I've seen TRoS twice now and really enjoyed it both times. First, I'll get to the few small things I'm not keen on:
1) Palpatine came from nowhere. I don't have an issue that he returned, his dialogue is fine and his ending is good (more on that later) but I think there are a lot of ways his return could have been brought into this episode. Here's one:
We see Rey poring over the Jedi texts and trying to decipher some of the script. Suddenly her force connection with Kylo Ren kicks in and Ren spots something he recognises from a recurring dream or vision. "Come with me." Rey refuses and they both go looking at the same time but Ren knows where to look for Vader's wayfinder and gets there first. He doesn't know what he's going to find on Exogol and is shocked that it is Palpatine.
2) The sudden appearance of hundreds/thousands of resistance sympathisers. "...no one is coming" was the line in The Last Jedi. But then suddenly this lot do all at the same time? Why did some of them not come back sooner and if they were going to come back (e.g. Wedge) why did they not respond to Leia's call? Poe says "People will follow if we lead them." But clearly Poe is not the inspirational leader Leia was - so how did Lando and Chewie manage it? And isn't victory far less likely now they know Palpatine is back?! It might have worked ok if, for example, the First Order had managed to block their responses and everyone was waiting to find out where they had gone after Crait.
3) “Dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew." This line should have been spoken by Maz Kanata. I like Dominic Monaghan and I'm fine with him being in the film but he should have either been introduced as a new member of the resistance, or he should have played a different part. Also Beaumont is doesn't sound like a Star Wars name!
4) The Kiss. Not necessary at all and it felt weird and jarring to me.
5) Chewie's dead! No he's not. C3PO can't remember anything! Oh, R2 has a backup. Rey is dead! Oh, Ben's brought her back to life. As the end of the Skywalker Saga I'd have been fine with any of these things happening. Alternatively, don't put them in if you're going to undo them!
But that's it and none of these stop me enjoying the film. Now here are a few things I really like:
1) I thought the effects and dialogue used to bring Carrie Fisher into this film worked really well. I managed to get involved in the story enough that during those parts I wasn't trying to see the joins or work out where the lines came from.
2) I didn't want to see Kylo's redemption particularly but it was done really well with Leia using the last of her strength to get through to him.
3) Ben Solo was awesome: shooting and shrugging like Han and sacrificing himself for Rey. As usual Adam Driver was great.
4) Chemistry between Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewie and the droids. Lots of good moments and it gave real emotion to the reunion at the end.
5) Luke's return was done well and I don't think it went against The Last Jedi. In TLJ Yoda said "Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned...The greatest teacher, failure is." Luke then went and did the cool force projection thing. Luke learned from his mistake and didn't let Rey make the same one.
6) Rey's power. It makes sense (as much as any of star wars does!) that she held the power of all the Jedi. She didn't know quite how to wield it all and was tested throughout the film. Right at the end, the Jedi called back to her and gave her the strength she needed.
7) Luke and Leia's sabres. Sidious knew that Anakin's offspring would be a threat to him. I like to think that because they're twins, they could only defeat him together and that is why Luke was training Leia after RoTJ. Now Rey had their sabres and their power and it was too much for old Palps.
8) New characters Jannah and Zorri Bliss - both fitted in neatly and well-acted.
9) Force sensitive Finn. I like that he has some force sensitivity and so does Jannah. I was always had a bit of an issue with the luck and made sure Finn, Poe and Rey were on Jakku all at the same time but I think I can accept that "all is as the force wills it".
10) Rey flies Kylo's Tie Fighter and Luke's X-Wing. And Poe flies the Millennium Falcon (although I don't really get why Chewie has never been promoted to MF captain!).
At first I didn't like the Rey Skywalker bit but now I like to think that it's because Ben gave his life to Rey. Han didn't have a family name so Ben could have claimed Skywalker as his own if he'd survived.
I think I have the ability to just sit back and watch it rather than conjure up what I think should happen and then get annoyed when it doesn't.
