Slowly over the last year, my distaste for this film has increased

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2018)

I'm going to open my review with this note: I did not make up any theories for The Last Jedi. I didn't spend time looking up theories. I didn't have any real plot expectations. I didn't watch any of the trailers because I didn't want the premise spoiled to me. I say this because I know a lot of people who discredit reviewers who disliked the movie because "the only reason you didn't like the film is because your fan theories were ruined." While this may apply to some people, it does not apply to me.
That being said: This movie is pretty bad.
Back in 2015 I saw The Force Awakens and felt very underwhelmed, "This is what they are doing with Star Wars? A page by page retelling of episode IV?" So I was hoping for the next movie to be more of its own thing, which, fortunately, it is. The Last Jedi (for the most part) is its own unique premise and while it has chunks from Episode VI thrown into it and a few elements from Episode V, but the movie as a whole feels like its very own idea.
The main issues with this film fall into four different categories that I think most people can agree with are the core issues with the film.
1. Bad Pacing
2. Big Plot Holes
3. Incoherent Theming
4. Not Understanding the Star Wars Universe
1. Bad Pacing:
This film is long. About 30-45 minutes too long. The movie tries to juggle one too many plot threads at the same time and probably should've scrapped the Canto Bight plot altogether to reduce its run-time and to make a much more satisfying film.
The mistake with Canto Bight is actually an odd one that I haven't any other recent films do. In movies, the main goal is to move the plot forward. Character do actions to make stuff happen, but with The Last Jedi the whole Canto Bight arc goes two steps forward and then two steps back so you end up right where you started. Finn and Rose go on a Plan B mission to help save their fleet, they find a hacker, go to disable the enemy tracking device, get caught, and then learn that their mission was pointless the whole time and they go back to Plan A. It is just filler... 30-45 minutes worth of filler.
To make matter worse for this side-plot, the filler isn't even that good. I know some people have taken great offense to how "anti-capitalist" the Canto Bight story arc was, and while it obviously does have a bit of that going on I don't think it is really that bad. The main issue is Rose and Finn's morals seem a bit mixed up where they decide to free racing animals (that look a bit like The Last Guardian) and don't decide to free the actual slaves. It's a bit odd that they stop to try and "help people" but it comes across as rather redundant.
This naturally brings us to the next issue...
2. Plot Holes:
This movie has a one glaring plot hole which connects to the pacing issues: Why didn't Holdo tell her crew what her plan was? There is no logical explanation for why she didn't inform anyone as to what her plan was and only left everyone to think that they were on a suicide mission. Some people have defended this plot point by saying, "Po was demoted so she didn't need to tell him." Yes, but he was demoted to Captain... that's still a high-ranking position. Also, we can clearly see that no one else knows of the plan and the rest of the crew seem to be shaking in their boots. If Holdo had simply whispered to him the plan, there would be: No mutiny, No Canto Bight, and about one hour less movie. The fact that such a large chunk of this movie revolves around such an obvious and glaring plot hole is rather astounding. Did no one notice this when writing the film?
There are many other mini plot-holes, but those tie into the Star Wars lore so I will bring those up later.
Moving on...
3. Incoherent Theming:
This movie doesn't really know what it is trying to say, and there is one scene that best sums up this issue and it is the scene where Yoda and Luke are talking to each other. Luke wants to destroy the ancient Jedi books because he is mad at the arrogance of the Jedi (granted, that's true, but they aren't as bad as the Sith who are trying to murder everyone) and Yoda actually aids him in doing it via Jedi Ghost lightning powers. A new trick and a bit comical.
The issue with this scene is that Yoda says "real page-turners, are they not?" basically saying that the books are boring and thus it is okay for them to destroyed. Luke even seems to admit that he hasn't even read them. With this, the movie seems to be saying, "It is okay to destroy the past if it isn't very interesting or culturally relevant to you at the moment" which is one of THE STUPIDEST MESSAGES TO PUT INTO A FILM. Destroy historical relics and books because you don't like them or find them boring? You know who does that? Terrorist organizations. Nazis. Corrupt and evil regimes. Also, the movie has clearly established that there is a race of fish-nuns who have dedicated thousands of years of their history to protecting Jedi relics. It is not within Luke's power to choose if they are destroyed or not as he is not the keeper of them. This is the equivalent of someone running into a monastery and burning all the bibles because, "I was a Christian at one point, but now I'm not so I get the right to burn everything here.".
