A superior action science fiction movie, but a travesty of a Star Wars film.

Rating: 5/10 (19 December 2017)

This film presents an audience with a glorious visual spectacle, exciting plot twists and adventure, and better dialog than some previous installments of the Star Wars franchise. As a science fiction action adventure film, if it were not posing as a film in the Star Wars universe, it would deserve a high rating of 7 or 8. However, as a Star Wars film, it presents an insulting betrayal of the audience by asking them to believe that Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master has, after years of meditative exile, devolved into a petulant adolescent, an egotistical dissembler, and a person lacking in wisdom and moral insight. The scriptwriters and director did not need to do this, as most of the conflict and tension necessary to the plot involving Luke's reluctance to train Rey or get involved in galactic politics could have been maintained while portraying Luke as a wise and honest Jedi with wisdom and empathy. The director and scriptwriters have stated that they thought the character Luke Skywalker had already achieved his role in the Return of the Jedi film, evidently unaware of the scores of novels and comic books covering decades of Galactic history following the Battle of Yavin. This Expanded Universe material (now "legendary Star Wars") proved that the Luke Skywalker character could be used again and again, and show character development and growth over a lifetime of adventure, but this film shows the lack of imagination and petty egotism of its creators who could think of nothing significant or respectful to do with this central character of the Star Wars universe. The lack of integrity in the Luke Skywalker character (he was so out of character in this film), and the betrayal of character coherence and the nearly total rejection of the deeper backstory to the Star Wars saga was so insulting, egregious, and unnecessary that as a Star Wars film this movie deserves only two stars. And so, on balance as an "8" as a generic action adventure science fiction film and a "2" as a Star Wars film, I give the movie 5 stars.