Further, it’s not that the George Lucas “Star Wars” movies were perfect to begin with, and that creating romantic relationships and humor were never his strong point. And yet, whatever their faults, all six of the his “Star Wars” movies expertly prepared the audience for a defining moment at their closure where the stakes couldn’t be higher. How would “old man” Kenobi fare against the imposing Darth Vader (even in the latter’s powers seemed limited compared to those he displayed at the end of the recent “Rogue One”?) Could the seemingly innocent Luke Skywalker survive a confrontation with Darth Vader? Would he be able to prevail in a later rematch with his father? Even a Darth Maul or a Count Dooku made for formidable challenges and despite what the prequel detractors may say, at no moment did the stakes feel higher as when Yoda faced a pre-Emperor Dark Sidious in “Revenge of the Sith,” even when we could easily anticipate the result of their confrontation before it even took place.

It is in the absence of these type of relevant confrontations where the mediocrity with the new “Star Wars” lies, something that derives directly from its new characters. The First Order is menacing enough but nothing more than a Galactic Empire 2.0 which still consists of movie Nazis in space uniforms (it would even seem they share tailors with their predecessors). Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron and Vice Admiral Holdo are all reasonably good characters, but none that could be called indispensable. The new Emperor, embodied in Supreme Leader Snoke, did seem like a frightening figure for a while, that is until he failed to learn anything from sneaky Kylo’s love for pulling out hidden light sabers (see Han Solo’s demise). Snoke’s demise is a genuinely unexpected moment in a movie that mostly follows old formulas but when he leaves the picture, there’s no one to be too scared of anymore. Kylo Ren’s complex, three-dimensional heavy with daddy issues doesn’t make for an imposing “Star Wars” villain. Maybe his writers should ask themselves what Darth Vader would do under certain situations once in a while. I suppose that’s why “Rogue One” has been the best new “Star Wars” movie. At least they got the villains right. If you are going to rid yourself of an iconic character such as Han, Yoda, Vader, Obi Wan, you better make sure there is a worthy one ready to take his place.

On the other side of the Force, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker now has inconsistencies of his own as the movie hints about his dishonesty regarding the events that surrounded Kylo Ren’s turn to the dark side. His rejection of the Jedi ways feels much too contrived and these new traits damage our memories of the great character from the earlier movies. His death scene is beautifully crafted, with obvious parallels to other classic demise scenes such as Obi Wan’s (sacrificing his life for the young rebels) and Yoda’s (in its look). But it comes from exhausting himself to death by tele-transmitting his presence in a big duel with Kylo Ren (who should have guessed something was off since he was doing the exact same thing with Rey earlier in the movie). I’m sure Tele-transmission via the Force must be really exhausting but it hardly feels like a worthy ending to the person who was perhaps the central character in the saga.