An unsatisfying end to a disjointed trilogy

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2019)

I went into this movie with neutral expectations. I'd seen a lot of people say it was bad and I'd seen a lot of others say it was good. Sadly, I'm afraid I fall into the former category in that this is easily my least favorite of the sequel trilogy.
Let's start off with talking about the Sith Troopers and the Knights of Ren. Y'know, those new bad guys that are being marketed all over the place. Yeah they have about probably 5 minutes of combined screentime in this movie and that screentime is utterly underwhelming. The Sith Troopers do pretty much nothing to differentiate themselves from regular Stormtroopers and only show up at the very end of the movie. The Knights of Ren on the other hand at least have the decency to feel like a presence throughout the film but their final confrontation with Ben is super disappointing. These guys are supposed to be his elite bodyguards so why do they all end up dead in less than a minute? Snoke's Praetorian Guards they are not.
Speaking of Kylo Ren, his fate by the end of this movie is disgraceful. Kylo Ren is by far the best new character introduced in this trilogy. Adam Driver has done a great job portraying him and he's been one of the most consistently good aspects of these movies. So what do they do to him here? They finally have him turn to the light, only to almost completely ignore him during the climax. Seriously, he doesn't get to do anything in the final battle with Palpatine, Rey showboats the entire sequence. And then came the scene where I completely checked out of the movie, the single most profoundly insulting moment in the entire trilogy. Ben Solo, the last of the Solo and Skywalker line, dies to save Rey. After all the effort his parents went through to turn him to the light, you gave him about 10 minutes of being a good guy before killing him to save the worst character in the trilogy. I'm actually speechless. And the worst part is that nobody cares. He doesn't show up as a force ghost and he doesn't even get a funeral to honor his heroic actions. What an utterly insulting end to a great character.
This movie successfully made me hate Rey. Before this I was actually able to tolerate her, she was still annoying at times and felt a bit too strong too quick, but I didn't dislike her. After this though? I never want to see her again. Her taking the Skywalker name was a strong runner up behind Ben Solo's death for the single worst moment in the movie. Rey should've died killing Sidious, it would've been a poignant end to her story and Ben would finally be able to work with the Resistance towards fixing the things he broke. That would've been a far better ending than what we got. But no, screw Ben I guess, who cares about him when we have Rey Skywalker Palpatine, empress of the Mary Sues.
The climax also felt surprisingly anticlimactic. Literally the only major character to die was Ben, everyone else makes it out unscathed. Seriously? This is the end of the trilogy, start bringing in some stakes.
There's obviously some good parts to this movie. Rey and Kylo's dynamic was great, there was some good humor and the action was pretty awesome at times. But it really is all dragged down by the awful last act.
This is all the more painful because I didn't hate this trilogy like a lot of people did at this point. I enjoyed The Force Awakens and there were aspects of The Last Jedi that I really liked. I wish they hadn't switched directors in the middle of this trilogy because, while it wouldn't have solved all of its issues, it at least would've felt more consistent.
What really sucks is that now that I know how badly it ends, it's going to be a lot harder for me to go back and enjoy the previous two because I know most of what I'm invested in doesn't get a satisfying payoff.
I honestly think this may be the most disappointing movie of the year for me.