Beats The Last Jedi at least.

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2019)

With so many 'expectation subversions' in Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, JJ Abrams had zero wiggle room to create a truly unique story. For much of what happened, there was really no other way of handling it, meaning much of the film feels slightly underwhelming.
However, the acting was brilliant - they finally nailed the character of Poe and Finn, and (for the most part) the Kylo/Rey dynamic - for me, their screen time presented the best scenes. The CGI is also epic; I feel we take that for granted nowadays. Lightsaber action was also great.
Not as bad as Solo, but there was still some awkward fan service and clunky dialogue, should we expect anything else from Disney at this juncture. My biggest gripe is the amount of plot contrivances and dies ex machinas in the last 30 minutes. But of course, there needs to be an obvious weakness our hero's can exploit... *sigh* - my friend and I imagined a better way to achieve the same result on the way home.
All in all, a fair Star Wars film and worth watching in a cinema. Surpasses TLJ by miles. But it's story is nothing against the original trilogy. Rogue One is still the best of the modern Star Wars.