Not bad, considering JJ had to clean up Rian Johnson's mess

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2019)

Bottom line. Is it perfect? No. But JJ Abrams did a very good job considering he had to clean up Rian Johnson's mess and work with archived footage of the late great Carrie Fisher.
I know... I know... This is supposed to be a review of The Rise of Skywalker, not The Last Jedi, but there is no way to review this film fairly without acknowledging the clunker it had to follow.
Which brings us to the heated Star Wars debate. Do what the fans want? Or do what the critics (who crave for something "different" even if it's a bad different) want? Since I have primarily been more of a fan for over 40 years, my personal stance is that we probably would have had a near perfect trilogy if JJ had done all three movies.
IMHO, the haters of this film are livid because they're Johnson fanboys who apparently liked Leia flying through space, Luke being a whinny weakling who dies projecting his image, and Finn and Poe serving absolutely no purpose.
Which now brings me to my ONLY ***SPOILER**** in The Rise of Skywalker:
When describing The Last Jedi, the ghost of Luke says it best. "I WAS WRONG."
End of ***SPOILER****
TLJ aside, The Rise of Skywalker was indeed predictable at moments, but it looked and felt like Star Wars again, with the original cast giving it their final blessing.
Overall, I would have given it an 8, but because of all the angry "critics" giving it undeserving 1's, 2's, and 3's (something I didn't even do with TLJ), I upped it a notch to a 9.
May the force be with you!