They did well with what they had

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2019)

I really enjoyed Rise of Skywalker and I was prepared to be disappointed.
I can, however, see why others are disappointed and frustrated. This movie packs so much into it that the story doesn't really flow as well as it could have.
The plot twist and big reveals are very much shoehorned in to make the ending worthwhile, but it does feel forced and unnatural even though the reveals are quite interesting.
I do feel this movie does cop some unfair treatment though, as the pacing, reveals, and quick character development have to happen because literally nothing happened in The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi should have been the movie where Rey developed a lot (she doesn't) and the plot twists should have occurred (Similar to how Empire revealed Luke's heritage). But none of this happens making the first half of Rise of Skywalker a retcon catch up.
Rey does have some decent character development in this movie, but she was so under developed in the previous films (Again, Last Jedi -.-) that it feels incredibly forced.
The people have a problem with Palpatine coming back and being the big bad is fair to an extent as it does kind of take away from Luke and Vader's victory (not entirely though as they clearly stopped the destruction of the galaxy and forced palps into hiding for 30+ years). I feel he too should have a least been hinted at in the previous film.
However, it is also hinted that this Palpatine could be a clone, or at least created with Dark Side energy. THIS did happen in legends so it isn't too far fetched.
Overall, an incredibly busy film with some excellent ideas. It is a great shame that The Last Jedi forced a massive amount of catch up and retcon which took up too much of this movie.
Seriously, it's good, if you can acknowledge the fact the The Last Jedi really didn't help set this movie up and also ruined the set up from Force Awakens.