"You're Breaking My Heart. You're Going Down A Path I Can't Follow."

Rating: 1/10 (16 December 2017)

The character of Luke Skywalker is so clearly developed in the original trilogy. He shows up to help his friends and family when in need, no matter what and at any cost. He repeatedly makes selfless, morally sound decisions. He sees goodness in people when nobody else does, even in Darth Vader. To now portray him as a cynical, sarcastic, grumpy old hermit who had it cross his mind to murder his nephew in his sleep (he sensed darkness!) and then isolate himself on an island "to die" and avoid cleaning up the mess he made of his nephew makes no sense, even with the flashback explanation given.
The same goes for Jedi. Their awesome power lies in cool force abilities and light sabers - ONLY on a SUPERFICIAL level. What really distinguishes a Jedi and makes those characters magical and awesome is their certain noble way of being - that is calm, courageous, and clear-minded in any situation. Despite the movie's title, there is no Jedi to be seen in this film.
As for the "baddies," we have two incompetent, bickering rage-a-holics left in Hux and Ren. They are sure good at screaming. Despite Adam Driver's jaw-dropping talent, the Kylo Ren character's primary traits remain confusion and rage. He has no clear direction and thus no real power, no intimidating presence. He's an unsympathetic crybaby and he's going to lose every time, as he has until now.
There is so much confusion in the characters overall - and just as much at the end of this second movie as in the beginning. It's likely a reflection of the way the trilogy is being pieced together with multiple writers and no real collaboration between them in creating the characters and story arcs. Rey, Luke, Ren, Poe, Finn... great characters who have no idea what they want in this mess. Snoke, Holdo, and Leia were the most powerful, driven characters in the movie and the only ones who weren't confused at all... alas, those ships have sailed.
There were some other aspects to the film that were less than ideal storytelling, or didn't feel right in a Star Wars film, but honestly, I can let everything else slide. The nonsensical discarding of Luke, the Jedi, and the Force had me walking out of the theater feeling tired, hollow and sad, even though I enjoyed and was entertained by many parts of the movie.
This movie truly "lets the past die, kills it if it must." It takes us down a glittery new beautiful CGI path with awesome twists, effects, and the sights and sounds of Star Wars but missing the heart and soul of it. That's a path I'm not really interested in following.