Mostly great for fan service and mindless CGI action

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2017)

The action is mindlessly enjoyable and fast paced, the special effects and CGI are impressive and clearly cost a lot of money and effort, and there's plenty of fan service, critters, and homages to past episodes. As someone not intimately familiar with the Star Wars franchise, I felt that The Last Jedi made for a very enjoyable if not typical stand-alone blockbuster experience.
That said, the movie does seem to fall flat in a number of ways. We see very little actual character development of, really, anyone (Luke, Rei, Finn, Kylo Ren), and the plot seems to lack any meaningful personal conflicts or growth. The tropes, themes, and plot devices are repetitive ones we've seen a plenty before in the franchise (blowing up a massive ship by hitting it's sole tiny "weak spot", sneaking onto enemy ships, getting caught, and then betrayed by a mercenary, etc).
The arc of the movie's plot, and the many deus ex machina ways the protagonists get repeatedly saved at the last minute, feel uninspired and almost lazy. Overall, the film does give a satisfying send off to Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker, and set up the story for the next and final part of this trilogy, but in a way that feels much more perfunctory than compelling.