Oscar for "Best rescue attempt of a franchise"

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2019)

This movie seems to have got either really low or really high ratings - nothing in-between, which ironically means it gets an overall 7/10 (at Time of writing)
Truth is JJ Abrams has performed nothing short of a miracle given the damage that Rian Johnson did with TLJ, so much so you can pretty much skip Johnson's movie altogether.
Carrying so much baggage from TLJ it cannot be judged in isolation. Abrams clearly tries to retell the story he originally wanted for Ep 8 and 9 in a single movie, fixing, sometimes clumsily(but how else?) much of the damage Johnson did in TLJ.
Abrams was never going make a great movie, but it's certainly not a bad one and deserves the 7/10 rating average. What is clear is that JJ Abrams cares about Star Wars and most importantly the about the fans, and I think he did the best he could to do right by them with this film. And it is a poke in the eye to Rian Johnson, which should be good enough reason for any true fan to go watch it.
The great testament to The Rise of Skywalker is that I came out of the cinema with my two young sons with smiles on our faces, rather than the stunned silence and disappointment we had after TLJ.