Thoughts on the Rise of Skywalker - probably spoilery

I went to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker last night. My thoughts below are likely spoilery, so if you don't care for that, then look away.

Generically, I loved it.

Less generically, I think it was everything the last Star Wars movie needed to be. It created a circle -- and in fact there were a few moments throughout the film that I thought, "This is a lot like episode 4. You have new Han (Poe), new Luke (Fin), and new Leia (Rey). You have old Chewie, R2D2, and C3P0. And so your intrepid group of friends must defeat the dark side and make a way for the Jedi to triumph.

But it's not simply a retelling of any of the other movies. There are twists.

And laugh if you want, I even think having Palpatine return is a decent twist. Some have said it's the sign of not knowing what to do with the storyline, but if that's the case, then all writers should have this problem, because I think it was just what we needed. We didn't need a new villain. We had Snoke and he was still basically the same anyway, so why not go back and see where Palpatine's plot from the very beginning -- as in The Phantom Menace beginning (as much as it pains me, this last movie made those 3 necessary. Which I mean, great. But at the same time, I know it means my kids are going to start watching them again and...yuk.) -- was headed and is ultimately thwarted.

Kylo Ren is, hands down, my favorite character arc in these final three movies. It was exactly what it needed to be as well and is really the first time (at least that's immediately coming to mind) that a Star Wars movie had true redemption. People have always either been dark side or light side and that was kind of it. And okay, sure Darth Vader/Annakin ended up sort of that way, but his always felt more like a deathbed conversion than true redemption. Kylo/Ben was headed toward a life on the right side of things -- he didn't necessarily know he was going to die, he made the change with the intention of living and doing right, not as a last ditch effort to save his soul.

I am mad that they killed him. I get the great sacrifice blah blah blah. But dang it, this romantic needed Kylo and Rey to get their happily ever after. If anyone EVER earned it, it was the two of them.

Of course, if they'd done that, future writers would probably have screwed it up like they did Han/Leia. So maybe it's for the best.

I think some people were surprised by Palpatine being part of the end, but I (and others I know) have been speculating that Rey was, in fact, a Palpatine since she came on the scene. So I think it was natural to just go there. And to have the irony of the Skywalker (Ren) being the Sith and the Palpatine (Rey) the Jedi. And then, of course, to have the two of them unite on the side of light.

All in all, I loved it. Other than not killing off Ben, I honestly wouldn't change a thing. And I feel like anyone who's bitching and moaning about it being terrible needs to get over themself and remember that all of the Star Wars movies -- like literally ALL of them -- led up to this playing out the way it did. To want something else is akin to having Frodo get to Mount Doom and change his mind and join Sauron.