.
To start, one of the biggest issues with the new Star Wars movies are the excessive amount of puns and comedic entertainment that have now been added to the series. Star Wars is not a Marvel movie and is NOT intended to be a comedy. The Last Jedi adds too much unnecessary humor that takes away from the seriousness that is Star Wars.
This film is filled with unnecessary scenes and plot holes that will leave you scratching your head by the end. The best example of this is seeing the humanizing moment when Kylo Ren decides not to fire on the bridge of the spaceship where his mother (Leia) was. Leia still ends up getting blasted out into space from the other tie-fighters and then uses her force power to pull herself back into safety. I'm sorry but A) Leia has never shown a glimpse of power like this so how are you going to introduce this now and B) What was the point of the bridge blowing up if she was just going to survive anyway? Again, another frustrating waste of time with no explanation or answers.
Another major fault by The Last Jedi is the handling of the unanswered questions we all had from "The Force Awakens" such as, who is Snoke and who are Rey's parents? We never learn who Snoke is or how he ever came in contact with Ben Solo or how he was able to manipulate Ben to the dark side. With the image of Snoke being a major villain in The Force Awakens you think he would have had a larger role rather than to be killed off halfway through the movie with no explanation of his origins. The ladder follows with the question of Rey's parents, who are deemed "nobodies" who left their daughter on a planet without a care in the world. Although this could turn out to be false in future movies the fact that we are left with this as the outcome is anticlimactic and very disappointing.
Another thing I have realized that is wrong with the new movies compared to the old is that they are trying to focus on so many supporting characters rather than the core group. The original Star Wars movies still has some of the most iconic supporting characters in cinema today because of their impact while they were on screen, not because they had to create an individual story for each and every character introduced into the Star Wars world. The Last Jedi continues this poor tactic by trying to have a story for Rey, Luke, Ben (Kylo), Finn, Leia, Poe, Rose, Gen. Hux, Phasma, etc. Another thing to note is that Phasma had another pointless role in this film same as during The Force Awakens and just feels forced into the movies at this point.
There was so much potential in The Last Jedi but the poor execution of the story really made the movie a dud not to mention trying to make the movie a mix of "Return of the Jedi" and "The Empire Strikes Back." The connection between Ben and Rey was interesting and could have been expanded on more as well as the history between Ben and Luke (now knowing the details of their conflict and the perspective of each individual in the scenario). By far my biggest peeve of the movie is when Yoda shows up as a ghost to speak with Luke. Why would Yoda be the one to show up when Luke had a bigger connection with Obi-Wan, or even his own father (Anakin) for that matter considering Obi-Wan and Anakin faced a similar scenario when Anakin slipped to the dark side (same as Ben Solo). Just another example of poor story execution. They essentially took everything that made Star Wars what it is today and threw it all out the window and left us with a mess of a movie with no plot or direction. Again, this is no reflection on the cast, all of them did a great job executing their roles, but the writing was really some of the worst we've seen in a long time.
I left the theater with no excitement or feeling of "what's next" and overall was disappointed that they took something so great and have turned it into garbage. This movie seems like the end of the "Star Wars" we all grew up with and loved.
If I had to describe my overall experience for The Last Jedi in one word it would be, disappointed.