A good film but ending on another downer is just too much

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2017)

The Last Jedi is certainly an improvement over the shallow Force Awakens. It's a far more textured affair all round and there is plenty here to get lost in. The effects are stunning plus the surprises are many and unexpected which makes for a good viewing experience.
The film does have flaws though - the "jokes" are pretty much ALL ill timed and fall flat on their asses. More than that they actually detract from the moment in which they were used, not least of all in the opening sequence.
The side story for Finn and Rose offers a clumsy moral message which takes up far too much screen time and could have been edited down to just a few scenes. Daisy Ridley is surprisingly stale and wooden in this episode, a far cry from the expressive and dynamic performance she game in TFA but the rest of the new cast do just fine.
By far the biggest flaw is Disney's seeming obsession to do away with all of the old characters via on screen deaths. The Force Awakens was pretty much ruined for me by Killing off Han Solo....not for the fact he died, but the really poor timing of it. For a film that was trying to introduce new characters, new plots and catch up on 30 years of lore it was just TOO much to take seeing a beloved character die as well as all the other baggage. The Last Jedi does the same and ends again with us losing another beloved character (for no apparent reason either). To have not one, but two films in the new trilogy end on downers is too much to take and the negative association will affect repeat viewings. I don't think it would have been too much to ask to have a happy ending for a change but Disney seem hell bent on burying the past for good in rather shoddy graves.
Regardless, the film is incredibly well made and really feels like a Star Wars movie, so if you can get past the ropy writing, bad jokes and seeing more people you love die then it really is worth a watch.