After the fanboy rage died down I almost laughed... this was actually very clever...

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2017)

After coming out of the theatre I was more than willing to rant and rave and agree with all the haters... but on the walk home I came to a starling conclusion. This movie is not Empire, it is not a New Hope as the last one was similar to it represents the point where something we have all grown up with and lived with for so long... has changed... and BOY did we hate them for it.
*** SPOILERS ****
In fact the more I thought about it the more I realized they were TELLING US what they were doing all the way through the film:
"We must destroy the old to create the new"
"we cannot continue to keep looking back"
"It is time for the Jedi to change"
"Its how we win, stop fighting that what we hate"
"You can't run off and be a hero"
(paraphrasing)
Luke who we grew up with turned out to be nothing more than bitter old man who was as human as all of us. You can't always win by finding the good in them and pulling them back from the brink - some people just want to watch the world burn.
Sometimes there is no fantastic origin story - there is just a lost scared little girl whose parents were idiots, and are now dead.
Sometimes the "big bad" is just a tall dude in a dressing gown who got killed halfway through the movie.
There was no heroic sacrifice to save the day... there was just a dude going to kill himself until he was slapped away. (OK, with a ship ;) )
... and sometimes all both sides of a war vs good and evil do.... is make money for people on a planet who drink and gamble it all away.
I wanted to put a low score as I hated them for doing it to me, forcing me to face the fact that this film was never going to meet anyone's expectations - but then, it never could.
The force awakens was a purposeful homage to star wars, the last jedi ripped star wars open and left all the fans raw inside. But like a trip to the dentist it was something which needed to be done. All the old guard are gone and what you are left with is something to start anew with, start fresh... and I have no idea how they are going to even do it... and it excites me....
With that realization in mind I scanned my mind over the film - removing what I was staring at the screen and HOPING to see, with what actually there was.
... and you know what - it was a pretty good film with fantastic fight scenes. it was not the best in the world but I would enjoy to see it again 7/10