Very Good Movie, But Fails Long-Time Fans of Star Wars Mythology

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2017)

Two things seemingly the opposite are true here. This is an entertaining, well directed, thoughtful and essentially very good movie. At the same time, there are many problems including with the story itself and particularly with things apparently unanswered, never addressed or just left out. I will not address the good about this movie nearly as much as the bad, but here goes:
The Good: I enjoyed the locations, action sequences and all aspects of how the film "looked" on screen - with the lone exception of the casino sub-plot. The casino scenes and the Rose-Finn escape were the only parts of the movie which made me cringe. It reminded me of Episode I. They could have been deleted, and since I understand about an hour's worth of footage was left out of this movie, I wonder why this portion was left in. I enjoyed the Porgs, particularly when they were inside the Falcon. Daisy Ridley was excellent, as was Adam Driver, although I'm not sure where Kylo goes from here. I thought the interactions with Rey and Ren were done very well, and the reveal about how that was done was very good.
The Bad: It's probably nit-picking but there's a lot of little issues with the story. However, the major issue, and I'm sure I am far from alone on this one, is Rian Johnson's depiction of Luke. I understand he wanted to humanize him, take him away from the myth, the legend, and make him multi-faceted and flawed. However, the Luke depicted in all of the other movies and canon books would never have considered killing his student/nephew. It just does not come within the realm of possible for his character. This aspect of Episode VIII's story alone was pretty close to ruining this movie for me, but I understand what Mr. Johnson was trying to do here. Killing Snoke so easily and unceremoniously before we really got to see him in action, hate/fear him, was a wasted opportunity. I sure hope they have a new, superior villain set up for Episode IX. Failing to explain Snoke's background, rise to power, etc., was also a significant and problematic oversight in my mind. By somewhat the same token, but to a far lesser degree, eliminating Phasma so easily and quickly was also surprising - but I have little problem with that. The slow motion "chase" which makes up the primary plot point of the movie is ridiculous and I find it very hard to believe there were no better options. I understand the device and what it creates but it's just plain stupid, for lack of a better word. Running out of fuel, really? That far in the future? I could be very wrong but I don't recall fuel being used or an issue in other movies. Also, how could the Resistance ships destroy the First Order ship with small fighters and bombers but yet the First Order, with seemingly limitless technological power and ships, could not muster any ships from anywhere else to take out the main Resistance ship? Why not go after it aggressively to make it use it's power/fuel more quickly, thereby ending the conflict quicker? Ludicrous in my opinion. The story depicts the First Order as comedic relief, a bunch of bumbling idiots, which doesn't make much sense either. Luke's ending was not surprising and actually anticipated by me, although I did think they'd wait til Episode IX to do it. Rey's background was handled dismissively but I understand this and expect it was merely Kylo's way of trying to turn her. I would not be surprised if her parentage is re-addressed in Episode IX. No light saber battle was a missed opportunity here. Knowing I will never get to see Luke in full Jedi glory is perhaps the biggest missed opportunity. I know things "will not go as you think" but just too many missed opportunities making me feel wanting is the main problem with this movie and Rian Johnson's script.