I did not like this movie at first - I was wrong

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2019)

UPDATE (12/26/2019): I will leave my original review untouched below. However, I have just rewatched the movie, and without the weight of expectations, I actually really enjoyed it. I stand by my critiques below, but I have to admit that watching the movie as a whole, those nitpicks did not ruin my enjoyment this time around, and I actually felt great leaving the theatre. My opinion on the treatment of Kylo Ren in this movie stands - because I believe his role in the final act and conclusion of his character arc could have been handled better. But ultimately, I liked this movie a whole lot better than I did the first time, largely because I did not walk into the second viewing with the expectation that every little thing I ever wanted from this trilogy would occur. I went in as a fan of the Star Wars universe and lore, and I walked away satisfied. Therefore, I am doubling my original review score. Because a 4/10 came from a place of personal disappointment. And the newly updated 8/10 comes from my view as a fan, and not expecting my personal theories/predictions to come true.

For starters, let me explain that I am a huge fan of the sequels. I adored The Force Awakens, and aside from the Canto Bight scenes, I loved The Last Jedi. I am invested in Rey and Kylo Ren as characters, and I enjoy the dynamic between Poe and Finn. And I desperately wanted to like this movie, and if there was anything to latch onto to defend it, I would have done so.
However, this movie was not a satisfying conclusion to the arcs of the sequel characters, nor was it a satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker Saga as a whole. If we consider the film as three acts - the first act was rushed, but overall fine. The second act was highly enjoyable and showed the promise of the film. And the final act was convoluted, and had moments that should have bore great emotional impact, but made me chuckle instead because of how oddly they were executed.
Kylo Ren is my favorite part of this movie. Every scene that Adam Driver is in is stellar. And his interactions with Daisy Ridley's Rey are also well done. Unfortunately, I feel that during the ultimate "climactic" scenes, Kylo Ren is drastically underused, and I feel like this was an easily avoidable mistake, seeing as he was the most compelling characters in this trilogy (with Rey as a close second, all in my opinion, of course!). Though some of the "reveals" early on in the film were not necessarily what I wanted or expected, I was willing to accept them because they were still interesting concepts. The last act, however, was so weird and unenjoyable that it drowned out all of the things I liked about this movie. Without spoiling, one of the plot points of The Last Jedi was undone (but "kind of" explained away). Had this plot point been left the way The Last Jedi established it, it would have made the last words in the last scene of the movie have way more impact and emotion behind it. Instead, by softly retconning this particular plot point, it made the ending of this movie just seem to fall kind of flat.
It is not a spoiler to say that Palpatine is involved in this movie to some capacity. And for me, that is what completely ruined it. Very little about his presence was explained, visually he was unappealing, and his contributions to the movie's story only caused it to become convoluted and weird.
The last two movies were distinctly about Rey and Kylo Ren. And had this movie focused on those two characters (who had terrific performances in this movie!), then the movie may very well have been my favorite of every Star Wars movie ever. Had the *only* focus been on them, their relationship to the Force, their relationship with those around them, and their relationship to each other within the Force, then the movie would have been perfect. In fact, about 1/3 of the movie IS about that, and it is so good! But instead, the majority was about Palpatine and conquering the galaxy and certain new Force powers that never existed before, and it only served to make the movie weird and overly complicated.
Star Wars, as a franchise, has mystical and science fiction elements to it, but it was never necessarily "weird" in the sense that the powers and technology shown felt out of place. Everything always felt natural, and new powers introduced were within reason when compared to what we, as the audience, knew about the Force. Almost everything in the final act of this movie, for me, feels like it existed, not to add to the Star Wars mythology, but rather to make a generic "superhero movie"-like all-powerful villain moment. The setting, the Force powers, the fight itself, and the whole reasoning behind it was just weird when compared to the other movies in this trilogy. The Force bond between Rey and Kylo Ren shows new abilities, and that is neat. But the Force powers used by the big-bad just took me right out of the movie, because it just was not done in the beautiful way that Star Wars has always managed in the past. It felt sloppy, and visually, the CGI just was not great in those parts.
So I repeat, I LOVED about 1/3 of this movie, so it may even be generous to receive a 4/10 from me as a score. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley were excellent (even if I felt Rey had a few odd lines here and there, and some of the more prequel-esque "force jumps" and landings felt more like a Marvel movie than a Star Wars movie). John Boyega and Oscar Isaac were very good, and had their best performances of the trilogy. It is just a shame that those performances had to have been saved for this particular movie.
I went into this movie knowing it had poor reviews, but wanting so badly to come here to write a good one to help turn the tide. At the end of the day though, this movie just disappointed me in so many ways. I hope that other people watching it, like several of my close friends, can find more happy takeaways than I could. But as a lifelong fan, and someone who very much enjoys all of the movies, Episodes I-VIII, Rogue One, and even Solo.... I just couldn't bring myself to say that I liked this one.