More Questions than Answers

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2017)

As the subject line of my review indicates, the movie leaves a lot of things open, with no idea how it would get tied up.
In this sense TLJ is much like TESB. When TESB ended there were many questions, like what happens to Han? How will Luke complete his training? Is Darth Vader Luke's father?
TLJ doesn't leave you with as much of a cliff hanger at the end, but it does leave you with the "where does this go from here?" dangling over what will happen in Episode 9.
Whether you will like this movie or not is your willingness to accept the fact that Star Wars, if nothing else, is a kludge of different people throwing their ideas together,
coming up with new plot twists, and therefore retconing what must be retconned or just ignore earlier facts all together, and just go with what they made up.
I think the ultimate, "oh oh, how do we resolve this mess" was Return of the Jedi, when it is revealed that Luke and Leia are twins. I mean, they had this great love triangle going between Han, Luke and Leia. Who would Leia pick? Who would be the jilted lover? But they threw this plot twist no one saw coming, so the story could end with everyone being happy.
In Episode IV Obi Wan tells Luke his father was the best pilot in the galaxy and he was amazed how strongly the force flowed in him, leading a generation of people to think Anakin encountered Obi Wan, when Anakin was a young adult or old teenager.
In Episode I it is revealed Anakin was a kid, never piloted a star ship, and Obi Wan was skeptical about Qui Gon training Anakin.
The point I am trying to make is the Star Wars franchise will never have a tight plot. Too many people are involved with the creative process. Even, when the same person is involved the ideas can change. And as fans, we can either accept this or reject what the twists the movies throw at us.
In this way, TLJ challenges our views of our favorite character Luke Skywalker, and the assumption after ROTJ that he could just whip up a new Jedi Order, with his sister and their progeny. There were flaws with the Jedi Order of Obi Wan and Yoda, which Luke inherited, which led to his efforts failing.
It's not the way I wanted to see Luke, but I can see how the writers chose to go there.
Overall, TLJ is good, and a bit challenging of our preconceptions built from the other movies, but it doesn't leave you satisfied, when it ends. It's not quite exactly like a movie making you want more, but rather a feeling of various plot threads that didn't quite come together - yet - but hopefully will.