I'm not going to write a long review here, because many others have covered the many, many problems with this film. From the weak characters, to the lazy and nonsensical writing, to the total disrespect for the franchise... it's just not a good movie.
Never -- not even during the prequels -- did I find myself shaking my head in utter disbelief as I did during The Last Jedi. Mind you, this was technically a far better movie than the prequels. The effects were better, the acting was better, the cinematography was better... which just makes it so much more inexcusable that SO MANY poor decisions were made on the part of the writers and director.
At least the prequels were TRYING to recapture the Star Wars magic, even if they mostly failed. The Last Jedi was deliberately destroying that magic.
And even THAT wouldn't be so bad if it was done competently. But it wasn't. The story was nonsensical. Full of plot holes and wasted time. The action sequences, while visually appealing for the most part, at best lacked consequence -- and at worst could have been mistaken for the CGI-laden cartoon action of the prequels.
It's a shame too, because The Force Awakens -- for all its flaws -- was actually a thoroughly enjoyable and promising movie. I cared about the characters in that film -- largely the same cast as The Last Jedi. However in this movie they've become one-dimensional and boring. I genuinely didn't care if any of them lived or died, and frankly by the end I was rooting for Kylo Ren to win -- as he's the only remotely compelling character in the whole movie.
I'm afraid this will probably be the last Star Wars movie I actually pay money to see. These characters have been ruined, and unless the next film is an absolute masterpiece, I'm pretty much done here.
Never -- not even during the prequels -- did I find myself shaking my head in utter disbelief as I did during The Last Jedi. Mind you, this was technically a far better movie than the prequels. The effects were better, the acting was better, the cinematography was better... which just makes it so much more inexcusable that SO MANY poor decisions were made on the part of the writers and director.
At least the prequels were TRYING to recapture the Star Wars magic, even if they mostly failed. The Last Jedi was deliberately destroying that magic.
And even THAT wouldn't be so bad if it was done competently. But it wasn't. The story was nonsensical. Full of plot holes and wasted time. The action sequences, while visually appealing for the most part, at best lacked consequence -- and at worst could have been mistaken for the CGI-laden cartoon action of the prequels.
It's a shame too, because The Force Awakens -- for all its flaws -- was actually a thoroughly enjoyable and promising movie. I cared about the characters in that film -- largely the same cast as The Last Jedi. However in this movie they've become one-dimensional and boring. I genuinely didn't care if any of them lived or died, and frankly by the end I was rooting for Kylo Ren to win -- as he's the only remotely compelling character in the whole movie.
I'm afraid this will probably be the last Star Wars movie I actually pay money to see. These characters have been ruined, and unless the next film is an absolute masterpiece, I'm pretty much done here.