Big disappointment due to inexplicably positive critic reviews

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2017)

I am your average moviegoer that grew up watching and enjoying the original trilogy. I think the Force Awakens did a remarkable job of reigniting the excitement about the new saga in spite of its "convenient" script structure which was probably necessary to connect old and new characters. It was arguably far from an easy task after three mediocre prequels and its ending was a very promising set up for this episode. I admit that I had high expectations for this movie, I was genuinely excited. This was further fueled by stellar critic reviews:
- "If The Force Awakens raised a lot of questions, this tackles them head-on. Fun, funny but with emotional heft..." Ian Freer, Empire Magazine
- "...does a better job than most sequels of giving the audience both what it wants and what it didn't know it wanted. The movie leans hard into sentiment..." Matt Zoller Seitz, RobertEbert.com
- "...Mark Hamill in the performance of his career..." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- "Johnson... has given us an actual movie... His movie has a sense of humor about itself and a sense of joy, but its emotional generosity...is its best special effect" Stephanie Zacharek, TIME
...And much more of the same on critics aggregator sites.
If movie critics that are usually hard to satisfy on this genre are so positive, it should be a great movie right? Well, in short, The Last Jedi disappoints on most levels:

Killing off main characters unceremoniously and inexplicably reviving others just for the sake of delivering "unexpected plot twists" is usually signs of bad script and lack of imagination.
2.5 hours of screenplay with uneven pacing and side-stories that deliver no emotional impact or advance the main story in any way are normally signs of bad director and editing choices.
Changing the tone of the humor is always risky and in this installment it was done too much and in a way that does disservice to the characters and universe involved. Getting the humour just right is one of the most tricky aspects and it just shows that the team involved was simply not up to the task.
Ignoring past history of characters and forcing them to act in an opposite way than previous installments (or just plain common sense) just to throw off viewers' expectations is also a sign of lazy script and lack of good ideas.
Trying to portray serious themes in a sci-fi adventure without sufficient time or impact come off superficial and condescending to educated adult viewers.
Setting a plot hole filled slo-mo chase as basis of the suspense is by any standards a poor way of advancing a 2.5 hour film.

I understand that the Star Wars needs to evolve. I agree with many of the main directions taken in this movie (Luke's emotional journey, fate of the Resistance, retrospect on the Jedi traditions, Kylo's inner struggle, even Rey's parentage, why not). But I completely disagree with the forced, clunky and unimaginative way that these directions were followed and with the total disregard of the previous installments' lore. It was marginally above prequel-level storytelling albeit more beautifully produced.
Yes, there where plenty of unexpected moments, but they where mostly a combination of underwhelming, cheesy and unrealistic forced plot advancements. The Last Jedi is a story of great potential (ending of The Force Awakens) wasted to provoke cheap thrills mostly devoid of that human touch that made the original trilogy a classic.
Getting that human touch right (with the proper amounts of sentiment, humour, heroism, romance) in between space fights and lightsaber duels is a sign of true film-making and story-telling mastery. I am convinced that the team behind this movie was just not competent enough to pull this off and it really shows when watching this movie. I am disappointed that so few in the mainstream media have the guts to say this simple truth.
I was made to believe by professional critics that this film was a masterpiece in its genre (many were placing it close or equal to the Empire Strikes Back) and even from a movie-making perspective (script, pacing, performances, tone, etc) it is a mediocre film in spite of all the beautiful effects and occasional good performances. The narrative choices in regards to previous installments make things even worse.
I understand that most critics are employees like many of us, that Viacom can put pressure on the media organisations for which these critics work, but I expected more professional integrity from their part (yes I am convinced that they were pressured to review it positively, I would probably have done the same).
In my humble opinion, it is a solid 6/10 (slightly above the prequels).
Maybe 7/10 if you are not a Star Wars fan, but not any higher and surely not a masterpiece.
PS: I fully understand all the reviewers rating it at 1/10 in an attempt to correct what seems to be a major overvaluation from the mainstream media. After rereading critics reviews I feel like they consider average people completely devoid of critical thinking which is quite insulting to many of us.