Well. That pretty much blew The Force Awakens out of the water.
Did not have the Wagnerian story line or iconic characters or action of The Trilogy.
Substituted a rather brutal war film. That might as well have been The Thin Red Line or The Guns of Navarone or Apocalypse Now only, you know, set in space and with lasers.
That scene of Vader going space wizard pimp on the Alliance was incredible.
Clearly a #4 in the series here. A little *too* big and loud and exploding for me, but that is just the nature of these films nowadays.
First time I'd welcome an addition to the series since 1983.
Had the same problem as the climax of The Return of the Jedi, on the other hand, with roughly four simultaneous plot/action points going at once at the climax, and the editing for something like that has to be so delicate, but that is roughly a nitpick.
Some fan service, but nothing indulgent, unlike the clip show that was The Force Awakens.
8/10