It feels as if all the previous SW movies were a training run for this one.

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2019)

Episode IX was better than I thought it would be, and the best since the Original Trilogy. It really does attempt to be the promised big, satisfying wind-up to the whole series of 9 (11?) SW films. My pros and cons:

I'm guessing that "and I am all the Jedi" is going to join "and I am Iron Man" as a tagline that will live on for years to come.

Bravo to Daisy Ridley! Her character Rey was almost sidelined in The Last Jedi (boo) but, thank goodness, she's back center stage for this one. Ridley really committed to this role and brought a nuance and maturity to it that made it stand head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. Like Luke in the Original Trilogy, Rey develops continuously in character from the beginning of A Force Awakens to the end of Rise of Skywalker. Her acting goes well beyond what's necessary for a movie that is essentially a splashy spectacle.

The visual spectacle is extraordinary. I saw this on an IMAX screen and that's certainly the way to do it; all the incredible detail in the background pops out and gives the whole thing a level of texture that no previous SW film has had. When you add in the thunderous score, the 2.5-hour experience is a sensory assault that might leave you wired for hours afterwards. But isn't that why people come out to see it?

The obligatory "cute droid" scenes were there, but thank goodness they were minimal. There's only so much I can take of R2D2 vibrating and beeping.

Many scenes act as callbacks to the Original Trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) or replays of the same events with new players. This could be thought of as lazy storytelling if it's done badly or mechanically, but by and large I thought these were effectively done. It made the frenetic planet-jumping travelog structure of the plot a little easier to deal with.

Once in a while, the dialog actually rises to the level of normal adult conversation. (This is NOT meant as a compliment.) Most of it is very, very predictable. With all the money spent on making this film, why can't they afford scriptwriters who can actually do something complex, witty, engaging? The kids in the audience would enjoy it just as much and the adults would get a lot more.

Like the previous films, a lot of first-rate actors in the cast are colossally underused: Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Dohmnall Gleeson, are little more than cameos. Even Adam Driver himself. who plays Kylo Ren, didn't use anything like the full range of what he can do.

And just like the previous outings, certain scenes just tip over into being ludicrous. Cavalry riding over top of a spaceship --- guys, really? (How do you even get all those horses there?) and bows and arrows against a Star Destroyer?

But the bottom line is that you get your money's worth. There's loads to occupy your eye, the plot makes enough sense to carry things along, and the ending is pretty much just what it should be.