Could have been great

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2017)

I really enjoyed this movie, despite its many flaws. Anything under 5 stars is just neckbeard edgelords trying to be cool.
Aside from the prank phone call near the beginning of the movie, most of the humour was great, and got genuine laughs from the theater. The action was fantastic, though, most of the universe's physical laws change from scene to scene, which does get distracting. The galaxy has definitely shrunk since episode 4-6, they cross the galaxy in a matter of seconds rather than days.
The plot was far from airtight. Okay, it was a sieve with a few holes you could fly the falcon through, but overlooking that, the emotion and character arcs were what really hit home for me. I think they took too much from Rogue One, however, it felt like they had characters needlessly sacrificing themselves just to get more of a gut punch, but it didn't need to do that, and it started to feel cheap as the hours went on.
It's also long. 150 minutes long. I think with the help of a better editor, they could have trimmed a lot of fat, and tightened things up. As it was, my row was a constant stream of people going back and forth for bathroom breaks in the second half and my back was killing my by the end. It also had more endings than Return of the King. This is probably a result of having too many characters, and splitting the party.
All in all, it won't stand up to much scrutiny or nitpicking, but if you go into it looking for a fun star wars movie, you'll have a good time. Bring some tissues, too.