Quite alright

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2019)

I liked the end. Of course, it wasn't as suprising as the original trilogy was, but I guess that is just the fate of sequels... the idea just isn't new anymore.
I liked the contributions to the old trilogy. It is, in a way, history repeating itself. People being people and not learning from the mistakes of the elder generations. The same struggles, the same hopes. And in the end: the balance of the force.
Spoiler alert: it has been shown already in "the last jedi": Ben/Kylo and Rey are completely equal in their power, they are both sides to the force. After killing Snoke, both try to reach for the light saber... non of them gets it, instead, it breaks in the middle. Why do people say in their critics, that Rey is stronger than everyone else? It is just not true. She wins the fight with Kylo on the broken death star, but only because Kylo gets distracted by Lea.
After all that has happened, the movie ends with the perfect balance of the power. Both materialised sides of the force, the Skywalker and the Palpadine bloodline, come together and unite both sides of the force to bring back the balance of the force to the galaxy.
The rise of Skywalker is a figure of speech. Even though he dies in the end, Ben rose as a Skywalker in the final scene. His personal development made the final victory possible.
The movie was fast and furious, yes, but not irritating. I had no problems in following the actions. The character building has been done in the previous part (where -except in the entrance scene - there was absolutely no big fight between the good and the bad side). This part was about bringing the balance back to the galaxy - the final battle.