Welp, this is how it ends . . .

Rating: 6/10 (17 February 2020)

Not a bad movie, considering the negative word-of-mouth as of late. I've heard it said over the years that the right audience can make or break a movie, and I had just the right people. My wife and daughter really seemed to enjoy this movie, and I let that color my impressions unabashedly. Babu Frik, Lando, Kylo Ren's opening rampage; there were moments I got into because of the people sitting with me. On that basis, it falls in line with J.J. Abrams' usual passable blockbuster, and on this particular Sunday morning, it wasn't bad.
But Sweet Jesus, this movie has problems.
Right out of the gate, it's apparent that Disney did not have a roadmap for this sequel trilogy (and desperately needed one). Now we have have J.J. Abrams feverishly trying to repudiate The Last Jedi with every move. Then again, we also have his manic plotting and fetch quests running at full tilt. Not to mention his overt fascination with "moments" and callbacks to the Original Trilogy. We had plenty of that in The Force Awakens, now's your chance to slow down and let things breathe as we close this saga out.
No dice.
I know I sound like an Abrams hater -- but I'm not, I know what I'm in for with every one of his movies. I just think he was the wrong choice for this job. As much as I love the middle chapter in this latest series, the handling of the trilogy as a whole was haphazard from the beginning. I'm as susceptible to nostalgia bait as anyone (that trailer for the new Ghostbusters was incredible), but this is like weaponized member berries.