Simply don't understand the backlash

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2018)

It is important to preface this review by saying while I am a Star Wars fan, I'm a film fan first. The sheer negativity and hatred I have seen arise from this film was enough for me to type out a review on this site, and I rarely ever do that. The Last Jedi was a very good film and an even better Star Wars film. Yes, I can feel your anger, strike me down with your lightsaber. But after two viewings, I can definitively say that this movie was all that I wanted and more, even with notable flaws.
Luke Skywalker's character arc:
Many people when flocking to hate this film, bring up how Rian Johnson destroys what made Luke Skywalker so compelling in the Original trilogy. He, even for a brief moment, plans to kill Ben Solo when looking into his mind, chucks Anakin's lightsaber, after Rey hands him it, and wants to the Jedi to end, seemingly going against his character.
Well on the first example let's look into Luke contemplating killing his nephew. In the Original trilogy, Luke throws aside his lightsaber when being forced (no pun intended) to kill his father. This is a moment people continuously bring up to discredit this film's depiction. But let's go back to that original scene. Luke, hiding in the shadows, hears Vader say, "If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she (Leia) will". At this moment Luke lashes at Vader, cutting off his arm, and putting his saber towards his father's neck. Had the Emperor not have come down his throne to taunt Luke, it would seem likely Luke would have killed his father. In Luke's character, he doesn't want the dark side to manifest in his friends and family anymore than it already has. Now let's look at the Last Jedi scene. Luke, as he mentions in narration had looked into Ben's mind for months to see his alignment, he saw darkness but tried to brush it off. With his dark dreams continuing, Luke knew the dark side had already taken effect on him, much like his father. In that moment, Luke, making the same hasty decision as he did in Return of the Jedi, ignited his lightsaber to put an end to the darkness, but he corrected himself in the same way as well. So in other words, it fits the character.
Secondly, Luke throwing aside his father's lightsaber, was an effective way to communicate to the audience that Luke is done being a Jedi, it's a visual and even comic way to explain where he is in his life. Which leads me to the third problem people have with Luke, and that is his belief that the Jedi must end. In the originals, until the very end of Return of the Jedi, Luke was never a true Jedi. Most of them train from young ages, to even full on adulthood. Luke only had a year or so training from Yoda. He was just a boy, who never knew the full ways of the Jedi. After Yoda's death, the only means of his knowledge was learning from the sacred texts, not from a master (unless the force ghosts made regular appearances). This is a pivotal device in Luke's arc, as he is basing his entire belief system on old, non-page turning, books. This as well as the recent tragedy of Kylo Ren, was enough to push him into this way of thinking. He single-handedly destroyed his sister's family, and brought destruction, to the galaxy, it's no surprise he'd want to shut himself out. It isn't until Yoda returns (It's implied he hasn't returned to Luke in a while), who burns down the tree containing the texts, telling Luke that the Jedi are meant to evolve beyond the old Knights. He also tells him that his failure, is part of life, and to teach people how to go beyond that. Not being an all powerful Jedi, but telling others to move past their failures, by being a symbol of hope for the rebellion. Which is what Luke does in his last scene.
Canto Bight/The rebels escape
The other key complaint from fans and audiences is the inclusion of the subplots that ultimately fail and go nowhere. I will be the first to admit Canto Bight, is easily the weakest segment of the film. It's disjointed, messy, too visually similar to earth, and just doesn't seem like something that belongs in Star Wars. However, it is only 11 minutes in a two and a half hour film (according to IHE's Last Jedi video). Is it unnecessary? Yes. Does it greatly impact your enjoyment of the film? Depends on how nitpicky you are. The larger portion is on Poe Dameron and Vice Admiral Holdo (Pink Hair Lady), attempting to outrun the first order. First let's knockout the two "plot holes" people constantly bring up in regards to this scene. The First Order could have easily sped up to catch them, or sent out smaller ships (TIE fighters) to take out the ship. This is plot hole, is wrong because even if the first order's ship sped up, or sent fighters to take them out, the Rebels' ship still had deflector shields up, so any attacks, which we see multiple times, would just bounce off. Second plot hole, Why didn't Holdo tell Poe what her plan was? Well, he'd obviously get in the way, which he does when Poe finds out her plan is to escape in pods to Crait. Holdo doesn't trust Poe, and for good reason, he is controlling. Poe throws equipment around, holds Holdo at gunpoint, to initiate a plan that ultimately fails.
