Sigh, what could have been

Rating: 4/10 (15 December 2017)

Just got back from the theater, so this will probably more of a ramble as I process than a well written review
The number one feeling I have right now is disappointment; plan and simply. There were so many different places they could have taken the characters, but they chose the most mundane and "safe" plots.
The real problem is that there is no emotional "cost" to be paid in any of the plots in the film. Things need to go bad - even good people die (actual people we care about, not the endless "good guys" who die in the battles!) - in order to have any sort of emotional mountaintop experience. When that one character (don't want to spoil) is in a position to Independence Day himself to give his life to help the others, I was super happy that was happening just because it was going to MEAN something - it was a COST paid for the others to live; but no, he is saved at the last moment and I even so I thought for sure the person who saved him was going to end up being the one to pay the "cost" - but no, that person lives too!!!!!!
I felt the only reason they didn't kill of that character in that moment was because then they could no longer sell action figures and any other memorabilia with that characters face on it. That was the only good reason I could think of.
As everyone else has already said, the Snoke thing is a complete joke - farce.
I feel like Star Wars died today.