New Star Wars trilogy seems completely lost

Rating: 4/10 (16 April 2018)

I love 'Looper' - had very high expectations that weren't met. The film is centred on an endless chase scene that has zero sense of speed or danger. There is little meaningful continuation from the previous film - character arcs are abruptly halted, or sped up to suit the demands of where they need to be for the sequel. Big mistakes with the tone - Domhnall Gleeson is reduced to cutaway jokes. The comedy as a whole is juvenile and distracting - very reminiscent of the prequel trilogy.
Weird issues with the pacing. Instead of building on the momentum of TFA, time is wasted on introducing rubbish new characters - Laura Dern & Benicio Del Toro especially bring absolutely nothing to the film. Why were these scenes not instead used for continuing the story of Finn & Poe? They kicked off this new trilogy with great engaging performances, but are now relegated to the sidelines here in favour of who? Rose? Who made this decision? What for?
But beyond all the problems, it's still entertaining - and sometimes very pretty. My expectations for future Star Wars films has dropped severely though.