Great direction, bad plot

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2018)

There was too much packed into one film, it could have concentrated a lot more on Luke, Rey, the force and its philosophy, but it was clearly decided to create another clichéd action fest instead. The pacing was wrong too, with the story jumping around too much without giving us a chance to absorb what was going on or flesh out some important plot matters. This is of course typical of contemporary big budget movies, patronising us by thinking we've all got the attention span of a hyperactive kid.
I actually didn't mind that Luke wasn't interested in the being a Jedi, seemingly, until the last moment; what I was more bothered about was that he's mostly out of the next film now. Why kill him off, when he could have become such a huge character and lynch pin for...well, everything? Hamill brought real style and substance, along with Rylo, and I feel it's a terrible mistake to have done this.
If The Last Jedi could have just breathed, relaxed - like a Jedi master - and concentrated on the art of story telling I feel it would have been a masterpiece. Because Rian Johnson's direction I thought was extremely good: he showed real flare and sensitivity for Star Wars, and understood its philosophy well. There was a lot to think about, and I really enjoyed that, and he captured the emotions very well.
Perhaps the studio - as ever? - imposed constraints upon Rian which forced him to make a certain type of film, or perhaps he knew that he wouldn't be directing the next one and wanted to experience as much "Star Wars" as he could, and get it on film. Who knows, but it was disappointing.
Anyway, despite all the criticism I still feel as though The Last Jedi has come the closest to the spirit of the original trilogy of all the prequels and sequels, and for that it deserves credit. That's why I've given it 7 stars.