It's a great movie...

Rating: 2/10 (23 December 2019)

If you are a casual fan and judge it as a standalone movie. The visuals are great, the soundtrack is on point, and the scene is more intimidating than the last two movies. However, if we were to judge it as a part of a larger story that the movie ties itself to, then it is perhaps the WORST Star Wars movies in terms of plot. This is not a hyperbole. The movie is filled with retcons and bad plot twists that don't make sense and just exist for the sake of introducing a twist. Let us explore some of the bigger ones (This is going to be long so strap on)
***Spoilers begin here, read at your own risk***
1. Palpatine is alive. How? The movie doesn't actually tell you. The characters actually throw this question in the movie itself and it is answered with a non-answer. Yep, no explanation how the Emperor survived the explosion of Death Star II. It is so clear that his return is unplanned that the writers don't bother to actually explain things and just expect the audience to go with it. The main problem with Palpatine surviving, however, is something else.
2. The Prophecy of the Chosen One. One of the more significant elements introduced in the prequels is the prophecy of a Chosen One, born of no father, who will bring balance to the Force by ending the Sith. Qui-Gon identifies Anakin is such and his status as the Chosen One is confirmed by the Father who is essentially a Force God in the Clone Wars series after Anakin brings balance to his world. See the problem with Palpatine being alive? It retcons an established plot point from the first six movies and the Clone Wars. Turns out Anakin is not the Chosen One as he failed to end the Sith. Rey did. However, Rey isn't the Chosen One either because she has a father--who is going to be the subject of our next point of contention. So, who is the real Chosen One?
3. Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter. Yes, you read that right. The Emperor did explore the moist caverns apparently. Rey is the daughter of Palpatine's son who ran away from his dad for, you guessed it, unexplained reasons. This revelation came out of NOWHERE and doesn't make sense. The best way to describe it would be a cheap plot twist created in order to create a parallel to Vader's revelation to Luke in Empire Strikes Back. This brings the question--why did Anakin's lightsaber call out to a Palpatine? Palpatine is directly behind the suffering and destruction of the entire Skywalker family. We'll never know.
4. Palpatine's great flip-flops. At first, Palpatine wants Kylo to kill Rey. Then he shifts to wanting Rey to kill him so that he can possess her. He finally decides to drain both Kylo and Rey's life force just a while later and kill both of them. Confused? You will be.
5. Snoke's Origins is retconned. According to novels considered canon under Disney and the Force Awakens Visual Dictionary itself, Snoke was a rather important figure who had witnessed the fall of the Republic and the rise and subsequent fall of the Empire. The movie just trashes all of that and makes Snoke a cloned puppet that the Emperor created while experimenting in the Unknown Regions during his exile. The movie not only retcons old material but the new ones as well. So much for consistency and coherence of Plot.
6. Rey "accidentally" casts Force Lightning. Yeah, you heard that right too. At this point it becomes obvious that JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio only watched the OT prior to making the script for inspiration and fanservice moments. The line of reasoning is that since Palpatine is the only one to actually use it in the original trilogy, it must somehow be a trait unique to his bloodline. Sadly, that's not quite the case as the Prequels and the wider established canon such as the Clone Wars shows us. Force Lightning is a difficult technique that requires great knowledge and mastery of the Dark Side. Merely accidentally tapping into the Dark Side is not enough. Otherwise, we would've seen characters such as Darth Maul or Kylo Ren himself who are very strong and fully immersed in the dark side cast Force Lightning willfully at the very least. Another retcon or mistake on the writers's part.
These are some of the major problems I had with the movie. There are some other things that bother me like the Force being on steroids and used as a plot device in the movie along with how Palpatine assembled his secret fleet. The movie also unnecessarily make quite a few aims at its predecessor.
This is not to say there aren't moments that are well done, however. I personally loved the Reverse Han-Kylo scene where he throws away his lightsaber and reclaims his identity as Ben Solo by embracing the Light Side, Luke acting like an actual Jedi master, Finn playing an actual role in the movie and being revealed as Force Sensitive (a plot twist that's actually done right). The movie has its moments.
Overall, it is a good movie as a standalone. However, as part of the Skywalker saga, the movie is hardly satisfying and breaks a lot of preexisting lore and established plot points. As a long time Star Wars fan, I care about the plot of a Star Wars movie the most and the movie's utter failure to have a consistent and meaningful one greatly affects my score of the movie.