Up to this point I've strongly disliked the sequels...

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2019)

The Rise of Skywalker was by far the best movie of the new sequel trilogy. I have a difficult time understanding certain reviews and the general rating of this movie. My recommendation is go and see it, it's the movie that while being imperfect and flawed in certain areas, redeems the sequel trilogy and brings a dignified end to the Skywalker Saga.
First thing I must say is we get the answers! Finally we know the story behind the First Order, Snoke and Rey. We get to know how the certain antagonist was involved in all this and what was the goal of the evil forces. Dammit, even The Last Jedi makes more sense now! The Rise of Skywalker coresponds very well with the Return Of The Jedi but at no point is an ordinary copy paste like it was with The Force Awakens.
"Visually stunning" is a phrase we can say about all the films of the sequel trilogy, but here we see the absolute perfection. The definition of how a space opera movie should look like. The planet that's so important in the plot is simply incredible. All the final sequences inside the ancient temple were overwhelming. Dark and even scary. Abrams did a great job here, we get to feel what it means to deal with the Sith. The final battle was a sort of a typical finale for Star Wars films, but with a few twists. At one hilariously over-the-top moment I actually laughed, but somehow it was not a bad thing, I wasn't mad at this.
About the flaws. The plot is progressing very fast so one needs to be very focused. It's a material for a whole trilogy. It's almost as if Abrams finally understood what needed to be done and tried to fix everything with one movie. He sort of did fix everything, but at a cost. Maybe at least a half an hour more would help to slow down the tempo and make the movie more pleasant to watch. The other thing I disliked was all the new ideas about the Force. We all remember the horrible idea of midichlorians from Episode I. Well here it's not as bad, but controversial at least. Here I understand the criticism, though IMHO all this doesn't ruin the movie.
The final question remains to be asked. Why only now? Why did we have to endure mediocrity of TFA and TLJ? Ideas from this movie, well explored and with better storytelling would make an awesome new trilogy. Anyway, The Rise of Skywalker rewarded me for patience and all the feelings of embarassment and distaste I've had during the previous films.