[SPOILERS] Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoiler Talk

Let's all be real here, legitimate discussion about the positives and negatives of this movie is almost impossible to have without spoiling parts of the movie.

Let this be a thread for any in depth reviews or discussions of Episode VIII

 

Because I tend to ramble when I don't have structure, I'm just going to list my negatives and positives.

THE BAD

1. My number one: the "code breaker" sideplot and everything that came from it. Everything about it was either cringeworthy or unnecessary, from Rose and Finn's introduction to what I felt was very forced romance. And then shoehorning Maz Kanata in there. Some people say that it was a necessary tangent and to that I say that even if we take that to be true, they still did it poorly and could have done a much better job.
2. It really felt like this movie tried too hard to at every turn be like "Gotcha!" and pull another plot twist. It got really old and exhausting for me.
3. I know everyone is complaining about this and I sound like a broken record but the "Mary Poppins" scene should be addressed. Like I'm fine with the idea of Leia surviving and using the Force in that way but the execution just seemed off.
4. Snoke's death was fine, actually one of the highlights for me, but are we really going to just let it go like that? A minute of Hux's reaction and then we've forgotten Snoke ever existed. It didn't seem to have the proper weight. Which leads me to the next point...
5. It felt like this movie was stuffed too damned full with all of its crazy plot twists and random developments, to the point where some emotional or surprising moments were not able to sink in.
6. It dragged severely because of its convoluted and lengthy plot. By the time we got to Crait I was just ready for the movie to be over.
7. I cared little to none about the Resistance plot, and stemming from that, I didn't particularly care about Poe or Leia. It felt like just a slow, monotonous space chase to fill time while the plot with Rey and Kylo was developing.

THE GOOD

1. Hot damn, the development of the connection between Kylo and Rey in this Rey was one of the highlights of this film. That was really great.
2. Off that, the real twist of Kylo killing Snoke was satisfactory as well as the subsequent way he just continues to lust for power. Really threw anyone for a loop who thought it would be a repeat of Vader-esque redemption and I think defined him as a unique villain.
3. The fight against the Praetorian guards was great, especially coming off the twist of Snoke's death.
   
4. I really appreciated the humanizing of Luke in the film, particularly in his recalling of what happened with Ben.
5. The conversation between Luke and Yoda was a very wonderful touch. I thoroughly appreciated it.
6. They really just let the Resistance have it and get beat to hell, which despite my not really caring about that part of the plot was at least appreciated for realism.
7. Maybe a cop-out because John Williams is phenomenal, but the score was great. The smoothness of integrating old motifs such as the Imperial March or some of the Rebellion motifs from Endor into the new ones that Williams wrote for the new movies was beautiful. I also just got really giddy at how he used the same transition to bridge from the titles to the opening scene as he did for the original Star Wars.

For context, I think this was a good movie overall, but that it could have been much better. I liked the story but really disliked the execution for most things that weren't Ahch-To or Rey/Kylo. I put it at a tie with Revenge of the Sith, with Episodes 4-7 and Rogue One above and Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace below.