(Spoilers!) Underwhelming at best...

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2017)

Oh boy, here we go...
So, I got myself hyped for this movie after seeing the trailer (which was brilliant, in my opinion). I started expecting this movie to finally answer most of the questions from TFA, to have great scenes packed with good action, meaningful and good character development and writing. Turned out I shouldn't have set such high expectations...

The good:

CGI and camera works are really great, magnificent at moments even. Props to the guys who were working on this aspect of the movie;
Kylo has finally matured into a young Sith Lord who knows what he wants and is not afraid to stretch out his hand and grab his destiny by the throat. There is much difference between this Kylo and the TFA Kylo, who was nothing but an emo teenager with serious anger issues;
Luke is back! Mark Hamill does a wonderful job yet again. But, that's really all there is to say about Luke (I never thought I'd say such a thing about Luke freakin' Skywalker!);
Poe was amazing in this movie, loved Oscar Isaac's performance so much
John Boyega once again did a great job on portraying Finn, as did Daisy Ridley on portraying Rey.

The bad:

the overall story is... mediocre. Writing was underwhelming particularly in Luke's case, where he was unnecessarily reduced to a mere "has-been Jedi" who for some reason believes that the Jedi must come to an end. Really?! Did you see/hear Yoda say that after Galactic Empire destroyed the Republic? No. Because true Jedi never lose hope, especially not legendary and most wise ones;
Snoke - such a wasted potential. So many great options for this guy and Disney chose... nothing? Killed in such an appalling fashion by his student who was beaten by an untrained Rey in TFA. All knowing, all powerful, cannot be betrayed!... Gets betrayed a second later and doesn't see it coming. Everything that was intimidating and great about a good character was spilled down the drain;
Leia's death in space should have been just that - death. I get the feeling that the basic laws of physics are changing just to make one character seem badass. Such an unnecessary and nonsensical scene all in all;
Captain Phasma is one more potentially good character who should have gotten more screen time;
Yoda's appearance. As soon as I saw Yoda, I nearly screamed out of happiness, but then... Disney turned him into a Force-ghost troll who nonchalantly destroyed precious and ancient Jedi books just to... prove a point to Luke? Really?! And Luke, being one of the best and wisest Jedi ever, needs Force-ghost Yoda to tell him to learn from his failures. Freakin' really?!
Porgs are as useless as people predicted, serving only to attract younger population to watch the movie and to sell Disney merchandise;
entire character of Rose. Basically, Disney came up with Rose character like this: "We have several strong female characters, including the main protagonist Rey. How about we add one more just for laughs and giggles?" Goes from just an ordinary mechanic to a super-skilled pilot who then proceeds to take a dump all over Finn's noble intentions at the end of the movie. Because her crush on Finn is more important than Rebellion not getting wiped out by the First Order, amirite?
overall humor falls flat most of the time, with only 2-3 scenes worth a chuckle.

I could go on and on about the negatives, but I won't since I think those above prove my point. The worst part is that I wanted to give TLJ a grade of at least 7/10. But, after first impressions settled down I just kept remembering all the flaws, so now it's officially a 5/10 from me. And that's me being generous because Star Wars is love, Star Wars is love.