Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2017)

I left the movie feeling with a sense of disappointment; my initial concerns were raised when the same Marvel-esque sense of humour reared its head, completely ruining the tension in scenes (the first five minutes alone has a "your Mum" joke that makes a mockery of a major antagonist that makes it hard to take him seriously again during the movie).
Rather than one key reason for disliking the movie, it was a series of moments and events that kept bringing me out of the Star Wars universe, and made feel aware I was watching a Disney movie designed to make money by apealling to the masses and creating lucrative merchandise opportunities.
Whilst the original Star Wars trilogy unashamedly introduced characters and set pieces for the same reason, it never did so on this scale and at the expense of the suspension of disbelief.
Sadly, the death of Luke Skywalker had almost no impact on me, as the movie does its best to make him thoroughly dislikable and the way in which he met his end felt underwhelming.
By the third act I felt like I just didn't care what was going on and more worryingly, in the absence of a strong cliffhanger (or indeed, any cliffhangers), I feel there is little to look forward to for the next instalment.
The overwhelming praise from critics heralding the movie as "bold" is somewhat confusing, because whilst the plot certainly is bold, it does so in a way that feels wholly unsuccessful.