"Never be afraid of who you are".

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2020)

Much like the episodes 'The Force Awakens' and 'The Last Jedi', I'm left with sort of a ho-hum feeling about this last picture in the Star Wars franchise. It's certainly got it's share of now familiar characters and monumental action scenes, but somehow it didn't seem enough. It felt like the film makers tried to cram in as much story as possible into the picture, but in so doing gave us some confusing scenarios that don't gel very well with the past. The return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is one example, and that was a pretty major one. Internal consistency is also a problem, when someone like Rey (Daisy Ridley) can maintain an epic power struggle with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) over the escaping air ship, but then has to exert herself climbing a rock face later in the picture. Why rely on human strength when you have all this mystical ability at your command? I did like the nods to the original players in the Star Wars saga, as the writers found a way to bring back Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Lando Calrissian. That was essentially a given knowing that the nine part series had now reached it's finale, and that sort of tribute was well deserved. As one who's been around as long as the franchise, I'm pretty much happy and satisfied that the story has run it's course fulfilling George Lucas's original mission. But if you want the real magic you have to go back to 'A New Hope' and relive how it all began.