Star Wars: The Hard Reset

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2017)

Where to start with The Last Jedi? Probably by stating the obvious for anybody who has seen or will see the movie: it will be the most divisive movie in the series. Even more so than the prequels or The Force Awakens. It might be the, sometimes almost slapstick level of, humor for some and for others how the Force itself is cranked up to insane levels. Maybe even the fact that, looking at the story objectively, The Last Jedi is quite straight forward and empty.
And yet somehow it ended up being a great movie to me.
Small disclaimer: I did not like TFA. At all. Primary reason being the rehashing of all plot lines and storybeats, but also most of the new characters being hyped by everybody and then turning out to be shallow (Phasma, Kylo, Finn etc). TLJ seems to be very conscious of the legacy of TFA and Star Wars in general and manages to do several hard resets, some of which will shock you, leave you cheering and others still have me thinking about whether or not I like what I saw.
Storywise the movie is straightforward, with minor spoilers ahead. Resistance gets followed by First Order...just outside their reach and our main heroes go one sidequests to help the Resistance get away. Things don't go as you think they will. A lot of people and Star Wars myths die and then its over. It almost covers an entire trilogy worth of stories in a single movie, leaving Ep. IX to start with a clean sheet.
The things I like:

Surprise cameos
Humor...porgs are surprisingly funny as is BB-8
Bringing back some of that prequel space opera flavour on Canto Bight as well as the war vibes of Rogue One.
Visually a stunning movie
There are some truly amazing lightsaber battles and a particularly awesome moment during a space battle. That scene with Snoke....wow.
Characters such as Rey and Poe suddenly aren't dull anymore, Rosie is a nice and sweet addition to the cast...some other dull characters meet their ends.

The things I didn't like:

Going all Super Sayan on the Force...sometimes it works, sometimes its absolutely ridiculous (you instantly know what scene I mean), sometimes it is such an over the top spectacle you're left wondering why none of the old Jedi Order could do this and prevent Palpatine from even doing what he did.
First Order still is incredibly incompetent. Including Kylo. They're not ruthless, they're incompetent, simple as that.
Biggest problem is one that many modern blockbusters have: they don't explain their context enough. I mean: the First Order controls the galaxy...but only has a relatively minor fleet and seems to be nowhere as present as the Republic or even the Empire was. Why is the Rebellion now the Resistance? Who is Snoke? Where does he fit within the ashes of the Empire. Despite some nice story nods to morally grey areas, I'd rather see the universe-scale that the prequels had return and put everything in context.

Overall though: I think its a great movie. Not nearly on the level of the Empire Strikes Back. But better than TFA, most prequels and even ROTJ. Then again: it also still has me going back and forth thinking whether or not I truly enjoyed everything about it. Bottom line is: I haven't been enjoying a Star Wars movie in a theatre for a very long time. And I guess that counts for something.
I'd say: 8/10.