"THIS ISN'T GOING TO GO THE WAY YOU THINK"

Rating: 5/10 (15 December 2017)

I came out of Star Wars The Last Jedi full of excitement and joy, but the more i sit and think about it the more i feel robbed. The trailers for The Last Jedi were promising a dark dramatic film where Luke Skywalker is broken and conflicted with himself and on the verge of insanity, Rey is shown asking Kylo Ren to show her her place in this world taking his hand in the First Order...NONE OF THAT HAPPENED.
Instead, the film begins like a saturday morning cartoon where General Hux(who was an intimidating and powerful character in The Force Awakens)is receiving prank calls from Poe Dameron(who also is very different in this film). The main plot pretty much consists of the slowest high speed chase in film history between The Resistance and The First Order, which is very disappointing because Rey and Luke's arc which is what the film is named after is taking a backseat to a space janitor(Finn)and maintenance worker(Rose)flying around the galaxy with some dude named "DJ" trying to destroy a tracker.REALLY???
Throughout the first and second act Rey attempting to get Luke to return and help the Resistance "Light The Spark That Will Burn The First Order Down" and trying to figure out who her parents are on the side. This arc was very important in The Force Awakens and is thrown out the window with Rey admitting that she knew who her parents where the whole time. Drunks. WHY??? If the Star Wars Saga is supposed to focus on The Skywalker Family then why is Rey so heavily focused on? She even goes so far to fall in some pointless "Darkside Pit" and have some trippy dream, all to add up to nothing.
Most of the characters in The Last Jedi are treated very poorly with a few exceptions. Snoke, who was another character who was built up so much in The Force Awakens is easily killed by Kylo Ren when he is teased to turn to the light, which was also for nothing rendering Snoke's death pointless. Poe Dameron is perceived as some dimwitted "Blow Everything Up Pilot", who disobeys even the simplest direct orders. Carrie Fisher(RIP)does a terrible job as Admiral Leia, delivering her lines like a robot. Not to mention that she's not dead? Are they just going to have a CGI Leia for the entirety of Episode Nine?
The film is also way too crowded, Maz Kanata shows up for 30 seconds and has no purpose whatsoever. Yoda shows up as a force ghost to get Lukes head back in the game, at first I was blown away with surprise and happiness to see them using the original puppet, but now i realize that there was again literally no point of his cameo because Luke doesn't listen to him anyway. Captain Phasma is heavily advertised in the trailers and merchandise and is killed off less than 5 minutes into her appearance.
The moments in this film that were full of potential and promise were quickly shot down with unneeded puns and goofs, Luke tickles Rey with a leaf telling her The Force is trying to connect with her, Kylo Ren tries to persuade Rey with his abs and everytime there is a cool moment a Porg appears out of nowhere and does something stupid usually with slapstick comedy.
Sadly, there are little to no action sequences in this film and literally not one, NOT ONE lightsaber duel. And of course the film builds one up, teases it and you guessed it; doesn't deliver. Not only does it not deliver it gives the film and excuses to needlessly kill of Luke Skywalker.
Nevertheless, The Last Jedi isn't all bad, the cinematography is amazing and Rian Johnson delivers some stunning visuals. There is a JAW-DROPPING flashback with an Evil Luke Skywalker trying to kill A Pre-Kylo Ren Ben Solo. The Set Pieces are spectacular, especially Snoke's Liar which is home to the Amazingly-Choreographed "Red Room Battle"
In the end, Star Wars The Last Jedi is not a perfect film, in fact it has a lot of problems with the script and not being as it seems. But, it still is an entertaining film that never gets boring thanks to easy flowing pacing and delivers some very cool and surprising moments.