Finally some depth

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2018)

There has been some controversy around how Luke Skywalker's last days was portrayed in the film.
I saw the original Star Wars on opening day. It remains one of the most profound experiences of my life. I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks after. I have devoured every movie since and am still a big fan.
With that background I have to say that I can relate to Luke as portrayed in the movie. I'm about the same age. While we start out life as heroes in our own story, failures accumulate. If we focus on those, particularly failing those we love it can eat our will to act. A person may be great at many things, as Luke is, but not able to handle failure well. Anyway I appreciated the brave path the writers and Disney took. Luke did find a way past his despair in the end and was very clever about how he expended his power.
The Star Wars universe is full of potential and frankly while I enjoyed the last few pictures immensely they are starting to feel a bit episodic, hitting the same themes over again with the same one dimensional characters.
I have read many of the Star Wars books and they contain a richness that has not quite made it to the screen. For instance they also reveal the true capabilities of a Jedi/Sith. Some of those capabilities were finally shown in this film with Snoke's manipulation of Rey's visions and Kylo Ren's conflict about his path also making the connection between her and Kylo Ren possible.
Star Wars needs a reboot, I hope this film is the start.