About as well written as expected.

Rating: 4/10 (3 January 2020)

The rise of Skywalker was mediocre at best. A very average movie full of surface level philosophy and fan service callbacks for the sake of arousing nostalgia in both OT fans and prequel fans. It was messy because they tried to fit so many things into the movie but didn't have the space for any meaningful amount of anything leaving every cameo to be around 20 seconds or less as they play some sort of John Williams happy/hopeful moment score to signify it's a significant moment rather than letting the watcher realize it for themselves. The problem with Star Wars as a whole is it was never meant to be a series. It was a standalone movie that due to capitalism got turned into unnecessary sequels and prequels, with the only option to finish the screenplay of each movie being to retcon the living hell out of it.
Leia, while I know they did what they could, felt abrupt and forced and animated, it felt like they recorded a reel of meme inspirational Yoda quotes before she died then they spliced them in with other recordings of her voice from other works or a similar voice actor to say the specifics of the script (Such as names and places). The problem is it feels written around her death and that causes limitations which feel unnatural.
The Rey Palpatine reveal felt quick and un-earned, it was just Ben telling her and it felt too quick but also they lingered on the reaction for too long.
The ending was cringeworthy and was the type of writing where I could predict every line coming up.
Visually, the movie is excellent. The effects and atmosphere look incredible. Deep colors, not too saturated but so detailed and beautiful you can definitely tell where all the budget went. Many shots were nice and well placed in terms of framing the important things on screen, HOWEVER, many shots felt overcrowded with too many characters and CGI alien to the point where looking at the screen and taking in all the information felt exhausting.
The sound was good, dynamic and vibrant, the score was typical John Williams quality, nothing to really fault there.
All of the problems lie in the story and the characters.
The "secret" Finn was going to tell Rey was never brought up at the end of the movie despite the audience being remind about it twice.
Kylo had no way to get to Palpatines planet as Rey took his ship with the map.
In fact, he had no way to get back anywhere, she took his ship and left him stranded on that little island.
They set up Finn as this potential love interest for 3 separate girls throughout the films and didn't go anywhere with it.
On the topic of love, there was no reason in the infinite universe to make Ben and Rey kiss at the end. It was merely fan service for whomever out there was actually rooting for it to happen, despite them being basically blood enemies for 3 movies straight, he helps her once and only once, right at the end, and gets kissed for it.
It was just too much to conclude in one movie. they had 8 other movies of baggage to resolve and couldn't write a perfect movie to do it, but really, who could? It was never meant to be a series in the first place.