What you deserve

Rating: 3/10 (19 December 2019)

Okay, it's NOT worse than TLJ - but that's not saying much.
Some quick thoughts. I really wanted to boycott this movie, but after 40 years I just couldn't bring myself to leave the party like that. (To understand my perspective: I grew up with the OT, but I never jumped on the bandwagon of miserable prequel- and Lucas-haters. I love Ep.I-III, too, only a little less than the OT. On the other hand, I've found both TFA and TLJ deeply insulting.)
Well, The Rise of Skywalker does have the germ of a decent story (apart from the excellent Rogue One, that is actually a first for the Disney-era), and I bet THAT is the part that came from Lucas himself. Now that the sequel trilogy is complete, I think I know what he had in mind (for hints, rewatch the prequels and the Clone Wars animated series) - only Disney discarded most of it and botched the rest.
TRoS is an awful mismash of a movie, especially the first half. Disjointed, completely random scenes, assembled from half-baked ideas, scraps, TFA and TLJ outtakes. They obviously struggled (and failed) to stitch it together. (In this respect, TRoS IS worse than both TFA and TLJ.) Poor job, considering they used the same blueprints once again (yet another planet-killer weapon, really? and that's just the tip of the iceberg - if you saw the previous movies, you have seen 80-90% of TRoS).
And of course, you have the usual childish jokes that fall flat, the pointless scenes, characters and fan service - in other words, the typical JJ Abrams traits, complete with the usual horrendous editing, accompanied by equally dreadful cinematography. (There are a LOT of out-of focus shots, the color palette is often ugly, and the movie is dark and grainy as hell - believe me, old movies shot on film stock were NOT this grainy when new. TRoS looks more like it was shot digitally, and the grain was added later, for a very misguided attempt to look old-school. I don't care if they truly did use film stock. Whatever they did, it looks pretty bad.)
In summary, I didn't hate TRoS as passionately as I hated TFA and TLJ (maybe the bar got so low that I've become immune), but for me, it's still a far cry from what I call (the real) Star Wars. On the other hand, those who liked Ep.VII-VIII (both) will probably be pleased. They'll get what they deserve. No more, no less.