Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

  Has everyone seen this now?  Can we talk about it?  If you haven't, there are probably spoilers ahead (though I will try to be vague) so you might as well stop reading now and come back when you've seen the movie.

Rey (Daisy Ridley) is still training to be a Jedi while Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac) have made contact with a spy claiming to be within the First Order who has intel that Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is now collaborating with the "I Lived, Bitch" former emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).  Palpatine is still hellbent on achieving interstellar domination and has raised an entire army for Kylo Ren to take if he will just murder that pesky girl Jedi.  Or have the pesky girl accept her dark side and ascend to the throne, he's not picky.  Everybody else mostly gets short-changed.

Not going to lie, I had a lot of issues with this one.  I did not like the retconning of Rey's origins.  I thought it was much more egalitarian to have the Force just kind of pop up in individuals of any species or race, but they went ahead and turned it into a legacy thing.  I would have loved to see Finn progress and be recognized as a Force sensitive.  I would have liked to see Disney stop being fucking cowards about the Finn/Poe 'ship.  I thought the C-3PO sacrifice was rushed and extremely poorly handled.  There was no fallout and it should have been a major moment for a character that has been integral to the previous 8 chapters of this story.

There were things I did like.  Evil Marionette Palpatine.  Palpatine using Force lightning.  Evil Rey.  Evil Rey using Force lightning.  Keri Russell being smoking hot.  That little gremlin dude with the inexplicable Russian baby voice.  Did I mention the Force lightning?  I liked that part a lot.

I dunno, man.  I just kind of wish this had the same impact as season one of The Mandalorian.  Sure, that also had problems with pacing, filler episodes, and predictability, but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next season.  As for TROS, I'm kind of glad this saga is over.  Maybe now explore other aspects of this universe instead of just this one family's feud against the government.