Keeps the foot on the pedal until they run out of hyperroad?

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2019)

The last installation of this new trilogy starts out feeling very messy. The movie picks up the pace straight away and for the first half of its duration it doesn't lift its foot from the pedal. The effect is that whereas good story telling would require buildup, suspense and surprises being satisfied with explanations, the movie opts for simply squeezing the plot into a time frame it can't possibly fit. Much of what happens we never see the characters truly react to, because there simply is no time for them to do so before jumping on to the next major event. For the same reason many of the characters are pushed entirely to the sidelines to make room for new (or old) ones, and the point of having them there in the first place is not obvious.
Half way into the movie the tempo changes somewhat. The main focus of the story becomes clearer and we get a return to the connection and inner conflict between Kylo Ren and Rey as their story unfolds. The story has us visit places that act as beutiful and eerie backgrounds to it playing out, and so the second part of the movie is rather more enjoyable than the first.
The lasting impression however is that nothing has been said or shown that was not apparent in the first trilogy. The liberal message about choosing who you will become is the exact same as in the first trilogy. So while the movie is somewhat enjoyable and entertaining it does not attempt to really send a new message or tell the audience member something really new, which makes it rather forgetable.