Star Wars: Les derniers Jedi

After George Lucas's execrable prequels and the mediocre The Force Awakens, I've learnt to keep my expectations low for any new Star Wars films in order to avoid total disappointment. Having just seen The Last Jedi, it appears that I haven't been keeping them low enough.

The reasons for my loathing are the same as those noted in the countless scathing reviews here on IMDb, so I won't go into drawn out detail - suffice to say that the film frequently beggars belief, is massively bloated, defies logic and is full of misplaced humour (the worst moments being the horrible 'steam iron' gag and BB-8's handy coin launcher).

3 out of 10, solely for the impressive special effects. Writer/director Rian Johnson shouldn't be allowed within 12 parsecs of another Star Wars sequel.

The Last Jedi is a well-made film; it's visually stunning and well directed. The problem is that it singlehandedly ruined the sequel trilogy by closing the second chapter with a dead end. There are truly baffling character decisions, awkward humor, useless subplots - it's by far the most frustrating Star Wars movie because of the potential it had. If it were 20 minutes shorter, it could have been something special, but the last act sees our characters in the exact same spot as they began. As a standalone movie, it's watchable. As the second part of a trilogy, it's a disaster.

I really want to sit across from Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy and ask them honest questions:

1. Do you know what "heavy-handed" means?

2. In film school, or in any time in your career, did you ever learn about building tension, or making the audience care about characters, or continuity from a previous installment?

3. Is this a Star Wars movie or a Marvel movie version of Star Wars?

They spend so much money for CGI and budget. Can someone honestly answer, why they don't hire some of the best writers in hollywood? They have the cash.. Star Wars is a joke to them. RIP star wars

Picking up where The Force Awakens left off, Rey meets Luke Skywalker and tries to convince him to help The Resistance. He is initially hesitant but eventually decides to train Rey in the way of The Force. However, Kylo Ren also wants to track down Skywalker, and uses Rey for that purpose. Meanwhile, The Resistance are locked in deadly battle with the First Order and, while they have some minor victories, it seems like a futile struggle.

I'm not generally a Star Wars fan but to my surprise I enjoyed Episode VII - The Force Awakens. It grabbed my attention from the word go and held it all the way through. A rollicking adventure with engaging characters. Moreover, the blending of the old characters and the new was very well done, with the feeling that the torch had been passed to the new generation.

Unfortunately, Episode VIII doesn't come close to the engagement, novelty and adventure of Episode VII. Its essentially one long action-drama, with little in the way of engagement or originality. The Rey-Kylo Ren relationship had potential but went nowhere new or interesting and was snuffed out pretty quickly. Them possibly working together held my attention but the intrigue was short-lived. The movie simply degenerated into action sequences after that.

On the upside, no need to waste my time on Episode IX (Or X, or XI, or...)...