On the topic of failure, many people bring up that the film's constant string of failure, as making the movie pointless. I know this is a point made by many people but, Empire Strikes Back was the same way. Luke fails and abandons his training, Leia fails to save Han, Luke fails his duel with Vader, and by the end the highpoint of the film is that they aren't captured. Even Vader fails turning Luke to the dark side. That movie, and this movie both focus on building the relation with the characters. While not a shining piece of cinema, Attack of the Clones, didn't give you important story information that is integral to the overall storyline (it didn't give you much of anything to be honest), but it focused on building Anakin and Padme's relationship, not well but still. It built the tensions between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin's anger over the Jedi order, and Palpatine's manipulative nature. By the end, it is a failure as a Clone War is starting. In the Last Jedi, we get a complicated relation between Kylo and Rey, as by the beginning she sees the good in him, trying to turn him to the light much like Luke to Vader, but by the end she closes the door on that, literally.
Holdo and Rose:
By far the two characters most people despise are Holdo and Rose. Interesting that out of the new characters in this film, it just so happened to be the wome... I'm not an SJW, please don't kill me. Anyway, they are fine enough. Holdo isn't meant to as fleshed out, as we are supposed to identify with Poe's side, until the end. My only problem with Rose, is that there is somewhat of a romantic element to her pairing with Poe, which is really only established at the end in an awkward kiss. I didn't pick up a romance between the two, and the kiss felt unearned.
Snoke:
This is the big one. Last Jedi's treatment of Supreme Leader Snoke. Out of all the questions people came out with Force Awakens, it had to have been who is Snoke? This film doesn't answer that, and closes the possibility of it by having Kylo, the much more interesting villain, kill him and take his spot. I just want to say, Snoke is not a very interesting villain, coming out of Force Awakens, he left little impression, just an Emperor-esque villain, with a distorted face. And while do agree we should have had some context over who he was, it doesn't change an otherwise boring evil guy. Also, those Snoke theories that ravaged the internet, would not add to the story. And this logic applies to Rey's parents as well. If Snoke stated implicitly or explicitly that he was Mace Windu, for example, that places a strain on the audience, as most wouldn't know who he is. That, and a hasty explanation to explain what happened in between movies, would just suck the fun out of it, and make it a history lesson. How much worse would the twist in Empire have been, if Darth Vader said, "No, I'm Porkins"? The twist would have lost its universality. The Same goes with Rey's parents, I was bummed that Rey wasn't related to anyone we'd know. But the fact of the matter is that each possiblity, ruins that character. If it were Luke, that would ruin the celibacy factor that Jedi operate with, and it would make his character look unlikable, for abandoning his daughter on sand planet. The same goes with Kenobi and Han/Leia. Snoke being a piece in Kylo Ren's arc, completing his transformation to the Dark side, works. Snoke being Darth Plagueis the Wise, does not.
Misc.:
I feel like I went on talking about this film, from the perspective of a fan, but I should go onto the actual filmmaking aspects Johnson and Co. did to make this film. The editing really struck me, more so than other films in the series. Star Wars films are known for the wipe effect transitions between scenes, and in later films it felt like it was only there because it's just a tradition. In this film the wipes work stylistically for the film, like when the wipe between Kylo and Luke shows that there was a cause and effect between the two. Or the vertical wipe to the center shot focusing on the millennium falcon. It's not just the wipes, the cross-cutting particularly in the midway climax, creates so much tension between scenes, that when Holdo lightspeeds through the Ship, and silence hits the cinema, I was left floored by the editing. The score once again hits all the right notes, as John Williams does, as does the performances of Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and of course Mark Hamill. Carrie Fisher, in her final performance, was heart-breaking to watch, but they script did her character justice, and she was was fantastic one last time. With that said, I genuinely don't know how Ep. 9 is going to operate with her passing. So this film clearly really quite good, one of the better blockbuster of 2017, and hopefully in time fans can appreciate it.