An honest opinion from a long time fan.

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2019)

I don't get the hate, because I loved every bit of Rise of Skywalker from start to finish. It's fun, exciting, dramatic in parts, emotional and contains several genuine funny moments (Babu Frik is hilarious and awesome!). The movie is quick paced as JJ tries to fit two movies into one but it never left me confused. Not everything is explained but it doesn't need to be, why anyone needs ever to make perfect sense in a fictional universe is beyond me. The Emperor is back, ok, it's not explained how, ok, is Ian McDairmid still awesome, yes. Easy as that. The Rey/Kylo stuff that was the best of The Last Jedi is taken up a notch here and you can see where JJ wanted this story to go all along and he gets there with some big fights, and even bigger emotional payoffs. It worked for me. Just be entertained, if you're not, then don't go see it because it wasn't made for you. If you need to be overly analytical then just go back to whichever Star Wars movie you prefer and continue to pretend they are perfect. This was made by people that are clearly Star Wars fans and this is the last hoorah for those that have stuck with it with for all these years.