Problemed 1st act gives way to a very satisfying finish

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2017)

I spent the last several months hoping that the Last Jedi would make more sense than The Force Awakens, Episode VII was, in my opinion, basically a subpar rehash of A New Hope, and I was hoping we might get something out of IIX that captured more of the classic feel that Rogue One had, and not the feeling of a Star Wars fan fiction that VII had.
I think we got something somewhere in the middle.
I think the biggest problem with the movie was that they didn't take time to make sure every scene had meaning, which honestly shouldn't be surprising. Most movies don't do that, and Star Wars hasn't done that since Return of the Jedi really (although I suppose a case could be made for Rogue One). The 1st third of the movie really felt like a time filler. It gave Luke and Rey their needed scenes, but the other story arc about the Resistance seemed to be mostly a time filler. It was not well executed or thought out, and quite honestly bore very little impact on the rest of the movie. The same end could have been achieved by a much more effective mean. I think it was probably made the way it was to help hold the attention of less mature audiences. Also, the way they dealt with Princess Leia was ridiculous.
This being said, the second and third acts of the film made a great come back. It showed that Star Wars may have more going for it than simple nostalgia for the original trilogy. It had twists that kept things interesting, but was true enough to the feel of what Star Wars should be to satisfy the fans' sense of nostalgia. The return of Luke was handled much better than the return of Han and Leia in Ep. VII. The fight scenes were some of the best I've ever seen in a Star Wars film: not over done (like in the prequels), but not too slow to be uninteresting. It helped make a little more sense of the Resistance/First Order balance of power issue, although not much. I think perhaps the most important thing that The Last Jedi gives us is solid villains and characters that we care about. At the end of VII, any of the characters could have dropped dead and I would not have cared (which is why they had to kill Han Solo). I didn't feel that way any more after The Last Jedi.
Its far from the best Star Wars film, and isn't even as good as Rogue One, but it is far better than VII and is well worth seeing. If you remove the entire 1st third of the movie, then its an excellent Star Wars film, maybe as good as Return of the Jedi.