I have mixed feelings about this one. From the perspective of it being an action packed popcorn munching movie with beautiful effects and graphics, this one does pretty well. From a story telling and acting perspective there are a few glaring omissions and mistakes. Maybe we're just spoiled with the edge of your seat story telling of series like Game of Thrones, but I don't think it's a pass overall, even though there are some elements that did pan out quite well. I know people will probably resent speaking ill of the dead, but pretty much all the scenes with Fisher felt unnatural and clunky, slowing the pace of the movie way down. They were just uncomfortable to watch. Hamilton was however a treat, and it's unfortunate he will probably not be returning.
It's not about the physics being out of whack either. It's Star Wars, so they can get away with pretty much everything. I didn't care that ships were within in visual range and couldn't hit each other. I did care that a lot of plot twists and devices felt manufactured and unnatural. Crystal creatures fleeing inside a dark, confined space with larger humanoid creatures they're not familiar with, ending up being the saving grace? Really? Being inaccurate for the sake of immersion is fine in a space opera. Being inaccurate in an attempt to fill horrible plot holes is just a shame. I have trouble understanding how a company with effectively bottomless pockets would end up with this story. They should be able to afford the best writers there are and then some. The endless back and forth with the fleeing group being nearly destroyed and then saved again, only to rinse and repeat a few times didn't work well. The story should have ended with the planetary escape. If they weren't safe in space and weren't safe in a heavily fortified base, they're not going to be safe escaping with the Falcon again. The big final also felt a lot less climactic than the escape in space, with the former feeling tacked on. Regardless of the storyline, it felt like a second and unnecessary ending. What I did like were the main characters being a lot less black and white with human doubts and mistakes, doing the Marvell routine a bit, but making these villains and heroes a lot more believable.
The effort to include all sorts of different elements and story lines was noted and mostly appreciated. I understand that Disney has to include as many things as they can to appeal to the broadest audience they can and don't mind some of it falls flat on its face. Obviously, the weapons trading planet didn't really work all that well, but was welcome as a social commentary. The Minions style creatures on the island were obviously designed to sell stuffed animals, but not as annoying as Jar Jar. The comedy was toned down a bit compared to The Force Awakens, which is very welcome. I'm not sure the ramming of the enemy fleet at light speed was inspired by Star Trek, but as a science fiction fan I appreciated that reference regardless.
All in all I don't regret going to see this movie in the cinema. As a fan of Star Wars I so very much wanted to like this movie a lot, but if I'm honest to myself, it does leave me wishing. I'd say a solid 8/10 or 9/10 for graphics, effects and production value, and 3/10 or 4/10 for the story and some regrettable acting.