Lackluster

Rating: 2/10 (21 December 2017)

Messy and unfocused. Basically, the same criticism that has been voiced by many others. Disappointing "reveals," time-wasting red herrings, weirdly misplaced humor, nonsensical plot holes, some real eye-roll inducing dialogue about war versus love, underdeveloped characters, excessive prequel-style CGI silliness, etc. Very little of the joy and spunk we saw in the Force Awakens (yes, it was a corporate-driven soft reboot of the franchise. Abrams was open that. Difference here is that Abrams did it with a wink and a grin. He made sure it was *fun* which we clearly appreciated as an audience). Some breathtaking visuals and beautiful set pieces in Last Jedi. Johnson is a gifted director. But the story he tried to tell is a clunky, rambling and mostly joyless rehash of stuff from earlier Star Wars installments. Didn't *hate* it, but I certainly didn't love it. Just ... well. Let's put it this way: I saw it once and that number isn't going to change.