Reflecting on The Last Jedi

So a little cousin of mine is old enough to watch Star Wars, and heard about episode 9 from their friends. Yesterday, they asked about it, and we weren't going to watch the first 8 movies, so I suggested she at least watch episode 8 so she could see some of the consequtial setup for ep 9. (She's 8 years old)

This was the first time I watched The Last Jedi since the theatres. I remember leaving the theatre impressed by the visuals, but unsatisfied with the outcome. In many ways it reminded me of Attack of the Clones, and told myself to wait for the series finale, give it a chance. When ROTS came out, I grew to appreciate AOTC in all of its weaknesses.

Having now watched TLJ a second time years later, I'm still feeling like it's dissatisfying. I think Rey/Kylo dynamic was still a highlight, and it's a visually and musically stunning film. That said, there's a few things that still make me feel this level of dissatisfaction.

I imagine these have been observed before, but I wanted to share this while it was fresh in my head, and see if others have revisited the movie recently and felt similarly?

1) heros are incompetent learning from failure

the theme of the film is certainly centered around learning from failure, which is a great life lesson. Each character in the film fails multiple times... Rey doesn't convince Luke to join the fight, doesn't turn kylo. Finn/rose fail to stop the flagship first order vessle. Poe's insurrection fails. In the end, maybe only Poe shows he's learned something, but there's a deeper issue with all this I just pinned down.

I noticed that almost every character basically shows levels of incompetence that weren't part of their core character in order to fail... In other words, it's like no one does their best, and still fails in spite of those efforts. Finn and Rose naively roam the casino with no plan to find the codebreaker. Poe engages Holdo in really incompetent ways (where ij Force Awakens he's established as this effective leader). Rey makes no real attempt to persuade Luke or Kylo, just pleas and observations, not someone hardened by many years as a junk trader in a rough environment.

All this is to say that I feel like the characters are incompetent, so when the movie shows them saving the day at the end, I'm just disconnected from those characters who suddenly show competence...

What's important is the 8 year old basically saw nothing special about these characters, and largely tuned out part way through.

2) crappy moments for the force

there's many moments of dissonance as we see new force powers being demonstrates...

Leia's moment could be pretty cool, she's a bad ass force user! but literally no one mentions she just pulled off the impossible pulling herself in from outer space. Luke shows up as an apparition at the end, but Leia apparently doesn't notice this despite her and Luke's ability to detect each other across space.

Luke's life is sapped from a very impressive feat of the force, but somehow has enough strength to sit upright and fade into nothingness.

Rey effortlessly lifts an enormous number of rocks when we've been led to believe there's a lot of mental exertion needed to pull this off.

Yoda summoning lightning and tampering with the real world was called out by my little cousin. (How can a ghost do that?)

3) non sense military actions

There's moments of the film that demand the idea there's a strong chain of command, well trained forces, a competent military. (Rebel and first order commanders insisting on structure). Yet, throughout you see many examples of incompetence or bizarre tactics. (I.e. how are any of these leaders in positions of power)...

The bombers at the beginning... There's no gravity in space. yet the plan is to float them over the dreadnaught, and they leave their entire fleet vulnerable in the open without taking an evasive action..

The slow chase... The 8 year old, unprompted, ask why not order more of ships elsewhere to intercept the rebels up ahead? (She's right, remember ROTJ, close in on multiple sides right?).

The Holdo maneuveur has no explanation around it (maybe them linking to the lightspeed gave that ship a special way to behave like a bartering ram?), and seems like a lifetime for the 1st order to take evasive measures.

Anyway, revisiting the film was interesting, and I just remain bummed that the sequel trilogy didn't live up to it potential. I'll see if she wants to watch ep 9 next, I'll keep these observations to myself so I can let her enjoy the movie in whatever way she decides.