The best product you could have made out of this kind of story.

Rating: 5/10 (16 December 2017)

Major spoilers ahead. I usually don't type this in my reviews, but seriously, don't read this until you've watched the film. Got it?
Much like everyone else, I was excited for this film. But then I started hearing tales of disappointment and sorrow from other film-goers. I didn't get spoiled, but I can say that they're right. This was a tad bit disappointing. What was I expecting? Not a masterpiece, but a bit of fun. And I got that! It took a while, but I got that!
I really like how they diss every fan theory out there. Snoke isn't a major character, he's just a dude with the Force. Then he dies. Rey's parents aren't important, they just sold her off for booze. Then they die. It's nice it doesn't jump to that level of fanservice at every corner. There is fanservice, but not too much to where things get bogged down.
The story is clever at parts. I understood what was going on at all times, which is great, because there's a lot going on. The story basically follows an escape operation in the Rebel fleet. And it gets more complex, but I kinda don't want to talk about that. There are bigger fish to fry.
The action is very well done. Lots and lots of the scenes are very very cool. There's one scene where a ship jumps to lightspeed directly into Snoke's ship. That scene was amazing. The sound cuts, and you're just left in awe at the destruction. Another great scene is when Luke comes out towards the end, and does cool things before he... well, we'll get to that soon.
Rey meets Luke, and in comes the biggest issue: Luke is a jerk! I get it; he's the grumpy old troll, but he's not under a bridge and he's not making us solve riddles. He's trying to teach us how the Jedi were flawed, and why if he dies, the Force isn't dead, because it exists everywhere. Except he does it in the most unlikable ways possible. He has some good action scenes, but they basically sacrificed everything about the character to make those scenes great. He sees Yoda again, and Ghost Yoda looks super fake. He also dies. Yes. They kill off Luke. Thankfully, his death isn't by lightsaber, but instead it's peaceful. The scene where he dies is pretty good. It's well shot, the music is great (it's Star Wars, of course it is), and it's exactly how one would imagine Luke dying.
Another issue is that this film is way, way, way too long. Length is a big issue for me in movies. Not that I have a short attention spam, because Good Will Hunting is one of my favorite movies, and that film is very slow. The issue here comes with the ending. Every couple of transitions during the last part I thought to myself, "Okay, is it over now?" A good 20 minutes could have been cut out and nothing would have changed.
The last issue comes with the scene the advertising and trailers tried to hype up, where Kylo is about to shoot at a ship with Leia in it. He doesn't, the two other TIE Fighters do the deed. But Leia doesn't die. She gets sucked out into the cold dark empty vacuum of space, but she's fine. She just opens her eyes, reaches out her hand, and glides her way over to the ship. Yes, Leia lives. She should have died, but she's fine.
Why are people dissing this movie? What part of this was a disappointment? Why are people praising it? What part of this movie proves is a masterpiece? Honestly, this movie is fine. It's the best you could have done with the material present. I had my doubts beforehand, but I liked this film fine. They're gonna have their hands full for Episode IX though. They've got a lot to work with, and not all of it is great. Carrie's dead, but Leia's alive. Kid actors have the Force now. The Rebellion is now about 15 people large. Snoke is dead, Luke is dead, Admiral Ackbar is super dead. What the hell are they gonna do?
No matter what happens, I'll be there. I really doubt it will be that bad. Worst case scenario, they bring back the Midichlorians. But somehow I doubt that will happen.