Don’t have to tell you, I’m sure, this movie has already been dissected to the point where I don’t have anything to add to its analysis. I’ll just give my feeling about it: I didn’t really like it that much. I’m in the “this is just non-stop fan service with a messy plot and questionable character motivations” boat. Many people love this movie and would disagree with me on a lot of points of contention, and that’s just fine. I’m not going to try to change anyone’s mind about the movie.
To briefly summarize, this concludes a three-movie arc where living-the-simple-life Rey (Daisy Ridley) gets pulled into an outer space conflict between the Sith-backed First Order and the New Republic (the governing body set up following the rebels’ victory in Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi). Rey’s journey has some parallels to Luke Skywalker’s adventures, which is why she sought him out in Star Wars: The Last Jedi for some mentoring in the Force.
Rey, with some old and new faces showing up to help, have a final showdown against a reconstituted Emperor Palpatine with the fate of the galaxy on the line.
The rating I give it is based on the good work by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver (as Kylo Ren) delivering serious performances inside what is often a jerky maze of diversions, humor that falls flat on its face, head-scratching decisions, overly-busy CG, and pacing that shifts between Kyuzo-speed and bantha-speed. “Mess” is the word that keeps coming to mind when thinking about this movie.
