Honest Casual Fan Review - I Know Disney's True Plan

Rating: 3/10 (20 December 2017)

Let me clarify and straighten out all of the 'hate' and 'love' that this movie is receiving once and for all. All the ruckus stems from where you stand when you watch this movie; are you a casual or new watcher or are you a long-time Star Wars fan?
As a casual Star Wars fan (not crazy fanatical) I would give it a 1/10 but as a new watcher (if the movie had a different name and wasn't "Star Wars") I'd give it a 5/10. So overall my score is 3/10.
Here is the MAIN reason why many people hate this movie and a big part of it has to do with episode 7: The Force Awakens. The main problem is the 'bait' that the producers cast out to the fans to then say "sike" or "just kidding" in episode 8. People don't inherently care about Snoke's past, Rey's identify and parents, Luke's disappearance, etc. except that they set up the movie like it IS a huge deal. Episode 7 set up everything like it's all complexly intertwined and connected somehow and then left off with a cliffhanger, seemingly to be answered in the upcoming films. Episode 8 was 'supposed' to answer those questions literally thrown at the audiences except they never did. Instead, all of the questions were literally squashed like a fly. The way The Last Jedi was executed made most of The Force Awakens useless, pointless, and a waste of time. Also, instead of putting in some answers they concocted a whole side mini story that pandered to SJW and animal rights... of course people are mad. It's like telling your kids they're getting something for Christmas and when Christmas comes around you say "just kidding." Then you show them a documentary about animal abuse. This is where most of the issues come from.
As for myself, I'll list out the main things that killed this movie for me:

Luke is not Luke. He's a completely different person to the core, inside and out. He's supposed to be wiser, stronger, and more mature. Instead, he cries more than anyone and does not help anyone. (I'm with Mark Hamill on this and I'll explain how he feels later)
Snoke does NOTHING the whole film except stands up once or twice to talk, moves Rey around a bit, then dies in his seat without a fight. LITERALLY. No story, background, explanation, fighting, struggle... nothing. Hell, each one of the guards in that same room put up a better fight and lasted longer than he did...
Rey's identify, background, and parents are all "nothings." That is literally all.
Not a single light saber battle... really. Not one. There are many scenes with light sabers in them. The main one is Rey and Kylo fighting guards, not each other. The other scene is with Luke (holding a saber but never using it then putting it away) dodging Kylo while he tries to hit Luke but never actually fighting. No actual fight between two people with light sabers...
When the ship went light speed into the other ship Finn and Rose were on the ground about to be tortured and were surrounded by hundreds of troopers and Phasma. After the strike, the whole room was trashed and desolate with ONLY them two in the room and Finn wakes up to Rose pulling on him... then Phasma and a huge group of troopers randomly marched in from the sides as if they somehow got teleported out of the room during the strike. Then Phasma proceeds to fight Finn, gets hit in the face, then falls and dies...
The whole Holdo trying to act tough and not tell anyone anything is extremely annoying and completely unnecessary.
When Finn and Rose were at the Casino, they were locked up for "illegal parking" so they never found the key-master. Well, a different one happens to be in their cell and they all escape together. AND the craft was not towed and was just conveniently left there.
BB-8 is literally immortal and is always in the right place at the right time and knows how to do absolutely everything.
The way they made it look like Luke finally got over himself to come help the Resistance and then quickly found out it was just a "projection," Luke then dies without ever leaving that island at all, very anti-climatic.
Why Finn decides to ram into the cannon INSIDE the extremely hot beam, extremely lowering his chance of succeeding is beyond me. He could just fly outside of the beam and then turn in when he's closer. Perhaps it's to shield himself from potential oncoming fire? A potentially good moment where Rose randomly decides to knock him out of it, destroying both of their crafts and crucially hurting herself. Then the cheesy line and kiss.. then they're randomly back inside the base safe and sound.

These are just some of the things that are easy cop-outs that make no sense and is plain and simple too convenient to work for ANY movie, not just Star Wars.
This is 100% what I believe Disney is doing, judging from the direction of the movies and the way Mark Hamill reacts to it:
They are ONLY making this triology (and the next trilogy as well... really) for the new generation and younger audiences. They only want to use Han Solo, Leia, and Luke to bait in the old Star Wars fan so they can include a wider audience so they can make more money. But the way they quickly kill off the old cast, uplift the new and younger 'replacements,' and discard most of the things that happened in the previous episodes/prequels makes it pretty clear that it was never their intention to produce a new cohesive trilogy. Rather, they used the Star Wars name, as well as some originals actors and actresses to get a good head start before they dump them. I can understand why Mark Hamill was mad about The Force Awakens and furious about The Last Jedi. He was a huge figure in Star Wars and is one of the main reasons Star Wars is where it is today. I guarantee you he feels used and abused and underappreciated. They used him and his name and character to boost the hype and sales and then simply turn him into a sissy grump and kill him off so the movies can go on with the newer actors and actresses is extremely evident at this point and I feel very sorry for Mark Hamill.
TLDR: Most new watchers, younger generation, SJW, Feminists, or people with political agendas WILL like this movie much more than old school long-time Star Wars fans because of the way the movie is set up and executed.