A competently made movie with glaring issues

Rating: 4/10 (20 December 2017)

This seems to be getting mixed reception from audiences. Some dig it since it's an original Star Wars outing unlike the previous entry. Whereas others believe it to be a mess made by a studio that shows no respect for the source material. However, I could see both sides when I saw this film.
On one hand it was great seeing another Star Wars film on the big screen and the spectacle was all evident on screen. I like what they're doing with the new characters, particularly Rey and Kylo Ren. The story this time is much more original with new ideas implemented, for the better or worse. The direction is pretty solid and it cements Rian Johnson as a great director. I'm looking forward to what he's doing next, however, I do think he should stay away from huge franchises.
Here's what annoyed me about this film. It takes Luke Skywalker from the end of Return of the Jedi who managed to redeem Darth Vader, one of the most evil individuals in the galaxy, and they just say 'SCREW THAT!'. Right from the first thing he did, I thought 'WHAT?', and It just gets worse from there. I question what Rian Johnson was thinking and funnily enough Mark Hamill disagrees with Rian's choices as well.
This is not to say this makes the movie unwatchable. There is plenty to enjoy about The Last Jedi but I can't say I thought it was a great movie. If they fixed Luke's character and some other plot issues, this could of been one of the best Star Wars movies. However what we got was a competently made movie with glaring issues.