Solid film, but won't knock anyone's socks off

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2017)

At the end of the previous Star Wars film, we were given the ultimate tease and pseudo-promise: Luke Skywalker would train Rey to become a Jedi and she would eventually lead the Resistance against the First Order.
The Last Jedi does not take us down that path, at least not the way J.J Abrams set it up, and whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is hard to figure out.
This film starts out within a day or so of the ending of The Force Awakens, and if you didn't watch that film within a day or so of seeing The Last Jedi, some things will seem a bit jarring and abrupt.
Nevertheless, the film perseveres with three main storylines: Rey, on the island with Luke, Leia and the Resistance in pursuit by the First Order, and Finn trying to find help for the Resistance.
These three storylines do tie into each other by film's end, but none really give any satisfaction or closure. Things just seem to happen, twists occur whenever the plot needs them to, and for a film that was supposed to be much darker than The Force Awakens, akin to The Empire Strikes Back, there is an awful lot of "comic" relief, and what dark subject matter there is isn't particularly dark.
I can't say that this film is bad, far from it. There are definitely some excellent plot twists in the film, great character development on the parts of Rey and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, and it's a pleasure to hear Luke actually speak this time!
However, I can't say this film is the best in the Star Wars saga either. Somehow, it seems to just be harping the same notes as previous Star Wars films, not to the same degree as The Force Awakens, but enough to make you ask how much is actually original.
All in all, I would say that in the "definitive" ranking of the Star Wars films, this slots somewhere between Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Definitely check it out, but don't set your expectation so sky-high.