The Least Jedi

Rating: 2/10 (18 December 2017)

What an unbelievable sham of a movie camouflaged by gorgeous art direction. I'll give this movie a single start for just existing and the extra one only for how beautifully rendered it is. And that's about all that's right with this one.
The Force Awakens rode on the hate for the prequels and an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and got by just rehashing the best parts of the erstwhile first 3 movies. What exactly is Rian Johnson's explanation or motivation to turn a decades-old mythology into his personal playground and how pray did Disney go ahead with this? Characters mouth incredulous dialogue (some of it captioning action on the screen), others throw hissy fits, some others decide to sacrifice themselves at the altar of temporary relief to their armies only to be thwarted by others with secret crushes on them. Backstories and plots drawn up in Force Awakens are decimated into smithereens like Alderaan.
Mark Hamill, bless his hamming soul, is a classic 80s actor - unsubtle, upstages co-performers and clearly guns for longer screen time by slowing down dialogue delivery and throwing in a dozen or so pauses, glares and grimaces. His directors in the original trilogy probably recognised this and so gave him tight, sharp scenes to work with. Rian Johnson succumbs to the fanboy-as-director syndrome and lets Mark do his thing hoping that nostalgia will lull us all into not expecting a performance worthy of a 2017 film. Oscar Isaacs makes up for poor writing by being the film's only hormonal teenager stuck in an adult's body. Daisy Ridley starts and ends the film confused. Adam Driver should consider taking Kylo Ren off caffeine. Carrie Fisher reveals a superpower at the most inopportune moment. At which point, I thought Guardians of The Galaxy might make an appearance. Because by then, we'd already been subjected to some dialogue clearly inflicted by JossWheddonitis.
If you're going to be honest then call this Star Wars Rebooted or something so true followers like me can make a choice and stay way. This is just dishonest, play-to-the-gallery filmmaking backed by a machinery that knows a billion bucks is out there to be made But here's the truth. Episode 9 is going to struggle at the box office, now that the trust and love for this saga has all but been put to waste.