I don't see why it's (quite!) so divisive

Rating: 5/10 (22 December 2017)

In 2015 we - us 'Star Wars' fanboys - finally got treated to more 'proper' Star Wars (and by 'proper' I mean with characters we actually cared about in a story set after the events of 'Return of the Jedi' rather than prequels or spin-offs). 'The Force Awakens' opened to almost completely positive reviews, most completely overlooking the fact that it was a thinly-disguised reboot of 'A New Hope.' Yes, I too enjoyed it, but never really went as far as to claim it was as good as many were making it out to be.
Now, 'The Last Jedi' opened to mega-praise by the critics, describing it was either 'The best Star Wars film ever,' or (at worst) 'The best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back.' Then the audience reviews started rolling in and it seems they weren't so impressed. Personally, I enjoyed the film for the most part. I certainly wouldn't say it's perfect, but what film is these days?
First of all the (new) cast, as they had more to prove that the returning Luke and Leia. Daisy Ridley seemed more comfortable as 'Rey' this time, however she did struggle with some of the more 'dramatic' moments, but she did play of the 'battle-worn' Luke well. Oscar Isaac was awesome as Poe and was almost like having a new (younger) Han Solo back again. Adam Driver was much more in sync with being the villainous Kylo Ren and clearly enjoying his beefed-up role. However, like I say, it's far from perfect and for every Isaac and Driver there were new faces who just didn't work. Almost all the extras (who had lines) in both the First Order fleet and the Resistance appeared to almost be reading their lines off prompt cards and, despite new face 'Rose Tico' getting high praise, I found her annoying and pointless.
At least we had Luke and Leia to fall back on. The two 'old faces' (no offence Mark and Carrie!) are seasoned pros of the genre and it was a joy to watch them back in the roles that made them famous. For me, Luke was the perfect evolution of the character (I understand that statement may be shot down from many!). Leia too is awesome, however the storyline itself does seem to be troubled by Carrie Fisher's unfortunate death, leaving many (including me this time) to wonder what's going to become of this highly-prominent story arc.
The film looked brilliant and was a joy to watch - visually. I felt the majority of the (large) cast worked well and played off each other, plus there seems to be a view held that there's 'too much humour' in the film and it's 'typically Disney' and 'almost like an 'Avengers' movie.' Yes, there were a few humorous moments, but I didn't think they detracted from the overall story or feel. However, the films was way too long and this leads me to the point which does seem to unite most viewers - that the Rose/Finn sub-plot was not just annoying, pointless and too CGIed, but simply padded out the film to levels which made many of us check our watches when it was revealed that the film was going on (and then on).
That was my major gripe about the film, i.e. too long thanks to wasting Finn on a pointless mission. When this film comes out on DVD I will buy it, but just skip these scenes forever after. I understand that most people who hated the film were hung up on decisions made by established characters and I can sort of see where they're coming from. However, for me there were more minor grips such as how certain (interesting) characters are underused, various plot points from The Force Awakens aren't answered and, if I'm really nit-picking, The Force itself just seems to add new powers whenever it wants, making us wonder why Jedi/Sith didn't use all this a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away!).
Overall, I did enjoy this film, despite its flaws (biggest of which I will personally rectify courtesy of the 'Chapter Skip' button on my DVD remote. However, no matter how bad you've heard it is, it's NOT going to be 'removed from Star Wars cannon' like that pointless petition seems to want it to be. For me, it was a decent enough addition to the Star Wars universe and I'm looking forward to seeing where they take the final part of the (new) trilogy in a couple of years time.