An improvement over the last.

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2019)

As my review title says, this film is an improvement over Episode VIII, The Last Jedi. It's clear to see that Abrams has acknowledged the incredible wave of feedback from the previous instalment provided by Rian Johnson and made changes accordingly.
The acting is immediately a noticeable improvement, lines are delivered with more sincerity and emotion, additionally, there's a plot that doesn't involve something as trivial as a lack of petrol!
Not all is good though, the film felt incredibly rushed by way of its pacing, considering its runtime of 2 hours 21 it's quite odd. To me personally, it felt as if there had been an attempt to shoehorn 2 movies worth of story telling into 1 film, however it was noticeable that much of the content introduced in this movie wasn't all answered nor was it fleshed out enough, something I found that had left me somewhat mildly frustrated as the credits rolled. This is my biggest gripe with Episode IX.
I'd certainly say I enjoyed the film, however it didn't end the way I've been hoping it to end since The Force Awakens graced the screen on opening night!
On a final, positive note I think it's fair to say there is a welcome return to the Star Wars style of comic relief, certainly in the first half of the film, something that was discarded in the previous Episode and replaced with cheap, childish and slapstick comedy.
Overall a mostly enjoyable watch if you can excuse the rushed pacing of the film. I wanted to rate at 6.5, however it's whole numbers only and the lack of follow up on the topics introduced isn't really deserving of a round up to a 7.