8.5 Stars for me, Loved the good parts, was so so on some other things

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2017)

Overall a very good movie. Non spoiler review first: 1/3 of the comedy didn't sit well. The casino felt very not Star Wars and was off putting. The action was great, beyond great, spectacular! The the Luke, Rey, Kylo dynamics were incredible... very excellent writing and acting. The story was really good, I like where they are going with everything and how it is fresh material.
SPOILERS BELOW:
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
Let's get the gripes out of the way first. They didn't overshadow the movie, but as a HUGE Star Wars fan (originals), things that aren't right must be pointed out. To nitpick, a few of the comedic turns didn't sit well with me, especially the phone call piece early on in the movie. But a lot of the humor past the 30 minute mark worked for me, so it's all fine I say. My biggest gripes on the comedy are:
a. Don't use very modern phrases in space opera movies. 20 years ago people did not have cell phones, so that lingo just screams "the years 2000's and up".
b. I think they shouldn't turn Hux into a complete idiot from a cartoon; he might be rabid but he can't be a complete idiot and be in that role... keep him more scary I say.
c. I was OK with the cute factor of the Porgs... not my favorite thing, but I can deal with it. But if you are going to have cute style animals for comedy or kids, stick with the cute factor and see it through. Don't have good guys eat them or have them nearly kill themselves. That is just messed up... what the hell, did the movie makers love Porgs or hate them? Or was it purely for critics to "get", because critics are grownups and can't handle cutsie kid stuff, so there needed to be an underlying disdain for them? There certainly were tons of critic pandering in this movie, not that I am complaining for most of it, but this is one spot that it bothered me a lot. I do have kids, and if you want to put cute fluffy stuff in a movie, don't show them being skinned and cooked by my kids' other favorite character(s). And then Chewie and the Porgs become buddies. Where the Porgs begging for meat or making Chewie feel bad for eating them? None of that &^%$ made sense. I won't attempt to overthink possible PETA and gun rights messages... I love animals, but I do eat meat, OK, I believe in "if you kill it, it is honorable if you use that to continue to live, it is dishonorable to kill for only sport". The animal cruelty message worked well enough with the fathiers, I'm down with that. The Porg stuff... no it didn't work for me at all.
d. Luke was a little weird. For one he seemed a little too flippant about his old saber. Throwing it over the shoulder... meh, kinda weird. It could have been worse I guess. The milk scene... also kinda weird.
e. BB-8's disguise... um, no. That wouldn't fool anybody would it?
OK, biggest gripe: The Casino. It was not Star Wars. Too much CGI on the buildings. And inside it just looked like a real casino on Earth, I didn't buy it at all. Also, the way the aliens were portrayed, they looked too human or something. It just didn't sit well with me at all. The stuff with the animals and the kids on that world were fine by me, I get it. The CGI with the fathiers was distracting only during the run, but somewhat tolerable. They looked cool when in the stables. Tauntauns were more unique, but fathiers looked pretty cool.
Second to last gripe, shouldn't Rey require some kind of training? Some kind... just a little? What does she get, 2-4 days with Luke? It seems incorrect, so you just have to accept it... she's some serious prodigy.
One final gripe, Kylo's helmet. Oh dear lord, I mean what if Vader hadn't had his helmet on for 2 of the 3 movies? It would have been awful; he would have lost that mystique and scare factor. So Adam Driver is a great actor, no doubt, and he can do more without that helmet. OK, ... but to completely destroy the helmet and most of what drove him to be sort of "OK" with the dark side, following Vader? No. And mostly, the helmet just looks great. We need it back, he should rebuild one for episode VIX!!!!!! He doesn't have to wear it nonstop. Please?!?!
---Now for the good stuff---
The action and visuals. Oh my goodness, the action. The Kylo and Rey scene towards the end was just so awesome to behold! Was it the best fight scene in any Star Wars movie? Probably! The Holdo scene... wow, just wow.
The Luke and Kylo scene... yeah yeah yeah, it was stellar! SPOILERS, yeah I noticed Luke's beard was no longer white at all, and didn't figure he dyed it, but still I had no clue what was really going on till the reveal. Cool, and just how powerful is Luke, huh? Badass.
The walker + speeder visuals were beautiful, just beautiful. And I was totally down with the Rose "crash"... what a nice change/surprise!
The acting. All the supporting roles were great, loved the new characters, loved 'em! Rose and Holdo especially stood out as interesting. While some say it's impossible for Luke, Mr. Hopeful, to have been so negative... if you accept it was possible for something like that to happen, you will enjoy one of his best performances ever.
The story. Loved it. Loved how they kept you guessing (so did the critics it seems, I figured that). Loved that part with Snoke... I am not a "read all online theories before the movie and get upset when my favorite theory doesn't pan out", so your mileage may vary. I had avoided all that speculation as much as I could. Loved how Kylo keeps flip flopping, ... Adam Driver makes that very believable.
I could go on, but I must run. Go see this movie! I need to rewatch it ASAP!