Nice set design, but bland characters

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2019)

In Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Han Solo and Leia are overconfident and brash, but they often have to come to terms with the consequences of their bad decisions, and so are made aware of their own limitations. They use humour as a defence mechanism, to give them strength when things are not going well. Luke lacks self-confidence, but he is young, and sets out to learn, and improve guided by Obiwan and Yoda. All of this makes it easy for us to identify with Han, Luke and Leia in the original trilogy.
In the Last Jedi, Han Solo is gone, but his son Ben is always mugging grimly at the camera, lacking any hint of the bluster and bravado of his father. Luke has for reasons unexplained morphed from a wide-eyed idealist into a sad and bitter recluse, a 180 degree turn for a once beloved character. Leia is still here, but she cracks-wise a bit like the actress Carrie Fisher who plays her. We're given little hint of what Rey is feeling, although Ben/Kylo keeps razzing her about her dead parents. Finn gets served up as the butt of a couple jokes early on, but he too is pretty opaque. It is hard to identify with any of our heroes here.
The set design and costumes are in general well done. John Williams' score borrows heavily from the original trilogy.