Doesn't deserve the HATE; doesn't deserve the PRAISE. Deserves to be seen.

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2018)

After swearing that I would never watch Star Wars again after watching Lucas sell out, I was tricked by IMDB into seeing Last Jedi. I rarely ever get steered wrong on here but the "Star Wars" name has become too innate- the Force is too strong and common movie goers have become blind fanboys.
I won't give this movie the hate it's getting, but I won't praise it either. It was meh.
Here are some things that made the film a poor installment:
1. Only one character, Po, has an arc of any kind.
2. Other arcs come full circle right back to where they started, building into nothing and yet again, failing to develop characters.
3. Scenes, people, and events just happen with no reason and have no effect on the movie.
4. Fans were trolled every step of the way: Finn is going to sacrifice himself and actually bring something to the story? Nope. Rey has a real backstory? Nope. Snoke is going to have an arc? Nope. Luke is going to overcome his guilt and rejoin his sister? Nope. Rey and Kylo are going to actually join forces and add something the Star Wars name has never had? Nope. Del Toro has a point? Nope.
5. The movie literally turns itself inside out and simply brings every character right back to where they were. Rey still has no direction. Finn is still useless. Snoke came and went like a fly on your food. Kylo is bad yet again. And for some reason Captain Phasma was in the movie. And for some reason Maz was in the movie. Nothing happens!
Now the good-
1. They attempted to do something different, even if they failed. It is a big step for a cookie-cutter company like Disney to allow some kind of art in their schlock; I am grateful for that.
2. Mark Hamill is always good.
3. Even crazy Yoda warms my heart when he isn't flipping all over the place.
4. Adam Driver can act.
5. They allowed wide shots. Why are wide shots now the black sheep of schlock movies!!!?
Overall, the demographic pleasing, playing it safe, reusing tropes from the original (over and over) and basically formulating Star Wars, has sucked all the life out of it. I don't care about anyone in the movie aside from one or two people. It felt like someone shot 245 scenes and threw them together. This wasn't dark. It wasn't risky. it wasn't really anything but a sliver of what it could be. No universe building, no tension, and no consequence= poor movie. It did not anger me. It saddened me that the old days of a lone, rogue filmmaker creating something special is dead. We now live in the piece-by-piece, paint by numbers movie world where everything is meticulously patched together to reach every demographic and simply make a buck. This blind faith has now grasped even IMDB members who I thought were more attune to filmmaking.