Really wanted to love this movie

Rating: 1/10 (16 December 2017)

After watching this movie (twice, now), a certain Firefly quote has been ringing in my ears -
Simon Tam: How do I know you wouldn't kill me in my sleep?
Malcolm Reynolds: If I wanted to kill you, you would be awake, you'd be armed and facing me.
Luke Skywalker, the Jedi who redeemed Vader, who threw away his weapon when facing Darth Vader and the Emperor, would never think of igniting his lightsaber while his worst enemy is asleep, let alone Ben Solo, his disciple and nephew, child of his beloved sister and friend, who could never have entered the Dark Side as deep as Vader did, at least the movie never went out of its way to try to make us believe it.
I am a very tolerant fan, ready to enjoy anything they give us. But what Luke did, I can't find a way to justify. Apart from my own family, Luke is the one I loved longest in my life, I am not ready to despise him. Judging from the relatively nice ending Rian Johnson gave Luke, he does not intend to disgrace him. I think Rian Johnson respects Luke as I do. It's just that they were not able to come up with a plausible reason why Luke went into hiding. I never had my hopes high enough to expect them to. But I never thought they would do it so wrong.
Apart from Luke, they did not make good decisions with other characters either. Poe in TFA was an eligible team leader, but he behaved worse than Ezra Bridger in his decisions in the Last Jedi. If he fails and learns something from his failure, it would be called character progression. But no, we don't see him reflecting on any of his mistakes, instead, we see Leia and Holdo exchange praise for him. Oscar Isaac is a powerful actor. To make Oscar Isaac so annoying indeed says something about the script.
The Emperor in the OT was not a very full character, but his death was the rebirth of Anakin, and also showed Luke's power in the light side of the force. The Emperor was a sufficient symbol of evil in the mythology (not to mention the added depth in the prequels and in the Clone Wars). However, Snoke's death feels so unsatisfying. What did he do to Kylo Ren? What about his scars and disfigurement? How did he come to command the First Order? We haven't really known Snoke, and his death does not signify anything. This could probably be redeemed with later storytelling. Maybe it signifies Kylo Ren's point of no return to the dark side? But he seems to be on a redemption arc because Rey's agenda for the better part of this movie was to try to redeem him. You could also argue that Rey shut out Kylo in the end of this movie. But who knows? This movie does not seem to have a resolution. Empire Strikes Back ended on Luke knowing the truth, Attack of the Clones ended on the beginning of a war. Being the middle of a trilogy does not mean it can have no resolution.
I think Rose and Vice Admiral Holdo are great characters. But I'm in no mood to like them when old favorites are butchered so pointlessly.
I also disagree on that Luke explicitly calling the Jedi a religion. In TFA Lor San Tekka could be said to belong to a religion that believe in the Force. But such a term from our world feels so restrictive when applied on the core mythology of Star Wars. I understand we old fans should not act snobbish and think what we think is the right interpretation. But I truly think this is an unwise choice. If a casual movie goer says so I wouldn't mind.
Rey's turn from anger to empathy with Kylo would be hard to believe had it not been Daisy Ridley's earnest performance. Adam Driver is phenomenal. I am very disposed to love Mark Hamill. All the cast is great. The pace of the movie is a little bit dreary at times but overall good. I appreciate their intention to give Luke a peaceful and purposeful ending. However all of these cannot cover the blatant bad decisions mentioned above.
Farewell, Luke Skywalker. I wish The Last Jedi didn't exist so that I can continue projecting my best wisdom on you and be inspired by you.