The damage done from the previous film couldn't be fixed.

Rating: 5/10 (22 December 2019)

J.J. walked into a mess and all he could do is attempt to deliver an entertaining film. I can tell he tried to please everyone with a lot of fan service, and it can be somewhat pleasing. Although, there are A LOT of missed opportunities yet again. A bit unfulfilling as well (ahem Emperor Palpatine - it was so weird). Some really cool moments and some good scenes but overall it's like ten movies in one go and will be hard to follow if you're not immersed into the Star Wars universe.
Whether or not you'll think this is better than THE LAST JEDI or not will be up to you. The film does somewhat disrespect THE LAST JEDI in different ways, like for example where Force Ghost Luke straight up tells Rey that he was wrong and that she needs to preserve the Jedi, or Kylo wearing his mask again, which I didn't mind. I guess I did find it more enjoyable mainly due to the action and lightsaber fights, but ultimately in my opinion there was no fixing what was already done and what I feared we'd end up with, we got - a jumbled plot crammed in with multiple subplots, plus heavy exposition that is masked with fan service and pretty decent action. They absolutely went with nostalgia as it tries to mask the franchise's misdirection to get brownie points for the disgruntled fans. It kinda worked, kinda.
I commend J.J. for trying, because he was in a no-win scenario for this damage control. It's odd because, Kathleen Kennedy and Disney first disregarded George Lucas's original treatments for episodes 7, 8, and 9. Then they absolutely had some mandates to meet for J.J. back when they were about to film THE FORCE AWAKENS with an outlined trilogy, and as THE LAST JEDI began pre-production Rian Johnson completely ignored everything...and somehow Kathleen Kennedy let him do whatever he wanted. It does not compute in my head considering most of the behind the scenes drama involved directors and their creative choices, but Rian Johnson somehow managed to make the movie he wanted.
It's as if everyone at Disney/Lucasfilm had no vision or idea of what to do right from the start, and bringing in Emperor Palpatine shows that it was a last minute concept to throw in to please everyone who disliked the last movie. It didn't make much sense for him to be in the film and the way he goes out is a missed opportunity like I mentioned. In the finale, the film absolutely had a chance to have an intense two against one lightsaber duel now that Kylo Ren is redeemed. Instead we got a disappointing scene where Kylo is temporarily thrown into a pit, as Rey just blocks the Emperor's lightning with her lightsaber and redirects it back towards him. Again lots of potential wasted, and some of that also has to do with the creative choices made in the previous film.
I did particularly like Kylo Ren overall as a whole throughout these films, I liked his overall arc and that even though he fell to the dark side, he really truly wasn't there, it felt more consistent compared to our main protagonists as I felt a good sense of closure. I had no problem with his redemption, I actually quite enjoyed it. Also I liked how when he was redeemed, he didn't have any dialog as everything he was doing was shown through his actions. When THE FORCE AWAKENS first came out I didn't mind Finn and Poe, and I quite liked the that movie at the time, but now I just find them to be a nuisance. Daisy Ridley is fine as Rey though. She's a capable action hero and she seems like she's trying her best with what she was given.
We got nice cameos from Harrison, Carrie and Mark. Still a travesty that they never got together at least once. This film makes an effort to show Carrie's Leia as a Jedi, but honestly, it would have been way cooler if she was already a Jedi form the beginning of this new trilogy. All these new films could have at the very least taken some inspiration from the cancelled EU. Again, I'm not some fanboy who is totally bitter, because I understand the business side of film and I get you cannot always copy the source material, because not everything on page will work on the big screen, but I would argue for the fans of the EU (not all stories were good, but the ones that were are gems), Disney and Lucasfilm could have taken inspiration from them as the blueprint was right there.
I just wonder how we got here with STAR WARS...and what's next for the future...I'll get over it somehow...but I don't think I'll be anytime soon, similar to my sadness over Affleck and Cavill back over at DC/WB (yes I know the movies suck, with the exception of some, but I like them as Batman and Superman).
Also John Williams scored the crap out of this film. I particular liked the musical score when all the rebels showed up at the very end in their ships. Very well done.
I have the impression that critics will dislike this and fans will like it (especially if you disliked the pervious film), the opposite of THE LAST JEDI, where the critics loved and fans hated. For me I enjoyed the action and some of the nostalgia moments, but still very letdown by the opportunities that weren't taken and the muddled plot, but it is to me a better film than the pervious installment.
5.5/10