Lost its heart

Rating: 1/10 (28 December 2017)

This film seems to upend everything that made FORCE AWAKEN such an entertaining and promising SW sequel. Rey and Finn had terrific chemistry in FA and it seemed that this was going to be the start of another legendary SW friendship/romance. Instead in LJ they pair Finn with new character Rose and he doesn't meet up with Rey again until the very end. Rose is cute but she and Finn have ZERO chemistry. In FA, Snoke seemed poised to be an evil force like the Emperor in the original series. Instead, in this film he actually comes across more like a muppet and his demise is laughably easy. THE biggest problem I have with the film - and it's something that I also had a problem with in FA - is Kylo Ren. Most great sci-fi/fantasy epics have great villains. Kylo Ren is FAR from a great villain. He just comes across as an annoying spoiled brat. There is a moment in LJ when he pairs up with Rey and seems to be fighting on her side that I thought - ok, character has the potential to become more interesting. I thought it would be interesting if he did actually get redeemed and then had to grapple with people hating him OR I thought it would be interesting if it was all a ruse and he eventually betrayed Rey and the rebels. Instead, at the end of the fight he just goes back to being a sniveling, power-hungry brat. There is just NOTHING appealing about this villain at all. He isn't even all that good as he gets defeated time and time again. Vader was a GREAT villain in that he was a conflicted character. He started out as a regular human being who loved people deeply but he was pushed more and more toward the dark side by circumstances in his life - living in slavery, seeing his mother die, knowing that the great Jedis never did do anything about slavery, his fear over possibly losing Padme. He was also competent and powerful. He defeated Obi-Wan in the original series and nearly killed Luke in EMPIRE. All Kylo Ren seems capable of is choking his minions when they anger him. He is a caricature in what should be one of the most important roles in the story. Poor Poe just runs around in LJ looking alarmed and BB-8 who was so adorable in FA due to his interactions with Rey and Finn, here is just a mechanic. As for Luke - what can I say. For the principal character in the original series to just go out in a puff of smoke (literally) was disappointing to say the least.
I almost can't believe this film was released like this. Wonder if they showed it to test audiences at all?