Does a good job on its own, but differs a bit from the trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2019)

I think a lot of the critique is somewhat unjustified. I really dislike episode 8 and that's maybe why I can see past this movies flaws. They kind of introduce a new take with new ideas, while trying to tie up loose ends.
Therefore the story is very fast paced and feels a little rushed and messy. Fortunately the story is pretty focused without a lot of side-stories, but overall falls a little flat, since it introduces new stuff instead of really following up on the previous movies.
They added some much needed depth to Rey, which could've been even greater if introduced in one of the previous movies. Also Ben/Kylo is portrayed more like Darth Vaders "heir", whereas he's been a little underwhelming in episode 7 and 8.
This movie does a fine job developing these two characters, given what little time there was. Wish they had more screen time to add even more depth.
The ending is fine, could've been more, but does a decent job on tying everything together.
All in all there's some great new storytelling, but parts of it could've been divided througout the whole trilogy and elaborated, instead of being cramped up in a single movie.
Good on its own, but a little lackluster ending to such an epic saga.