They gave us everything in VII so we expected change in VIII, and change is seldom comfortable.

Rating: 2/10 (24 December 2017)

*** SPOILER ALERT ***
After I watched Star Wars : The Force Awakens, I concluded that the Star Wars series has finally delivered after a very poor run in episodes 1-3. TFA gave us everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, we wanted and longed for: the return of familiar characters like Han Solo, Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO, etc; the return of the Star Wars feeling of wonder and fun, the introduction of solid new likeable characters like Poe, Rey and Finn that fit into the Star Wars canon well.
I remember coming out of TFA thinking to myself, "Now that they gave fans everything they wanted in TFA, I bet they will start changing things up a bit in the next movie - they won't want to remain same-same". Sure enough Star Wars : The Last Jedi did exactly that, some of which I liked and others that time didn't.
With TLJ, there is a brand new evil empire, with a new name, establishing itself while Kylo Ren attempts to remove the evil empire's old history, similarly, it seems Rey is ushering a new order of Jedis as the old school literally disappears away with Luke Skywalker; there is a bit of "teen angst" (common in today's teen movies like Hunger Games and Divergent movies) between Rey and Kylo Ren; the rising importance of the new characters and decreasing importance of the old; an obvious over-abundance (personally, I think far too much) of female leads (remember, even Rogue One had a female lead!).
Firstly, what I liked. I have all Star Wars 1-6 on Blu Ray, and have watched them multiple times, but I'm no fanatic. And I think the direction which TLJ took was OK by me, as I didn't expect Star Wars to stay the same forever, and change is always difficult for some fans. There are some nice touches with the new direction TLJ takes, there's a certain humanity in the relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren / Ben Solo - I swear they almost feel like a brother and sister (a la Luke and Leia)! There's a bit of humour thrown in, which works and wasn't overbearing - including a cute critter or two that doesn't overstay its welcome (like Jar Jar did). I like the amount of action that was constant in the movie, and that is expected from JJ Abrams' style. The movie definitely feels like classic Star Wars, unlike Episodes 1-3.
Now for what I didn't quite like. The evil empire is so weak. The leaders for the evil empire - unlike Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine - seemed so weak. Kylo Ren is conflicted, and therefore weak. I hope that in Star Wars IX, they will develop him into a much more powerful - and menacing - opposition to the seemingly stronger Rey. Snokes, despite his menacing presence, was hopelessly weak, so easily slayed by a weak Kylo Ren! As I alluded to earlier, epic movies like this shouldn't be so politically correct e.g. female leads / heroes everywhere Rey, Leia, purple-haired lady, Asian lady, etc. etc.. I mean, it's so obvious it feels terribly forced. Look we live in the 21st century, we have NO problems with competent female leaders, enough already, OK? Sheesh.
All's said and done, I preferred TFA over TLJ. That doesn't mean TLJ was a fail by me, in fact, I enjoyed it, hence my rating. But they'll have to really up the ante in Star Wars Episode IX, the force MUST be strong in that one!
Onwards and upwards for Star Wars IX!