A good concept falls victim to terrible directing

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2017)

If there has ever been a time I have been fundamentally disgusted with the Star Wars Franchise it's now. Corny love stories, poor lines and poor acting as in Episode 2 and 3 are forgivable, cringeworthy, but forgivable. A Terrible character like Jar-Jar Binks in Episode 1, while horrible in his own respect, at least had development, a back story and a compelling quirk (oddly lucky clumsiness which led people to speculate about what it means to be force sensitive). But this movie... This movie wasn't what I would call "bad" more so than a slap in the face for any new and old Star Wars fan.
No this isn't a gripe about the awkward diversity of characters (the stuttering Codebreaker was actually refreshing.). What irritates me is that there is no compelling character development. There is literally none. Rey doesn't learn any real lesson from Luke and decides to act rashly and impulsively. Her punishment? Ren kills Snoke. Ok? I know this is meant to be a big turn for Ren, but this isn't foreshadowed, it isn't built up. For instance Snoke could have literally said one line to Ren and it would have sated the supernerds and theory crafters as well as creating motivation for Ren, "But where my apprentice failed I will succeed you are not as weak willed as Vader this I have foreseen." -Camera cuts to Ren as he considers this statement and he squints his eyes. Here is where Ren begins to plot against Snoke during the Rey scene. BOOM easy, but that's the problem Snoke was never developed into a compelling or threatening character so his death just falls flat...
The story arc is centered around a "6 hour ship chase." Poorly contrived plot device that creates a TON of temporal inconsistencies especially when they overlap with the Luke Rey Ren story. Some of the scenes could have been reorganized to make more sense, but no Rian decides to insult the intelligence of the viewer and hopes that you don't catch on to how terribly inconsistent the timeline is. (Irrelevant, but at least one can argue about the speed of a raven/dragon.) Another big problem is the Codebreaker plot. Why in God's name was this allowed to be in the movie? It's so far removed from the story that it makes no sense. Not only that but the whole thing was rendered pointless. Thematically it makes sense and I get that, but I was left unable to suspend disbelief because of a few very major technical gaffs.
The justification behind the mission was that a fusion powered interstellar warship was "running out of fuel" and couldn't escape because a DREADNOUGHT was tracing its location. Wouldnt it make more sense from a time line perspective to let them continuously jump over and over desperately trying to find a hiding spot. I mean they were already out manned, out gunned and, because of the tracer, out maneuvered. So why not build the tension and build up the threat of the First order this way? It gives time for all ideas to be considered such as Poe's. When Poe and Finn's idea fails then the admiral -sic Leia proposes her own desperate plan for a final jump while having the cloaked transports launch towards the planet just as they leave hyperspace. While the plan is in motion Snoke taunts the resistance over a hologram as soon as the first order fleet jumps in. Leia then is the one to sacrifice herself instead of that crappy purple haired lady.
What really bothers me about the chase isnt just timeline inconsistencies it is that Mon Cal cruisers are slower than Imperial Dreadnoughts SSDs and Tie Fighters/Bombers are around 25x faster than them as well. A bomber fleet would have taken out the crippled ship in MINUTES especially one with no fighter hanger. Also literally dropping bombs in space? LIKE WTF ARE YOU SMOKING? Leia surviving space for over 2 minutes? WTF? And those godforsaken Porgs? Terrible CGI and too much screen time WAY TOO TONGUE IN CHEEK CUTE!
But the worst part isn't the technical gaffs and oversights, or the poorly developed characters, it's the directing and the screenplay. It was piss poor (as I have already attempted to correct). The ending, just like Snoke's death also fell flat.
Luke was gutted as a character. I don't mind the nod to Yoda's character by turning him into the "scholar" or "senile hermit" type, but Luke, being the "Last Jedi," is the only living conduit for the light side of the force. That and his Skywalker blood would make him a literal God. Luke should have had a renewed vigor after talking to Yoda and faced Ren either in person or in a much more dramatic way. Imagine Luke deflecting walker lasers with one hand and force crushing another set with his other as Luke deflects the barage towards Ren's walker Ren stops the lasers in place one after the other as he yells in a fit of rage (a potentially visually striking scene with time for a flashback to Luke's intended "murder" of Ren and maybe some Snoke lines), ignites his lightsaber and jumps out of the walker (the walker explodes while he leaps towards Luke, letting the suspended lasers continue their original path. In the aftermath, a lightsaber fight begins. Then after a back and forth filled with arguing about betrayal. Luke tells Ren, "I've failed you, but where I failed a new hope will rise." Cut to Rey lifting the boulders, "Strike me down, let the past die, but the future will shine even brighter." Cut to the battle "I am the last Jedi, but with my death there will be balance." Ren strikes Luke, but he is revealed to be a projection. Cut to Luke on the rock. Visibly exhausted he recovers himself and closes his eyes head towards the stars. As he begins talking cut to the resistance escaping. "This is the birth of a new legend-" Closeup of Rey smiling at the Falcon fade music and SFX cut to Luke- "and soon I will be forgotten." Silence as he fades screen cuts to black start credits.
HOW HARD CAN IT BE JESUS! RIAN IS A TERRIBLE DIRECTOR AND NEEDS TO BE FIRED!
I dont understand why the lightsaber battles have been denigrated. Lucas used them as a plot device to create tension during dramatic character development. Sadly this movie lost ALL TENSION and FAILED TO DEVELOP ITS CHARACTERS. IT FOCUSED ON HUMOR, VISUALS AND IRRELEVANT POLITICAL JABS (ie the casino scenes). IT ALSO BUTCHERS ALREADY DEVELOPED CHARACTERS BY FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING THEIR MOTIVATIONS. TL:DR the movie is poorly directed, poorly written, ignorant of even the most basic of Star Wars lore, and, above all, I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth with nothing answered and no desire to see another Star Wars movie. I've never felt like that before about Star Wars even the trash of the prequels was better! I wish this movie was never made! I take is back this IS a "bad" movie 4/10 just because I understand what he was trying to do, but most people will just stare at the screen wondering why they hate it. The answer is simply poor writing and directing nothing more nothing less.