Just watch it without any preconceived notions!

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2019)

This was not a great movie but it was in my opinion the best they could do within a runtime with all that they were tasked with doing. This was not a sequel to a movie or the 3rd in a trilogy that needed to be wrapped up. This was the end of the 3rd chapter of a saga that has been loved by millions for 40+ years. Negative reviews are likely to be from long time fans who wanted to see the story follow a certain path. George Lucas was the underdog who stuck it to the studios by making the story he wanted and relying on visuals that didn't meat his own cause of limitations forcing him to be innovative and that's why the original trilogy was and is so beloved. The prequal trilogy was a continuation of Lucas' vision without any limitations and he was no longer the underdog, he was king of the mountain and was criticized brutally for it. The sequel trilogy is no longer Lucas. The things that made the original so great, the limitations and innovations no longer exist. The story is subjective. The canon has been re-written. The expectations are that Lucas' vision will complete the saga. That is not the case. Disney took a different approach and the fans showed their disgust. They needed a consistent story split into 3 movies but that's not what they got or asked for. These are the reasons this is not a great movie.
It is in fact a really good movie and a great end to the saga. The concepts that were suggested in The Force Awakens and thrown away in the Last Jedi in favor of bold story breaks had to be tied up. The holes left from The Last Jedi had to be filled in. These things were accomplished. The pessimism of Luke needed to be brought back to optimism and hope and it did that too. Lastly it needed to tie in Rey's lineage to be a plausible reason for her to be so strong with the force and give her an internal conflict to overcome and it did that as well. I think with more time or if addressed in the Last Jedi it would have opened up the possibility to learn more about her origins and the reasons for her strength but we got some glimpses in absence of more story points and I was ok with that. Remember how universally hated by the fans The Last Jedi was? It's not like they could just have a do-over so things needed to be addressed differently and I take that into consideration when watching this movie. Because of the lack of time (one movie to fix, continue, and wrap up 2 movies) we need to take some things not seen before as normal and if you can do that you will really enjoy this movie.
There are call backs that will give you goosebumps or even bring tears to your eyes. There are emotional scenes that will tie it all together and in the end there is retribution and sacrifice. It's too bad that The Last Jedi was made but it can't be unmade so with that in mind this completes the story and despite a few unexplained story points nicely completes the saga.