Perfect. This is exactly it. I’m convinced Johnson saw his primary role being to subvert expectations – over and above all other considerations – including what should always be his highest priority: making a good movie.

At every turn he always chose the cheap twist or surprise over deepening character, and that’s what ultimately relegates the film to only being middling fare.

And it’s hardly original – the only plot threads that weren’t directly lifted from Empire and Jedi were instead borrowed from other popular franchises: the First Order instantly finding the fleet after it jumped to hyperspace is directly ‘inspired’ by Ron Moore’s first Battlestar Galactica series episode; the connection between Kylo and Rey is, if we’re honest, copied from Harry Potter’s intimate connection to Lord Voldemort.

The rest is all too familiar.

1. Movie opens with rebels suffering a defeat & star destroyers suddenly appearing in orbit.

2. Jedi training on a primitive, mysterious world and a reluctant teacher, cave vision, pupil sees misleading vision of the future causing them to abandon their training and fly away early, ending in failure.

3. Imperial Walkers battling rebel speeders on a snow/salt planet, rebels dug into trenches… and it goes on and on and on.

Ultimately, critics are film fans not Star Wars fans, and Rian has hoodwinked them into believing that this visually interesting film is a brave new direction for the franchise, and not the Empire Strikes Back-sullying-rip off that it is.