Doesn't Live Up to The Force Awakens

I liked the movie, but I didn't love it the way I did The Force Awakens. There was no single moment in The Last Jedi that stood out, or moved me, or gave me chills. TFA had a few such moments. I left TFA thinking “I want to see this again immediately.” I left TLJ thinking “I guess I might watch that again some day.”

Spoilers Ahead: there were too many moments that felt faked. Laura Dern’s character seemed only to exist in order to make us wonder “is she bad?” and to justify Poe, Finn, and Rose’s side-plot. But— why didn’t Dern simply tell Poe her plan? Or reasure him that she at least had a plan? She had no reason to act the way she did beyond giving the filmmaker a reason to send characters to the casino, and later onto the enemy ship, and to make us think she may be a villain.

I was let down by the scene when Finn is about to sacrifice himself to save the rebels. We’re set up to feel something, but then it’s negated when he survives. Same for Leia’s seeming death. Johnson seemed unable to generate true emotion and instead relied on “cheating” like that to give the film depth it lacked.

I have the same gripes as many others regarding Luke’s behavior, Snoke’s impotence, Phasma’s underuse, and the dismissal of the heretofore key plot point of Rey’s parentage. I’m still holding out hope that Kylo Ren’s statement was a calculated lie, told in hope’s of turning her to his side. I think learning she’s a Kenobi would bring the entire 9-film arc to a satisfying, full circle close, but any appropriate denouement will work. Her being a random doesn’t work.

I know it sounds like I must have hated the film. I didn’t. I’m shocked that it wasn’t scripted more tightly, and wish it had at least one chills down my spine/ tears in my eyes moment, but it was still a credible Star Wars film, and probably ranks 5th out of the 9 (I’m including Rogue One) films on my list.