Review After 3rd Viewing

Rating: 6/10 (25 October 2019)

Definitely in the camp of people who disliked this movie when it was first released in 2017. This is the first Star Wars movie since Episode 1 that I left the theater feeling disappointed. Every other time I have watched a Star Wars film in theaters (including Solo and Rogue One) I left feeling exciting and generally pleased with what I just saw. As I think back to how I felt when I left after watching TLJ, I just remember feeling empty and questioning whether the film franchise that had essentially served as a major part of my identity for the majority of my life was no longer going to be something that I could look at the same way.
Now, I've gone back and watched TLJ 2 more times since then on Netflix, trying my best to look at it in a new light and from a different perspective after reading various commentaries and now in anticipation of Episode 9.
My general view of this film now is that I place place it in my bottom 3 of the film from the Skywalker saga, but I would probably not place at dead last (which was my opinion 2 years ago). I think what caught me, and a lot of people, off guard was the way Luke was handled, the death of Snoke, the strange attempt at humor throughout the film and lack of answers regarding Rey's origin/parents.
My thoughts now are that Snoke never really mattered much in the first place, and I think the return of Palpatine in EP 9 will like answer all of that. If anything, he was just a pawn being used by Palpatine but that really he was nothing more than that. As we know from Palapatine in the prequels, he is a a master manipulator and can use the Dark Side to control things in a way no other sith (or jedi) could ever imagine.
I still am put off by the portrayal of Luke, but more so the way it was handled and not necessarily the storyline itself. It makes sense that Luke would want to go into hiding after failing everyone in training Kylo, but I think they could have handled his character better (throwing the lightsaber, drinking the blue milk etc. I thought were disrespectful to the character). I would have like to have seen more parallels between Luke's exile and Obi Wan's. Both went into hiding for similar reasons (they both failed their apprentices/padawans) and both were reluctant to rejoin the fight when a messenger was sent to them. Maybe this will come up on EP 9 as we know Luke will be involved somehow as a force ghost.
A lot of people seemed upset over finding out that Rey's parents are nobodies (according to Kylo), but I have 2 responses to this. 1, are we really sure that is the case? It's very likely Kylo is pulling one over on Rey here. 2. Does is really matter who her parents are? It's not like we ever know who a lot of these character's parents are, so I don't really see what the big deal is. I have a feeling Palpatine will be tied to this anyway, either as a Anakin-style birth or as him taking away Rey's family so that she might eventually turn to the dark side... similar to Anakin.
The humor still i thought was not "Star Wars like" but it doesn't bother me as much as it did when I first watched it.
I will say that I still believe the whole Finn/Rose/Codebreaker storyline was a waste of time. I felt this way upon initial viewing and I still feel this way today. i think they didn't know what to do with Finn after the last film, and had to some up with something to fill the time. The fleet not having enough fuel to get away from the First Order... oh but they have "just enough" to stay out of reach of their cannons? Sorry but where did that come from? Since when has a star destroyer not been able to catch up with another ship?
So, hoping that EP 9 can resolve a lot of the questionable things from this film, but I am still just going to keep it 6 starts because i don't think it deserves any better than that.