I am honestly surprised to type this, but if that's the summary, it honestly doesn't sound that bad to me. Disclaimer: this movie has to attempt to wrap up the series and follow the disastrous TLJ, which has pretty much ruined the series. So, this movie is never going to be perfect in any way. It's a damage control movie. But, does JJ at least attempt it?
- Showing Rey training and messing up is good. Showing Rey die at the end is good, since she's been a Mary Sue forever.
- Explaining Snoke's origins is good. The explanation isn't super great, but they had limited options after TLJ disaster.
- They had to wrap up with a villain since TLJ ruined Snoke. The only option is The Emperor. It's pretty dumb, but JJ honestly had no options left.
- Having Kylo turn good and rediscover his identity is good. At this point he honestly has to. He is the last Skywalker, and you can't bookend the whole 9 movie saga without his redemption since Luke is dead and TLJ ruined him. JJ pretty much has no choice here. Having him speak to Han is fitting, since that is unforgivable. Showing Han forgive him is about the only way to do it. It's really the only play left for JJ.
- Introducing a new general instead of Hux is good, since Hux is a loser.
- I think the ending with Kylo dying and reviving Rey is okay-ish. Kylo gets redeemed, but still dies, which is what most everyone expected. Rey actually dies, which shows she's not a Mary Sue and is weaker than the Emperor, so that's good. I don't like that she takes the name, but at least she literally has Ben's lifeforce and essence, so there's that I guess. And Leia and LUke will doing the ghost parent shit too. For this to work the execution has to be good, so I guess we'll see. And having her choose her name is a fitting ending to the sequel trilogy honestly, after two movies of her wondering who her parents are and then finding out it's Palpatine. She basically ends her arc by deciding it wasn't important, and she chose who was important to her and honored their name and finally found her identity. It's more about her finally deciding for herself that she doesn't have that gap anymore about wondering who she is.
I wasn't blown away by TFA, but I liked it. TLJ is an abomination. It seems JJ is trying to fix the wreckage. I mostly just feel a bit bad for him. Seems like he had few options. Not sure if I'll enjoy any of this or not. Pretty much over this whole cast and trilogy.