Uh oh....Someone's lost their forcefulness.

Rating: 2/10 (20 December 2017)

Typically when I see a bunch of creatives and critics pushing a narrative that people don't like a movie because they have deep-seeded prejudices and hatred towards minority groups, it a) gives me a sense of where their own headspace is (which is clearly not making movies) and b) tells me that I'm in for something....well...special... So, since it's a favorite of SJW's, let's start with the aforementioned prejudice.
Sexism- Think you reserve the right to be actually entertained with your hard earned dollars? Oh no, ya don't. We in the entertainment industry see injustice and we'll shove that down your throat at every opportunity. After all, it's a misogynistic culture, right? Hollywood has no sexism of its own, right? That must be why it felt the need to run the audience down with the idea that all men, from Luke to Finn to Poe, are reckless, impulsive, dangerous, neanderthals, and their saving grace in every instance is strong, female leadership. Nothing wrong with solid, female leadership, but I get tired of the same old, "Men are foolish idiots who don't do anything right, and just assert their evil recklessness" drivel. Grow up.
Breaking the 4th wall- When this was done in Deadpool, it was at least canon. You expected the character to be aware of his own fantasy. When I hear Luke talk about his "laser sword," I know authenticity has gone out the window.
Plot- Not sure what to make of this one. This thing was so disjointed, I'm not sure what I was supposed to walk away with. In an almost three hour snoozefest, I saw something about a girl going to an island to get all the Jedi training she needed in three days, telepathic connections between the dark and the light, casinos, fields, "ski speeders?," tiny droids operating imperial walkers, a codebreaker who was in prison and able to break out, but decided to stay so he could apprehend rebels who happened to be in the same cell only to sell them out at the end? Make no mistake. Jar Jar is real, people. He wrote the script.
Characters- Minor characters we previously were uninvested in pretty much monopolized the storyline, major characters (i.e. Luke) apparently died after having projected himself to help the rebels escape. So he wasn't there, but he died anyway. Yoda was posthumously appearing to destroy Jedi history so Luke can go on teaching Jedi history, but he's dead. AAAAGGGHH!!
Snoke bought it way too easily, as did Phasma. Carrie Fisher has left us, but they kept her character, which leaves me to wonder how/if they're going to write her out in a way that pays her the tribute she so richly deserves.
The singular reason to see this anathema IS Mark Hamill. He has gravity. He's funny, and he's quite an actor these days.
The one upside is that with a gift card coupled with a 1/2 price movie day discount, we didn't have to pay a dime to see it.
Worth every penny.