They didn't have a plan, and it shows.

Rating: 3/10 (20 December 2019)

Let me start with the positives.
The actors did well for the nonsense they were handed. Although a lot of plotlines and exposition didn't make sense, they at least delivered the lines with confidence and emotion.
The special effects are stunning. When you're not laughing at how utterly ridiculous what's going on is, the visual fidelity is great.
And that's about it for positives.
Good acting and visuals does not a good movie make.
For the people rating this above average (7 or more) but can't state exactly why its that good besides "it's not as bad as the fans say," yall need to change that to a 5. At least.
This movie may be the biggest backpedal in cinema history. From scene 1, things are moving at such a pace that i thought i was going to get whiplash when act 2 hit. The opening crawl tries to prepare you for the metric ton of exposition and contrivence they'' be throwing at you. '"Why so much? Isn't it tupposed to be the conclusion?" you may ask.
Well, that's because they decided to completely dump nearly ALL of the suppodting cast in favor of new ones the fans don't hate. Bad news, now we arent attatched to the new faces, so we feel very little when theyre in danger. They take time to try and force these new characters into your face, when they SHOULD be focusing on resolving the arcs of our main cast. Speaking of which, have even less to do in this movie.
The action scenes are a bloated mess, and utterly ridiculous, to a point where ewoks overcoming an empire army is more believable. Villian motivations are shoehorned in to make it seem like "Bwahaha this was my plan the WHOLE TIME!" Plot elements introduces in previosu films are brushed away for the convenience of this story....
I guarantee. If you were to watch all three of the new trilogy in a row, Rise of Skywalker would feel like a fever dream. They're banking on the average viewer to have forgotten things from the last two, and hoping they won't notice the gaping leaps in logic it takes to shuffle together this plot.