An incredibly disappointing end to The Skywalker Saga

Rating: 1/10 (1 January 2020)

I saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker last night. I've been thinking all day of how best to share my thoughts with a non-spoiler review. My opinion hasn't changed overnight: this is one of the worst movies I've seen in recent years. ROS isn't just the worst "Star Wars" movie, but one of the worst movies I've seen in years. Starting right after the title crawl, this movie just took off at a frenetic pace. There's an INSANE degree of exposition that occurs within the opening minutes and it just keeps on going at this breakneck speed all the way to the credits.
After the first hour, I gave up any expectation of satisfaction as there was no way a film could explain everything that happened in the first 2 movies of the sequel trilogy (The Force Awakens & The Last Jedi), AND all the questions the film prompted in its first and second acts. Due to pace, the film just blew right by and didn't even bother trying address any of those lingering questions. This is a recurring issue with this film, it simply moves too fast. It looks as if a series of cut scenes from several Star Wars video games were assembled into one big long scene and the plot was developed afterward. After the second hour, I honestly began to wonder if Abrams had just packed in as much as the budget allowed to spite Star Wars fans for vocally disliking the Disney Star Wars films. It's truly bizarre to consider this film was Disney's biggest title of the year?
One thing I confirmed after watching the film: JJ Abrams is a horrible storyteller. He had thousands of books, video games and comics he could have borrowed from, but he chose to go his own way and it shows. I've heard others describing this film as a hot mess and I'd agree that it's surely that's an accurate summary of the film. The film is simply an absolute mess that almost defies description.
I know that so many others like me (I was 9 yo when I saw Star Wars in 1977) and this film punctuates how these Disney Star Wars movies pale in comparison to the originals. I'm guessing that many are eager to see the film for themselves as I did last night, but you should know how disappointed you're likely to be upon leaving the cinema after watching such a weak ending to a 40+ year pop culture phenomenon.