A Star Wars finale devoid of vision

Rating: 4/10 (19 January 2020)

As I stand I am both a fan of JJ Abrams's safe but yet fun Force Awakens and Rian Johnson's divisive yet very engaging Last Jedi. But after I saw Rise of Skywalker, I found it to be neither fun nor challenging and felt like it was a piece of lazy plot-driven fan service.
JJ Abrams's style of creating rich character dynamics and quick pacing are what helped make the Force Awakens work for me. But in his second (and possibly last) Star Wars film that is meant to be the finale of the new trilogy, his weaknesses as a director are put more on display. While I feel a little bad that Abrams was put in a tight corner after he had to follow-up from Last Jedi that goes against his own filmmaking philosophy, his over-reliance on mystery and nostalgia made the experience feel very jarring.
My biggest complaint is the writing and pacing of this film. The editing is very clunky and weird in the first hour of the story as it feels like it is rushing to get to these big plot revelations that ultimately don't matter to the story. And by having a rushed first-act that just introduces a series of pointless macguffins, Rise of Skywalker denies giving any substantial character moments to setup anything meaningful. The script by Chris Terrio (writer of Batman V Superman, another plot-heavy, convoluted film) and Abrams, acting as co-writer, felt like it was engineered to pander to anyone who complained on the internet about Last Jedi or even Force Awakens. I was shocked at how desperate it felt the movie was at trying to please everyone rather then have a unique artistic vision. And it doesn't help that Abrams relies even more on replicating so many iconic moments from the original trilogy that it makes it feel devoid of being a conclusion to what Force Awaken started. I would almost give them credit for trying to set up some interesting directions with the First Order and Rey's family lineage but would later resort to a safe and bland formula to avoid angering fans. Despite the stakes of the plot being very high for this final film, I barely felt any investment as almost every character seemed to be protected by plot-armor to just deliver exposition and make stuff happen so other stuff could happen.
The Kylo Ren and Rey relationship still is the positive highlight of this mess of a movie. Both Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley are given everything into their performances to sell characters even if the script isn't doing them any favors. The internal conflict they each share is the only thing that I felt was close to being a believable character arc. Oscar Isaac becomes the film's scene stealer as the surprising comic relief and is given some solid backstory into his character Poe Dameron. Unfortunately almost every other actor like John Boyega, Billy Dee Williams, Domhall Gleeson and Anthony Daniel's C-3PO are given so little to do that feel like glorified extras. Even newcomers to the trilogy like Naomi Ackie, Keri Russell and Richard E. Grant are presented as interesting characters that film doesn't know what to do with.
If you enjoy this movie as a Star Wars fan that is fine but as someone that prefers well-told and interesting stories that work on their own, I found myself feeling very confused and frustrated after I walked out of the theatre. It is a movie not worth ranting about but does not give anything worth praising.