Not Bad, but ultimately disappointing Star Wars Movie!

Rating: 3/10 (16 December 2017)

TL:DR Should you go out and watch it? Yes! Is it the masterpiece I hoped it would be? No, sadly it is not.
First of all: I won't spoil anything in this review! Now for the Movie, I came into this with massive, probably to massive, expectations. The Force Awakens (TFA) was alright - a good introduction into a new era of Star Wars but also borrowed to many plot devices from A New Hope. So, for me, in order to fall in love with this new trilogy, The Last Jedi (TLJ) had to really become a new Empire, a Movie that embraces all that's great about Star Wars and expands on it while also surprising the audience with new and unexpected twists and turns. And while it succeeds at the latter tasks, by really delivering some memorable and unexpected scenes, TLJ managed to really mess up the "Star Wars" part of the movie. It just feels like a fan film at times. A really good one, that comes close to Star Wars but never actually manages to create the same atmosphere and tension. This is mostly due to some questionable story decisions (that straight up make no sense at times), too many characters (its hard to get involved with a "core team" like back in the original trilogy with Han, Leia and Luke. TLJ has a tone of characters but that means each them only gets limited screen time) and the Movies tendencies to make scenes unnecessarily funny. You will know exactly what I mean after you've seen the first 10 minutes. Many scenes are just dark, serious and in their essence really good - until the awkward joke moment. I don't want to spoil, so let me give you an unrelated example: Imagine you watch the Vader scene in Empire, and just after the " I am your father" line Luke would respond with a little wink and a "Oh really?". A little tiny moment, that would change the whole movie. TLJ is full of these little moments, that are forcefully funny and sadly just don't work for me. They destroy otherwise really amazing moments for no apparent reason. And then there are some moments of magic and a long and really unnecessary "safe the animals" subplot adding salt to open wounds. But enough complaining, there is also a lot to like about TLJ . Its really well made. The visuals are stunning, the creatures are great, the Worlds amazing and the space battles intense and beautiful. The Soundtrack is on the expected level, meaning really, really amazing and just everything about the production is almost flawless. Also certain characters are really well developed, Kylo and Ray have some great moments and some of the stuff I don't want to spoil is just really well executed.
Overall this is not a bad movie, nor ist an unenjoyable one. But I wanted to leave the cinema with a big smile on my face - and I didn't. Rating TLJ as just a movie, this is a solid, enjoyable 7 out 10 - a really good movie, but not a masterwork. If this wasn't a Star Wars movie, I would be happy with it. But as a Star Wars movie, it did sadly disappoint me overall and I do think its worse then TFA and doesn't even come close to the Original Trilogy.