Small font just in case....
Anyway, very short review - I liked it. Felt good and a nice conclusion to a saga, for sure it didn't leave a bad taste in the mouth like Game of Thrones. It was satisfying.
Some considerations here and there....
- I still think that bringing back Palpatine is lame and an admission of defeat, "we can't get this thing appreciated so let's bring back one of the most iconic villains of the story", but I like how they got it out right away. "You all know that Palpatine is gonna be back, I assume you expect a big reveal in the middle of the movie that will serve as no surprise at all... here, watch him 2 minutes into the movie"
- I guess in the time between movies Rey got skilled up and now we can assume she's a badass jedi uh? (see the first time we meet her doing all the cool training in the forest)
- Shallow me thought Finn wanted to tell Rey he loved her. Glad they didn't stick in another love triangle. But yeah, not mentioning it was bad storytelling, he wouldn't even have had to spell it out he's force sensitive, there should have happened a situation where Finn reacted to something or someone and Rey understood it with a surprise smile on her face and Finn could have just said "...that's what I wanted to tell you", she would have understood.
- Ah, the trope of the adorable scoundrel who left on bad terms with someone of the opposite sex with whom clearly there's a hate/love relationship.
- Wouldn't have been funny if C3PO got *all* of his memory restored, prequel trilogy events included? but after all it would have been very ham-fisted and gratuitous to have him say "oh, Darth Vader created me".
- What was the significance of Leia and Ben's bodies becoming one with the Force together? Leila was somehow operating through Ben when he came back from the pit to save Rey?
- Speaking of that, since the title was "The Rise of Skywalker", I really though Ben would literally rise from the abyss where Palpatine shoved him to kick his ass once and for all.
- Badass cameo from Luke, Han Solo's was a little more gratuitous but it was nice.
- As someone pointed out.... who knows what was written first, these scripts go through many drafts and changes, and hell, in late 2019 we see Carrie Fisher who passed away three years earlier, but "I have all the Sith with me" / "and I have all the Jedi" is totally riffing off "I am inevitable / I am Iron Man". Maybe it was written first, but it came out after, so everyone will think it's been "copied".
- When the new robot asked Rey what was her name, and she said "just Rey", I thought "come on, just say Rey Skywalker". Funny enough, that was the line that closed the movie, you kinda saw it coming but I still crossed my finger silently urging her with my mouth to say it. And when she said I celebrated like when your team scores
- Speaking of Rey's identity, I like that she's a Palpatine way, way better than the predictable outcome of her being a Skywalker or a Kenobi, but come on, what a cop out. To have her a grandaughter of someone who was never shown to have family or a relationship is basically like introducing an evil twin.
- As self referencing and fan pleasing it was.... come on, the final shot of Rey in the Tattoine desert was great. A nice ending going back to the movie that started it all.
- More generally, it was all nicely wrapped up with a bow, but in the end, wasn't Return of the Jedi like this? the protagonist redeems his father who kills the evil Emperor while the good guys defeat in battle the bad guys with no main casualties. Same here. But hey, this isn't Game of Thrones, death of protagonists was never to be anticipated.
- And finally.... am I a dirty and shallow old man for spending at least half of the movie thinking how I'd totally and gladly bone Rey? girl, you've been through so much, blow off some steam, you deserve it!Final non spoilerish thoughts... as I said I liked the movie quite a lot. I won't argue it's the best movie evah or the likes, if you want to point out anything you find wrong or cliched or predictable with this movie be my guest, I won't defend it to death.... I don't consider myself a huge Star Wars fan, I watch the movies and then I move on, I'm not invested like I was for example with Game of Thrones. I enjoy them for what they are, sci-fi movies and I don't see them through the lens of a dedicated fan who spent years rewatching them and following every companion movie or book or cartoon or anything else there is to follow.... and taken as "just a movie", it was great. Then again - I'm not gonna argue to death with someone who has a well presented and rational list of flaws, I'll probably agree. But I walked out of the theatre with a smile and a sense of satisfaction and that's all I could have asked for.