Star Wars just ran out of fuel..

Rating: 2/10 (18 December 2017)

Before the movie I was watching people come out of the imax cinema, and 90% looked depressed or bewildered. Compared to the smiling faces that emerged from Force Awakens and Rogue One, the change was clearly noticeable.
I won't belabour the same negative points raised consistently in these reviews -
terrible meaningless story,
negating the intriguing plot lines established in Force Awakens,
transforming Luke into a grumpy wet paper bag of a character,
then killing him literally with a puff of thin air,
killing snoke / phasma without any character development,
Leia flying through space without a suit,
too many slapstick CGI puppets (probably the only part Lucas would like) that trivialise the spiritual aspects of the original trilogy,
Rey's parentage anti-climax,
BB8 shooting casino coins,
the Maz holograph scene where she has a conversation while in the middle of battle,
the strange 'save the horses' subplot (seriously wtf),
yoda giggling with his legs wriggling around (so out of character)
and many, many other examples of bad script and plot holes that went nowhere.
The good: Filming was awesome, as was the CGI and sound. Visuals couldn't be better, and in imax 3D it looked unbelievable. The opening scene with Poe in his Xwing was incredible - he's a good actor - and Carrie was fantastic too. Kylo and Rey also acted well despite the poor script - they did their best with what they had.
But give me a solid story and character development over visual effects any day - I'm sad to say this movie has pushed the Star Wars saga back a step, and has done a lot of harm to our beloved heroes. I only hope Jar Jar Abrams can restore the hope that was lost .. there is another..