The Rise of Skywalker
Firstly, I think a lot of people were ready to hate the film before it even came into cinema and were going to be very negative from the get go. My advice would be to go out and watch the film with an open mind. As a big star wars fan myself I enjoyed the film very much and it has to be taken into consideration that JJ Abrams is a different producer entirely than George Lucas with different ideas and concepts. Abrams delivers with this overall very satisfying conclusion to the saga which ties up all the loose ends from previous installments.
Great nostalgia with Palpatine especially giving the film a terrifying threat for the heroes to overcome. The Palpatine re-introduction was done so well and it was the most dark, sinister and frightening thing I've witnessed in star wars ever. Seriously it was chilling. Certain characters' relationships could have been explored more (Finn and Rey) and at times it felt like the plot and the amount of storyline and characters (40yrs+) worth was hard to contain at certain points.
The acting was great with Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) and Ian Mcdiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) stealing the show for me. Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) were again great at mixing comedic elements to then taking the action to a more serious tone quite seamlessly. The droids with some new characters were brilliant all each with an important role to play, and appearances from other classic star wars actors/characters were welcome and did not overshadow the newer cast but instead supported them superbly.
The special effects were amazing as you would expect from star wars and the scale of the battles in the movie were almost breathtaking. I again loved the representation of Palpatine in the film and all the sith lore involved, not to mention his entire fleet of destroyers submerged underwater. The effects really contributed to making the sheer size and strength of Palpatine's schemes fitting for a finale to the saga. The ending felt a tiny bit rushed but most importantly there were no gaping holes in the plot left as there were in previous films.
I will say there is a lovely nod to another iconic star wars scene in the last moments of the film that was a great touch. This was a great send off for the saga, with high stakes and it was action packed throughout to retain attention. Lastly the handling of Carrie Fisher's death was spot on with Leia being produced brilliantly in the film and you get the sense everything she did had so much more meaning in terms of closing the saga.
Final Verdict : 7.8