From a long time Star Wars fan...

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2020)

I grew up with the original trilogy. I saw The Phantom Menace on opening night and loved it! I was surprised by the terribly negative reviews that followed. The next two movies didn't fare much better. Now reviewers are bashing the latest trilogy and putting episodes 1-3 on a pedestal... what a joke. Do they think we've forgotten? We're supposed to forget the latest trilogy because it wasn't exactly what they envisioned? We're told that this trilogy isn't cohesive? I disagree. Yes, some minor storylines were not further developed in the final movie but the major themes are there and they carry thru all three movies.
So I've come to two overall conclusions:
One... people will never be fully satisfied with the ending (this story at least) of a massive franchise like Star Wars. In their mind they could have written it better.
Two... people have a problem, for whatever reason, with a powerful female Jedi. To me Rey was a great addition to the Jedi Order. Her backstory was not perfect, but fine. People claim that Rey went into these final battles untrained but I don't think they understand the timeline. For the Resistance to build back up there had to be several months if not a year or two between the end of The Last Jedi and this movie. She trained briefly with Luke and then under Leia for an unspecified amount of time. Though, it appears she trained with Leia at least as long as Luke trained with Yoda on Dagobah, possibly longer. In an early scene Poe (I believe) even referenced Rey spending too much time on her Jedi training.
Anyway, to me The Rise of Skywalker had it all. It felt like a Star Wars movie... great action, great lightsaber battles and use of the force, funny parts, sad parts, tie-ins to the past... I could go on.
Bottom line is, watching this movie I felt all the emotions I did as a kid watching the originals. Clear your mind from the hate of the dark side. Give this movie a chance and may the force be with you.