The YouTube personality The Critical Drinker panned The Last Jedi for a variety of reasons, one of which was that it, in his opinion, was guilty of the character assassination of Luke Skywalker. Indeed, his video essay on "Why Modern Movies Suck:They're Destroying Our Heroes" criticized several movies, justifiably in my estimation, for deconstructing characters who were previously portrayed as paragons. While I don't truly disagree with the Drinker on this, I do consider his take to be quite hypocritical given his praise of Cobra Kai for transforming Daniel LaRusso from a paragon to an anti-hero. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If something is a flaw when a woke movie or show does it, then it doesn't cease to be a flaw in a movie or show that isn't woke.
That said, Luke going from a paragon to an anti-hero is a flaw of the movie but is isn't the most egregious flaw. Its most egregious flaw was that it was more interested in setting up a sequel than telling its own story. I agree that the Holdo Maneuver doesn't make sense but I also think CinemaWins and Patrick H. Willems are right that Holdo had a good reason for keeping Poe Dameron out of the loop. (Though I do think this movie should have explained Snoke.)
It's disappointing that the Finn side plot went nowhere given that he's a much more interesting character than Rey ever was.
That said, there were good things about this movie. There is some merit to acknowledging the legacy of the Jedi as a legacy of failure and Kylo Ren killing Luke was a good scene. Ren killing Snoke for insulting him shows just how petty he is and his seizing the throne for himself instead of turning good (to Rey's horror) is an excellent repudiation of the idea that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". I also like how it eliminates the possibility of Ren redeeming himself by sacrificing his life to defeat a greater villain the way Vader. (Unless the sequel does something stupid like bring Palpatine back to life.) And, despite what it does to Luke, I like Ren's backstory.
The frustrating part of this is a dying Luke, in his final moments, speculating that Ren is redeemable. The movies really should have closed that door by now. This movie does a good job distinguishing itself from the original trilogy and for that it deserves praise above the previous film but unfortunately that isn't the highest bar to set.
That said, Luke going from a paragon to an anti-hero is a flaw of the movie but is isn't the most egregious flaw. Its most egregious flaw was that it was more interested in setting up a sequel than telling its own story. I agree that the Holdo Maneuver doesn't make sense but I also think CinemaWins and Patrick H. Willems are right that Holdo had a good reason for keeping Poe Dameron out of the loop. (Though I do think this movie should have explained Snoke.)
It's disappointing that the Finn side plot went nowhere given that he's a much more interesting character than Rey ever was.
That said, there were good things about this movie. There is some merit to acknowledging the legacy of the Jedi as a legacy of failure and Kylo Ren killing Luke was a good scene. Ren killing Snoke for insulting him shows just how petty he is and his seizing the throne for himself instead of turning good (to Rey's horror) is an excellent repudiation of the idea that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". I also like how it eliminates the possibility of Ren redeeming himself by sacrificing his life to defeat a greater villain the way Vader. (Unless the sequel does something stupid like bring Palpatine back to life.) And, despite what it does to Luke, I like Ren's backstory.
The frustrating part of this is a dying Luke, in his final moments, speculating that Ren is redeemable. The movies really should have closed that door by now. This movie does a good job distinguishing itself from the original trilogy and for that it deserves praise above the previous film but unfortunately that isn't the highest bar to set.