Star Wars is dead, long live Star Wars

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2017)

I loved Star Wars, I liked The Last Jedi.
What has made the franchise unique was the story about the characters. It used special effects to tell a story. We saw luke grow from boy to man to Jedi. We saw Leia go from princess to warior to leader. We saw Han grow from selfish rouge, to selfless lover. There even is loads of character development in the prequels as well. What Star Wars fans wanted from this movie was some growth. No one grows in this movie but Ren and Ray, and those only marginally. Zero Fin, Poe, or Leia, development. I hear you saying "But wait Fin went from running away to self sacrificing hero" right? If I said "Fin runs away almost dies fighting Ren in a selfless act and then is saved by a girl who he may or may not be in love with" what movie am I referring to? Zero character development. The Ray scenes are the saving grace of the movie. Just about every scene she is in, is awesome. Just about every scene she is not in, is awful. Her character has changed a little over the course of two movies, from "scared to leave girl" to "force welding badass" with no effort at all. I get it, if you train her it looks too much like Ep V, arguably the best movie ever made, so you don't train her, and just let her become a badass via magic. Ren did change from follower to leader, which was something. Poorly done, but something.
What you are left with is a modern movie full of awesome special effects, cheesy one liners and plenty of things blowing up. It fits right in with Pirates of the Caribbean, Mummy, Transformers and Guardians. Poe is Star Lord light. So I judge it against that lot of films, and against those it is a little above average. I love to see a superhero die. And Disney loves this director and signed him up develop the new trilogy. Great, now I know what to expect. Might I suggest Michael Bay to direct the next one? I mean if you are going to give up and make a SFX movie, then do it right!
The old ways are dead. Stories are dead. Becoming a Jedi is easy. Ruling the First Order is easy.