It's sad to witness the death of a mythos

Rating: 1/10 (21 December 2017)

I have read, briefly, the reviews that the critics published but, as critics usually do, they are correct about half of the time. This time, they missed the mark completely. As in, if I could rate this movie a zero, I would.
Perhaps the new generation will like this movie, the special effects are certainly up to par but nothing else is.
The comments from the actors themselves tell it all - this is not their Star Wars universe but some hideous nightmare that should have never been created, let alone put up on the big screen. Rian wanted to take the franchise "in a new direction" he said. He failed, utterly. He couldn't even tell a new story, as others have noted, he just took the other movies, changed a bit of scenery and dialog and crammed it in. Same story-line, just different details. NOTHING is new here!
And what plot "twists" that were inserted were uniformly WRONG. Not some of them but ALL of them. The thing with Rose? Waste of time. The leader of the resistance saying "Don't look at me, follow him!" Really? NOT!
I'm not new to the Star Wars universe, I am a member of the Old Guard - I saw the original when I was still in high school (fan boy? Sort of, I watched the original 5 times in a row in one day and many more thereafter - their's was a good universe and it felt good to be part of it) and witnessed as the years passed how that one movie made it cool to be a nerd, gave hope to an entire generation, gave us something to believe in - simple things like Good will Triumph over Evil, etc.
This piece of crap reduces the Jedi that saved the galaxy into a whimpering old man that hid in a cave for most of the movie on the abandoned home world of the Jedi. His failure? He didn't teach Han's son to avoid the dark side. He spent how many decades in self-imposed misery because of that failure. Did he spend any time ON THE JEDI HOME WORLD trying to learn from his mistakes and find a way to fix it? Did he consult with the remaining Jedi, even in ghost form, for a fix? Nah, he just moped around for decades. Cut himself off from the Force? How is that even possible?
My question? How could he not see the turning coming? I mean, in that universe, as mentioned earlier, you have help, and in Luke's case, the best help there is! Let's see, he has his own abilities and awareness which should be nice and sharp given his brush with the dark side when the emperor tried to turn him and was defeated - he knows what the dark path looks like, Luke has his original teacher, Obi-Wan who watched his own student walk down the dark path so there is experience there to be had on what to look for, he has his OWN FATHER who spent DECADES on the dark side only to be redeemed at the end who could have told him all the signs to watch for and Yoda, head of the Jedi order for over EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS! WITH THAT KIND OF HELP, HOW COULD LUKE POSSIBLY FAIL!? How could he not see it coming!? Insanity!
So, what are we left with? A wimpy bad guy that is now the supreme leader (I wonder how Snoke missed it coming given that he was roaming around in Kylo's mind moments before), whose own devotion to the dark side isn't complete because he's conflicted, a girl that does better than Luke did with no training at all (how did that happen? I mean, I'm all for a strong female lead, but there has to be a source for all that skill, etc. Dumb luck makes for a poor plot).
I could go on and on about all the missed opportunities, chances for character growth, side stories, etc. but I'm just too heartbroken to put it all in words. Is my childhood ruined because they made a bad movie? Of course not, but it does hurt to see yet one more piece of what was good from that era destroyed by such dismissive, short-sighted, unthinking writing.
Penny514 says all the rest I need to say.
Indeed, I, too, sense a darkness risen and I think there is a storm coming. I don't think that Disney can redeem themselves from this one, I fear that the dark side has already won.
May the Force be with you, always.