A good movie that validates the criticism i had with TLJ

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2019)

The movie was a pleasant surprise to me considering how little expectations I had after TLJ. While it has its flaws, I do think that the movie is good in the context of what it was meant to achieve. I personally think it's best to view it from two points of view, as a standalone movie and as a part of a trilogy
1) Standalone Point of view:
The movie was way too fast paced. Scenes jumped from one plot to another with very little slow moments. There were too many moments where the characters had to figure out how to get to a location, within 5 seconds they coincidentally get the answer from someone/something nearby. It felt unrealistic and lowered the sense of adventure. But on the positive side the fight scenes were amazing, Rey was both amazing and human, and characters work great when they are together (among the best in the trilogy)
2) Viewing in the context of the trilogy
When you look at the context of the trilogy, many negatives mentioned above can be explained because JJ had to undo so many plot resolutions that Ryan (movie TLJ) made. From the first scene of the movie, it was clear that the movie attempts to fix many parts of TLJ while also trying to pitch a conclusion to the trilogy. Plot on Rey's parents are redone, a training arc for Rey was included, and a final villain had to be reintroduced because the original final villain (Snoke) was abruptly killed in TLJ. However this meant that both Snoke and the "final villain" felt rushed and not properly explored. Also, the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fisher meant that JJ had to create rethink some scenes in the movie using previous unused footage of her too.