When I drove to go see the new Star Wars movie, I was filled with much excitement. The Force Awakens left me somewhat disappointed when I left the movie theater last time because the movie was basically a blanket imitation of A New Hope. I still enjoyed the movie, but I wanted the story to be more original and I believed that this new Star Wars movie would finally live up to my expectations. However, sadly, I was once again, disappointed.

There were many issues that I had with the film, but one of the biggest issues for me was the fact that this movie was so similar to Return of the Jedi. The parallels between the two movies were very obvious, and it even seemed like they used the same script in some scenes of The Last Jedi. Luke Skywalker sensed the conflict in his father Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, and when he met the Emperor, Darth Vader finally left the dark side and turned back to the light.

In The Last Jedi, Rey sensed the conflict in Kylo Ren, and Kylo killed his leader and master Snoke, but instead of turning to the light, he continued to walk the path of the dark side. Now even though this part is a little different since Kylo Ren did not return to the light like Darth Vader, it was so predictable that Kylo would kill Snoke just like Vader killed the Emperor.

There is one scene where Rey and Kylo are in an elevator on their way to meet with Snoke, and if you go back and watch Return of the Jedi, there is a scene where Luke and Vader are in an elevator on their way to meet the Emperor.

It is almost the same exact scene in the new movie, and this bothers me. I do not want to see a new Star Wars that simply imitates the old movies. If Disney was simply going to imitate previous films, then I do not see why they made these movies. They might as well have said that these movies were in fact remakes rather than new movies.

Another issue that I had with the film is the terrible character development of Supreme Leader Snoke. He was supposed to be very powerful and very strong in the force, and yet he could not see that his own apprentice was going to kill him. Snoke was a very interesting villain and it always seemed like he was one of the strongest villains in the Star Wars universe. However, rather than learning about who Snoke was and how he rose to power, we see him for five minutes and he ends up getting killed by his weaker apprentice.

This was one of the dumbest decisions that the writers made when developing this movie, and I will never understand why they did this. The writers could have revealed that Snoke was actually Mace Windu or someone else that used to be in the Jedi Order, and it would have been a shocking reveal. Now, we will never know his origins and he was simply a waste of a good villain.

I also do not understand why Rey is a natural prodigy when it comes to using the force. She is already a skilled Jedi without having much training and this does not make sense to me. Anakin was clearly knowledgeable about the force and had the potential to become one of the strongest Jedi ever, but he still needed to go through training in order to really develop his powers, unlike Rey. I do not like how Rey is basically as strong as Kylo Ren, and I do not agree with the writers’ decision to make Rey’s parents insignificant characters in the film.

Her parents should not be vagabonds that abandoned her, they should be people that were trained in the force at some point. This was another opportunity for a huge surprise in the film. I do not like the idea that anyone has the ability to become a Jedi, which is what it seems like the writers were trying to demonstrate in this film. This is just a personal preference, but to me, this takes away from my belief that only certain people have the gifts to be a Jedi.

There were a few other issues that I had with the movie as well, some of them being General Leia (rest in peace) being able to fly through outer space even though we never saw her really develop her abilities in the force, Luke dying after making a projection of himself on another planet (would have preferred if he got killed some other way, this was a disappointment), and the inconsistencies in the story about Luke and Kylo Ren. In Force Awakens, it was clear that Kylo had other Jedi help him destroy Luke’s Jedi school, (the Knights of Ren), but in The Last Jedi, the Knights of Ren are never even mentioned, and all we see is Luke try and kill Kylo in his sleep. This explanation about why Luke was in exile was rushed and it was not explained thoroughly.

Lastly, I do not understand why Rey went into the dark hole when she was “training” with Luke on his island. This scene was supposed to resemble Empire Strikes Back when Luke went into a dark cave and he fought Darth Vader.

The difference is that Rey did not find out anything when she went into the dark hole, all we saw was Rey look at herself and make music with her fingers. This scene was so insignificant and unimportant, unlike when Luke killed Vader in the cave and Vader ended up being Luke (this was significant because it showed the audience that Luke and Vader were connected).

This was huge because when Luke found out that Vader was his father, the scene in the cave made perfect sense. I do not understand why the writers had Rey even enter the dark hole when it did not do anything to help the film.

Overall, for me, this new trilogy has not lived up to expectations. So far, all I’ve seen are replicas of the original Star Wars movies, and these replicas have not been as good as the originals. I am in no way faulting the actors in the movie, they can only say what is written in the script.

I think that Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, and all of the other actors in the film are doing a phenomenal job, I just wish that the writing was better. I hope that the last episode of the trilogy will be the best one, and honestly it should be, the writers have already copied all three original movies, so now they have to write new material.