The Last Jedi Wasn't Bad

Personally... I quite enjoyed the film, but only once I had detached it from Star Wars. The film itself was extremely entertaining and was fun to watch but was not without its flaws.

The film was well thought out for a Star Wars films and, in contrast to the previous film, was a great original story-line. My first criticism is one that seems to be on everyone's mind: the film went against already established canon. The line "let the past die, kill it if you have to" seems to not only be the thoughts of Adam Driver's Kylo Ren and instead is the policy Disney is now using.

Their lazy approach to the lore of the franchise was quite annoying to a die hard fan like me; small segments of the dialogue causing an itch in my brain that only old canon would scratch.

Unlike the other films in the franchise, this film is it has revealed to us many abilities that the Jedi may have that previously were only in the Expanded Universe.

One of the other things that is common in the movie is Kylo Ren's obsession with Darth Vader which, personally, I find a little puzzling. The young Solo believes that his link to Vader helps him in the dark side but this does not sit well with me. Presumably, nobody told Kylo that Anakin Skywalker regretted his fall to the dark side and turned back to the light...

If Kylo truly does have such a strong connection to the energy of his grandfather this would explain the deep conflict within him at every point in this film. From smashing his helmet in the elevator to killing Snoke, it's clear that Kylo is struggling to define where he lands in the greater scheme of the plot.

Although there was a lot of questions, following the release of the Force Awakens, none of them were answered and were instead just swept aside by Disney. The biggest confusion was the death of Luke Skywalker, and not that of Leia. Eventually, the series will need a way to explain the loss of Princess Leia due to the passing of Carrie Fisher but, since Mark Hamill is alive and well, Luke could've easily finished Rey's training.