How is it even possible that it's this good?!?

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2019)

Well, where do I begin? First up let's get one thing straight; it's a film. It's not something that's capable of creating world peace or curing cancer, so it shouldn't be on any kind of weird pedestal.
Of all the Star Wars films that have been made the pressure on anyone to make this one must have been phenomenal; the third of the new troubled trilogy, a major cast member who was not killed off in the previous film but has sadly passed away in real life, ludicrously over-the-top backlash from crazed and obsessed "fans" over the previous instalment to appease and somehow correct while avoiding creating a messy story, a film that specifically must include a whole list of things to even exist as a bonafide Star Wars film, enough plot twists to make it not entirely predictable, and to exist as the finale of 42 year old film saga that means so much to literally millions of people.
So it's fair to say that from the outset it's basically an impossible task, to create a film that achieves all of these things and in a good way. In fact just agreeing to make the movie deserves a big round of applause and a medal for bravery. If you disagree with me so far, you should stop reading now.
If you're still with me, you probably agree that the internet is sadly a place more people come to moan than to rejoice, and that alone is the explanation for the stupidly low score this film currently has (6.9 at the time of writing).
For me, a 10/10 film is something like Shawshank Redemption or Jaws. Basically flawless films, neither of which had faced anything like the challenges listed Rise of Skywalker did when they were being made. So there's no way it can realistically get a 10, the highest sensible score it could get is probably an 8 or a 9.
As a life-long Star Wars fan, I was really looking forward to this film, more than any previous Star Wars film.
And as a genuine film fan (by that I mean someone who goes in to films not knowing anything about it) I simply hoped that the film would at the very least be good, so that I can enjoy watching it with my son and daughter once it's available to own.
I'm so pleased to be writing now, 2 days after watching it, that it definitely exceeded my expectations. In fact I even found myself thinking "Wow, this has now exceeded my expectations" several times throughout the film. But that's probably because whilst I'm a big Star Wars fan, I also have a reasonable and balanced view of what's possible. And I also went in open minded and not knowing anything about it.
Most of the negative reviews seem to be from hardcore "fans" who, for some unknown reason, read all the spoilers and leaked information prior to seeing the film. If these idiots can't work out that if anything is going to ruin a film it's knowing what happens in advance then more fool them.
I was surprised several times throughout the film, pleased with how things were being wrapped up and moving towards its conclusion. And pleased that the story centres firmly around the characters that matter. It also did a good job of politely sidelining the less successful characters from previous films (Rose).
It also did something that genuinely surprised me by the end; made me fond of C3PO again! For some years now he's annoyed me but he was so well handled in this film it was a joy to watch, he even managed to get me emotional at one point!
In fact I cried three or four times throughout the film, once from an emotional moment of fan service, the others all from emotional moments relating to the story itself.
Thinking back on it now it really only fails on one level; to make critics, hardcore obsessed fans and the general film-going public all happy. But seriously, was that ever going to happen?
Well done JJ and the team. In my opinion, a huge success, given the immense uphill battle you and the team faced when undertaking the challenge of making this film.