Fan expectations hurt TLJ but it's the most psychologically engaging SW film since the 80s.

Rating: 9/10 (26 March 2018)

What happens when a 23-year-old who idolized his father and wanted to be with him so badly no longer has his father's redemption to guide him when facing a similar evil 30 years later? That's the basic question Johnson strives to find out in the misunderstood The Last Jedi.
Luke Skywalker deserves sympathy from fans for his service and what he's endured as a young man but his "fans' everywhere couldn't care less. Luke's an action hero who they want to see perform. Thankfully, Rian Johnson was interested in more psychologically engaging pursuits. Fans all over the world can tell you Luke Skywalker's strengths in an instant but push them for weaknesses and it will take them some time. That's not because Luke didn't have them though. Lucas and Kasdan deliberately created several and Johnson revisits each to create essentially the worst case scenario for Luke, and from the looks of it, many fans. What's the worst case scenario for Luke? Take every situation he visibly struggled with on-screen before and imagine them all coming together at once and that's what he faces in The Last Jedi. It bends him but doesn't break him.
Yoda watched Luke Skywalker his whole life and knew that Luke would rather think about fixing big, grand, horizon problems than deal with the present issues in front of him. Johnson revisits this notion. When Luke felt he had no way out in Empire versus Vader he retreated to a metal island and placed his faith in the Force, rather than the Jedi, to find a solution for him. He let go and jumped and was miraculously saved from what would have otherwise been a suicide jump. Johnson revisits this mindset. When Luke faced the original Vader and what he might do (Corrupt Leia) he lost control, utilized the Dark Side, and nearly killed his own father. Johnson revisits this part of Luke's life right down to the dazed look in the eyes and the realization that he's lost control and needs to reign it in and the lowering of the saber. All of these issues come together to create a nightmare scenario for Luke and many fans.
When facing another Vader that isn't actually the dad he loves and desperately wants to save, and seeing all of his darkness and what he would become and how he would undo all of the hard work Luke had put in, and endanger his students and the world, Luke reverted to that ROTJ dark side Luke again. He raised his saber again but as quickly as the Dark Side called out to him it passed and Luke re-gained control. Only this time, unlike ROTJ, Luke had to face negative consequences for even listening to the Dark Side for a brief period of time where he hadn't before. The consequence was that he potentially helped lead to the creation of the next Vader by that very action.
A central theme of Star Wars since the very start has been that visions of the future can mislead anyone who tries to make use of that info in any meaningful way. The attempt to manipulate the future seems to lead to its creation. It's Minority Report-like but it's as much a part of Star Wars as anything. Johnson knew this and weaved this into the story to stunningly devastating effect. The result is tragedy but not the kind that many 1 star reviewer leavers would have you to believe. It's deliberate tragedy that can be learned from and it leads to a mini redemptive arc that shares some similarities with Anakin's.
It's fitting that Luke's arc should have some similarities with his father's. Star Wars is a modern mythology and this father and son allegory might as well have been written about Gods thousands of years ago. It would function the same way. It's also a fascinating examination on progress within troubled families or family lines with history of abuse or mental illness. Luke was driven by a desire to never slide to evil and darkness the way his father did and he achieved that goal even if it took 6 years of exile to ensure it remained that way. Like his father, Luke made a bad choice following a traumatic event. His father said that from his perspective it was the Jedi who were evil. Luke came to a similar thought. And why shouldn't he? 3 generations of Skywalker men trained to be Jedi and all of them hurt in some way during the process. Luke was right to ask the question but where he was weak and unwise, to borrow his own words, was that he didn't really ask it to his mentors and that's another interesting lesson about crisis within TLJ. It's dangerous for anyone to handle crisis following trauma on their own and to shut themselves off from loved ones and from the world. Luke realizes this. He also realizes that the Jedi aren't to blame for the individual choices of Jedi members within the Order. Unfortunately, he realizes all of this late and it's this time period that seems to have really bothered many Luke fans.
Better late than never. When Luke realizes he's been wrong and wants to help his loved ones and the Resistance he's without a ship to get to Crait. A lot of weaker heroes would assume that's the end and accept fate. Not Luke. If the crisis event and exile are Luke's weaknesses and struggles all combining to creating to create his own personal purgatory then Luke's astral projection is the culmination of all of his strengths. His resiliency. His creativity. His morality. Luke completes the most spectacular Force Act ever seen on screen before. To people who were there on Crait that day he was there. He just seemed invincible. And along the way Luke atoned for his mistakes, just as his father had before his own end, and both father and son went out through sacrifice and became one with the Light.
I could stop there. The Luke arc is that fascinating but The Last Jedi is a 9 star film for more than that. Rey and Ben Solo's arcs are equally thought-provoking and psychological. This is a duo who under different circumstances might have dated because of their incredible chemistry and shared loneliness but on opposite ends of the Force and the war Rey makes her own crucial mistake. She lets the greatest redemption story ever told (Vader to Luke), and her own vision of the future, and a mind bridge created by the enemy himself, all combine in a manner that has her believing it's her destiny to bring Ben Solo back.
In TFA, Maz tells her that there is one who may still come back. She, and most of us, believed that had to be Luke and only Luke. When Luke threw the saber how could she not be reminded of the other Force user who wanted that same saber desperately? Maybe it's him who will come back? What if Han Solo's last wish came true? What if Leia got her son back? What if her efforts meant Luke and Ben Solo could work out their issues in time? What if the war ended? Hopeful thoughts from a character we already know to be naive. In episode VII we see Rey deceived by Finn and astonished by all of the green in the world. In TLJ she's blown away by the feeling of rain, having rarely experienced it on Jakku. This is a 19 year-old girl figuring out not only the world at large, but also social norms and her place as a Force user. She's the first Force user who was not actively recruited by the Jedi first in the saga. The Dark Side user, Kylo Ren, recruited her first and remained the most interested in her ever since.
Almost every character in TLJ struggles, or makes a mistake, or experiences failure and that's not a fun thing for a lot of fans to watch. What's more, it hurts whatever theories many people had worked up for how things would play out. However, it's fitting for the middle story in a 3 part trilogy. The middle film is generally seen as the setback film and Johnson delivered that. Everyone learns by the end but for some that's too little and too late. Not for me and I suspect that by the time episode IX ends the functionality of VIII and the heavy lifting Johnson did to get to the more crowd-pleasing IX will become more clear in retrospect. This is a terrific sci-fi/fantasy film with darkness, humor, magic, adventure, life lessons, heart, and some incredible visuals and action scenes. Ignore the trolls. TLJ is the most psychologically fascinating Star Wars film since the '80s.