Messy, confused, and a sad Star Wars experience

Rating: 4/10 (25 April 2020)

"The Rise of Skywalker" was a film many had mixed feelings about. Some hoped it would fix undesirable elements of the previous film. Others felt it could continue a daring and unexpected route for the franchise. Regardless of where you stand, it's hard to argue that Rise of Skywalker succeeded in no task that made many happy.
The film overall just feels bland and uninteresting. Filled with moments of confusion and disorientment, it's no wonder many left the film confused as to what they watched. The amount of plot holes in the film are enormous and too difficult to count. Performances from the entire cast feel like they're grasping onto what little the script gave them, and the entire film feels like an apology for hurt feelings from the last film. The film instead of moving forward, moves backwards, signifying the little significance the newest trilogy has. Yet, it has a way of insulting the original trilogy and even the prequels by dismissing established lore set up in the actual movies.
The return of the Emporer felt incredibly lazy and Rey becoming another type of "chosen one" to embody all the lives of the Jedi makes no sense. Arcs completed in The Last Jedi reverse themselves and each character's significance decreases as each scene progresses. There is definitely an element to space adventure since there is a quest with an objective but no scene's essence is connected to who or what that character is. No scene feels like a piece of a cohesive whole and nothing builds momentum throughout the story. What changes characters do make feel unwarranted and undeserved. What risks the filmmakers almost take, they back track to ensure not to do anything that will have any consequences.
Visual effects however are stunning and this film may have one of the best sound design I've heard all year. Several technical abilities are on full display here that cannot be ignored and several actors are enjoyable to watch on screen. Unfortunately, it's not enough to save a project that was flawed by design. What's the design? There isn't one. If anything this film makes it clear that Disney did not have their design/plan mapped out. It's apparent they listened too hard to the non-storytellers and their complaints and tried to hard to appease their audiences. Instead of focusing on a story with a beginning, middle, and end, they chose to do what they do best: make money.
I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. It's not a terrible movie but for what the expectations are, I think it's a failure despite real genuine talent in front of and behind the camera.