Deflating, slowly.

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2018)

Startling sound design, visuals and fine performances from Hammill and Driver form a glossy wrapping which, once unpacked, reveal a sadly bland, stodgy, messy, uneven and ultimately futile storyline.
Poorly written and delivered humour trivialize moments of supposed weight and the contrarian nature of the narrative choices make the Last Jedi feel like an alternative to (rather than a sequel to) the Force Awakens.
Major plot points and time given to character set-ups in the Force Awakens provided interesting possibilities for future developments and directions for the world. These are systematically disregarded in favour of a bucketful of nothingness disguised as a plot twist. Avenues are cul-de-sacs, trajectories nose dive and the resulting two and a half hour chain of events proceeds to advance the plot by little more than an inch in any direction, narratively represented by the space equivalent of a car chase in first gear.
The force is becomes a limitless power supply that removes any tension or threat of danger from our protagonists, serving as a convenient plot device. Couple this with the convenience of the technology, both in its advancement and in its limitations, that create a very specific set of circumstances in which the plot must casually to-and-fro. Characters deliberate over decisions founded on flawed logic and internal inconsistency.
A simple story of likeable characters on engaging adventures in a battle between good and evil is replaced by political messages aimed at hitting cultural hot topics with nauseating precision.
It's no Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones as far as disappointment is concerned, but the subsequent taste in the mouth is all too familiar.