Well I have managed to see Rise of Skywalker after all, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite Star Wars movie, but there were several things I think it did quite well, and it was entertaining throughout. In terms of being a good conclusion to the saga, I think that while it was no Endgame (although I doubt that’s something we’ll ever see pulled off again, at least in the near future), I felt it brought the franchise to a satisfying conclusion nonetheless, and wasn’t particularly displeased with how they ended with anyone. Overall not the greatest of Star Wars films, but still a thoroughly good film and a strong ending to the saga in my opinion.
There were still a couple of things that bugged me about it though. I thought the whole Rey/Kylo Ren kiss was weird, and while I was annoyed they killed Kylo off and would have preferred him surviving, it probably would have been even weirder has they done that, so if I could I would change it to no kiss, both live. Also, I agree with
@Aginor in that I was bit disappointed with how they changed Rey’s backstory to her being Palpatine’s descendent. I really liked the whole “you don’t have to be related to something to make your mark thing” as well, and besides the initial shock reveal of the fact, it doesn’t really add much to the film, so they could have easily taken it out and kept the good “it’s about you not your parents” line going. I didn’t mind the whole “changing her surname to a Skywalker” thing though - that felt more natural and didn’t contradict the message from the last film; instead it was more about being part of the family, so I would happily leave that in. None of this things particularly spoilt the film in anyway, but they were still slightly annoying nonetheless.
If nothing else though, I think we can all agree on one thing - it was about bloody time Chewie got his medal!
