Disappointing but better than no Star Wars!

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2019)

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker: Starts off nice and dark, the Emperor Palpatine is still alive! Kylo Ren slays multitudes to get his hands on a Sith Wayfinder and thus locate Palpatine. But the dark Monarch reveals that he had shaped Ren to bring him to the Dark Side! Ren then undergoes a temptation: Palpatine will give him a fleet of Star Destroyers if he kills Rey! By the way there is a secret about Rey... Too many bloody secrets in this film: Finn has a spy in the First Order! Meanwhile Rey is working on developing her control of the Force and on fighting techniques with the Light Sabre. Ren is able to affect her abilities through telepathic contact, Anyway Rey, Finn, Chewie et al head off on a quest.
I just feel that I've encountered all of this before, secret family links, a Jedi undergoing training, even races with speeders, causing the pursuers to crash. Some good Light Sabre duels and spaceship battles but nothing new. One bonus is that we get to see the wreckage of the second Death Star which crash-landed on a planet. Plenty of adventure and quests across the galaxy but the film is overlong and could easily lose 20 minutes in it's running time. Director/Writer J.J. Abrams delivers a disappointing conclusion to the Star Wars sequel trilogy. We need more like Rogue One and Solo! 6/10