Very sad - that this is what has become of a fantastic franchise

Rating: 4/10 (5 January 2018)

It's certainly watchable, and perhaps worth watching on the big screen just because of some of the few great battle moments. However other than that - what we have here is so formulaic that you imagine the plot to have been written by a committee.
It's as though someone said - "we need surprises", so they sprinkle a few surprises in the script, "we need some comedy moments", OK sprinkle a few wry sesame street wacky moments in and james bond style sarcasm.
As others have said - it's too long, almost looking like the end of one movie was just tagged onto the end of another.
In terms of money - some star wars executive must have pointed out that the younger the key protagonists the greater the scope for making MANY MANY movies before they get too old - so for me, none of the new characters are believable as either heroes or protagonists.
The story line is mostly silly with nothing particularly happening - just sufficient forward movement to drag us from one set piece and environment to another.
For me - there was only one moment of grandeur and awe in the entire movie, and it was the scene towards the end when an array of giant walkers have all stopped in a line with the red sky behind them, and luke standing in front of them. That was a fantastic moment - and the shot there was terrifying. For a moment - I felt like the movie was all worthwhile and capable of great things. Unfortunately what followed next was another ridiculous committee style moment that missed evert opportunity in the book.
After all of the thousands of books written on the subject of Star Wars - you would think that they would no better how to make a worthy sequel.
Basically all you need is a King Arthur style good and evil characters, a decent plot that's a bit grander than simply being chased, or simply defending something, sprinkle it with half memorable space versions of things from history books and your done.