I guess it's "cool" to bash this movie. I will not partake.
I'm not a nerd star wars fan. I've never read any of the books, and have never cared about "canon". I've only watched the movies (many times) and played the video games back in the 90s. After the disappointment that was the Force Awakens, this movie was a pleasant surprise. There were several moments I thought were going to be cliche, but they were not. For example, when Luke walked out to challenge Ren, I was prepared for Ren to order everybody to hold their fire so that he could take him on "man-to-man". It was great that Ren ordered them to fire everything they had at him instead. Then when Luke survived that without without a scratch, I rolled my eyes at the notion that he would live through that barrage. I was prepared for them to have a Kill Bill-esq fight to the death like in so many other movies (Star Wars franchise included) and for Luke to be an absolute badass in it. However, it was a great change of pace that the whole thing was a ploy that also explained Luke's supposed invincibility.
I think the death of Snoke was brilliant. I'm so glad it was through cleverness rather than the typical duel where one guy grits his teeth and merely "wants it more". It was great the first time in Return of the Jedi, but it's been WAY over done since. I also love how afterwards Ren wasn't "turned" like Luke in RotJ and instead merely wanted control for himself. I was totally prepared for Ren to be a good guy after Snoke was killed (and I was about to accept it). But the path they chose was WAY better.
I loved how the plan to lose the tracker and then jump was a failure. The fact that they wasted their time on that was awesome. Then again their secret plan became a failure too. That sort of crap happens all the time in real battle/life. How many times do we need to watch the rebels pull off a intricate and improbable plan? Again it was great in RotJ, but has become WAY too formulaic since.
I'm tired of predictable movies where winning is little more than being better at karate (or the force). That's a lazy writing. This movie had smarts that has been missing in many movies.
I do wish Liea and Finn died. I assume Disney set that ground rule for future movies. I think the line about "saving what you love" like was cheesy as hell. But overall, I would put the movie right next to Rogue One and RotJ which is above the Force Awakens, all the prequels, and a New Hope. Only Empire is clearly above it (probably for nostalgia reasons on my part). I'm going to watch it again with my other kid in the next few days.