It gives us a host of cute aliens, robots, and tech generally. It provides spectacular visuals which, of course, we expect. This film addresses NONE of these questions except in the most unsatisfactory way. Who is Rey and why is she connected to the Force? Why did Kylo Ren turn rogue? Who is Snoke? How did his connection to the Force arise? Why does he have those hideous scars? How did he get his hooks into Ren? What does Finn do next? The Last Jedi opens with a terrific action set-piece - dammit, Poe IS a hotshot flyboy! - but then we want to have some questions answered. The Force Awakens successfully passed the torch to a new generation, but left many unanswered questions. You don't have to look too closely to see echoes of The Empire Strikes Back, though. Does episode VIII avoid that accusation? Up to a point. The Force Awakens, episode VII, was a huge commercial success, but was - fairly - accused of revisiting the story from A New Hope.
I must start by saying that I hate togive spoilers, but it is difficult to assess this film fairly without doing so to some extent. Their only hope is Force-newbie Rey finding hermit-like Luke Skywalker and persuading him to pass on his Jedi knowledge to a new generation. General Leia Organa's small resistance force has been discovered. The New Order has the Republic, now the Rebellion, on the run. What we got is a film that tried to be thoughtful but instead became portentous. The film needed to be sharper, it needed a story that was zippy.
Finn might be impressed by the high class casino full of wealthy arms dealers when searching for the master code breaker but Rose schools him on the inequalities of life. Finn (John Boyega) the ex-stormtrooper teams up with a clever mechanic Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) to go aboard the enemy ship after first finding a master code breaker to disable their tracking system.
With General Leia (Carrie Fisher) sidelined, there is tension between impetus hot shot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) as to how to evade the First Order firepower when you are running on fumes. Then there are the resistance ships being hunted by the First Order. Rey of course wants to find out more about her parents but she is also psychically linked to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) who himself struggling with his own identity on the dark side.
Rey (Daisy Ridley) who has the element of the Force about her meeting Jedi master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who has become embittered and reluctant to help the rebels or Rey although he senses the Force is strong in her. At times you feel an air of The Empire Strikes Back here especially when you see the Imperial Walkers in the desert and the rebels being on the run.
Just as The Force Awakens made you feel that it was a loose remake of Star Wars: A New Hope. It is also overlong, flabby, takes an age to get going and at times feels dull. In terms of visuals, The Last Jedi is the best looking Star Wars film, shiny bright, wonderful use of monochrome and then adding splashes of red in the climactic battle.