Having re-watched the movie recently for the first time in awhile, I can safely say I really love it. Now, it isn’t perfect, (no SW movie is), but it is still really good. I don’t hate Palpatine coming back at all, in fact I quite like it, I just wish that it was part of the outline back in 2014 so it could be hinted at in VII and VIII, but that’s entirely wishful thinking with hindsight. As mentioned by others on this thread, Exegol and zombie Palpatine are fantastic, and Snoke being an artificial creation of Palpatine isn’t a bad explanation by any means, better than not even being mentioned like in CT’s script. Rey being a Palpatine is fine, I didn’t like her being a nobody anyway, plus pointing out the reshot scenes is fun.

My biggest complaint is probably the cut scenes honestly. Unlike other heavily re-edited movies like Suicide Squad, the chopped up footage isn’t very extremely noticeable here, and alot of the cuts feel fairly natural or have creative transitions. The first act is by far the weakest and is also the most heavily edited, so that makes sense. Animatronic Maz doesn’t look the best, compared to CG Maz she moves far slower, but it is impressive the amount of detail they were able to give her.

Overall I’d give this movie an 8/10, it’s a fantastic end to the Saga and Sequel Trilogy, and is just a fantastic movie in general. It suffers from over-editing, but not to a horrible extent and the film still manages to carry itself. The characters are charismatic as hell, the locations are vibrant and more creative than in JJ’s other SW outing, and the villains are definitely more competent and threatening than in Episode VIII. Here’s to hoping we someday get some deleted scenes so we can make an unofficial extended edition.