Rian Johnson has written himself into a corner

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2017)

I can almost understand why TLJ was written and directed the way it was - it attempted to subvert the Hero's Journey by reversing the usual tropes, which is fine. However, if you're going to do that, whatever replaces it better be good. Several major characters die in this movie, and because they're dead, I don't really care to see Episode IX, because whoever survived doesn't resonate; none of them really learned from their respective failures, which is replete in this movie.
Luke, one of the the last links to the old SW franchise, undergoes a rather complete character reversal, to an aged version of himself prior to meeting Obi-Wan: he's immature, afraid, and apprehensive. It's like he never went to Dagobah, never met nor trained with Yoda, and forgot why he fought so hard to fix what his father started.
Why would he be afraid of Kylo Ren? Why would he be afraid to train Rey? Luke lost a hand, was almost seduced to the dark side, but faced down both Vader and Sidious and came out clean. His motivations in TLJ made no sense. Inconsistent character development.
Yoda makes a cameo appearance, as the giddy version of himself prior to revealing to Luke that he's the most revered Jedi Master in history. Fan service and inconsistent character development.
I joked with my brother (who thankfully paid for my ticket to TLJ) that since The Force Awakens is A Newer Hope, then TLJ would be The Discount Empire Strikes Back, and sadly, I wasn't too far off the prediction. I disliked TFA because there was no tension, and I equally dislike TLJ because the tension was manufactured.
The entire subplot with Finn and Rose could have been excised, had Holdo told Poe what her plans are from when she assumed command. She could have said "I plan to use this command ship as bait, so let them track us"; had she said that, Finn and Rose would have no obligation to go to Canto Bight, and everyone could have been more helpful to continue the ruse, which would have made it a more compelling movie. Manufactured tension.
The unevenness of the technology was also jarring: The First Order can track Resistance ships though light speed (something that several characters remarked was nigh impossible/extremely difficult to achieve), yet they did. However, they then fail to close up the remaining distance to finish the job, resulting in the slowest dogfight in the history of galactic warfare. They'd rather take pot shots from behind, rather then send off their massive fleet of Tie fighters to surround the command ship. Manufactured tension.
TLJ suffers from an existential crisis, unable to decide whether to be a Marvel clone with scattered humour that destroys the tone of the movie, or a serious SW entry that tried (and failed) to build upon what's already known. One can almost see Rian's brain spinning in this ("I want to please the Disney investors, but I also mustn't upset the punters), so he released this garbled mess, complete with merchandise tie-ins (Porgs are 2017 Ewoks.)
Disney gifted Rian with another trilogy after this; I think I'll wait to rent those rather than pay full admission.
p.s. Leia does her best impression of Superman in this movie; it's a shame she didn't fly faster, because she could have reversed time.