So much fun!

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2019)

To clarify my position: I have been into Star Wars for over 40 years. I have watched all the TV series. My kids love Star Wars. Many of my friends are like me - we grew up loving these films. I don't like the prequel trilogy - no details, they just don't work for me. But, my kids love them. Fair enough. No concerns from me just because you like something I don't. I enjoyed Solo very much. I think the Last Jedi is a great movie. Now you know all that, here we go...
I saw this with my wife and children and my wife stated to me afterwards that watching me was as much fun as watching the actual movie. I laughed, clapped, fist pumped, gasped, tensed up and shed a a few tears during this - it drew me in from the opening crawl and when the credits rolled I was exhausted and very, very satisfied.
I wanted a movie that was fun, action packed, tied things up, paid homage to earlier films and didn't have any pretensions. I got what I wanted from this film - a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours that made me think fondly back to previous movies and my long, long history with Star Wars.
I agree with others that the first half hour is fast and very full of plot - but it worked for me, and when things slow down (a bit!) after that it's fun to see everything coming together. Is the plot a bit predictable? Of course it is, it's a Star Wars movie! Does that make it any less enjoyable, or vacant of surprises? Certainly not. I know enough about the Star Wars universe to guess / predict most things and it was very satisfying to see some of these borne out and others taken in different directions.
I felt that all characters were well handled. The focus was different from The Last Jedi - but so were the stakes and situations in this movie, so that is expected. I really loved all the references to earlier movies, all done with care and respect, and by all accounts, most of my friends feel the same way - my wife and children certainly did.
The epic feel to the final battle, the rousing score by John Williams and the utterly perfect ending all added up to make this, in my opinion, a very good end to the saga. I, personally, came away feeling very satisfied, happy and content. Well done JJ Abrams and Disney for doing my 40 years of fandom justice with such a rousing finale. Thank you.