To make matters worse, we then discover that Rey has STOLEN the books which then makes Yoda's speech to Luke irrelevant. So which is it? Is protecting the past important or is it okay to destroy it? You can't have both.
This movie is packed with inconsistencies like this so it is very hard to find a clear and consistent message. I understand it is trying to be deep, complex, and a bit gray, but it never really works.
4. Not Understanding the Star Wars Universe:
A lot of people have ranted about this issue while others have dismissed it as "well it's just a movie so it doesn't have to make sense". There is some merit on both sides, but ultimately there are some pretty big inconsistencies in this movie with the rest of the Star Wars franchise.
a. No shields: Yes, this sounds rather petty, but the Dreadnought at the beginning of the film was almost completely taken down by an X-Wing... how? Where are its shields? Every other Star Wars movie has made a plot-point about how Star Destroyers and large cruisers have shields (heck, even the main plot of this movie is about a ship losing its shields). The whole intro scene that shows a single pilot taking out a large ship because "it is flying too close for us to hit" makes no sense. The whole point of anti-spacecraft turrets is to destroy ships nearby and the whole point of shields is to make sure ships can't get that close and to also negate damage. This scene feels ridiculous when every movie has clearly established this point.
b. Hyperspace-Ramming: I know the scene is very beautiful and nice to look at it, but it causes a ton of issues in the Star Wars Universe. The issue isn't so much about being able to drive a ship into another ship as a last resort (that makes sense) the main issue is its effectiveness level. This maneuver is so effective that it manages to destroy Snoke's main ship along with taking out most of his fleet.
Here is a simple analogy of what this scene does to the Star Wars universe: Imagine if Spider-Man was in a desperate struggle in a battle against Carnage and the audience thinks he is going to lose. It is very intense, but then all of a sudden Spider-man opens his palms and then vaporizes Carnage with a blast of radioactive energy! Spider-man explains, "Well of course I've always had this ability. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, was I not?" For Spider-man to do this in a film would be incredibly stupid and unsatisfying. He has had this power the entire time throughout all of the movies that can end any battle at any moment, but just has never decided to use it until now? Why hasn't all of his battles revolved around him using this? Why does he ever lose?
That is essentially what Hyperspace-Ramming does to Star Wars. It isn't that the concept doesn't make sense, but it is that it is such an overpowered maneuver that all other forms of space combat pale in comparison. There is no reason to be using lasers when you could have hyperspace-ramming blocks, missiles, or heck, Holdo's entire plan from the get-go should've been to use that maneuver. Why didn't the other cruise ships use that maneuver before they got blasted? See, even within the context of this film, everyone should've been using hyperspace-ramming at every chance they got. There is no reason not to.
c. Rey's Incredible Power Gain: I know a lot of people have called Rey a "Mary Sue". For those who don't know, a Mary Sue is a female character (originating from a parody of fan-fictions) who becomes obscenely powerful within the context of the universe with little to no explanation and then meets all of the cast of the said series usually as a mean of the author inserting themselves within the story. Rey is overpowered with seemingly no explanation, but she doesn't seem to be a tool to insert the writer into the narrative and meeting the original Star Wars cast was going to happen regardless of the gender of the protagonist.
Still, this movie only takes place within hours or so of the first movie. Rey has had no training, no real force experience, and no real combat training, and by the end of the movie she is moving hundreds of boulders with little to no effort (something that we haven't even seen Yoda do) and taking on a whole armed guard with her light saber skills. To put it simply: She went from no knowledge in the force to becoming more powerful than Yoda in a matter of two days or so. Adding to this frustration is the fact that Kylo Ren who has trained extensively under Luke and Snoke (the two most powerful force users until Rey) for almost all of his life... has almost no skill.
Inconclusion: This review was going to be a lot longer, but I hit the IMDb word limit... I was going to bring up "subverting expectations"...