It could have been much worse. It deserved to be so much better, too.

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2019)

First of all, it's disappointing to see any objective look at this movie become marred by agendas on both sides of the fanbase's spectrum. Despite what some fans might want you to believe- no, The Rise of Skywalker isn't a failure or a disaster- neither is it a masterpiece or even a particularly memorable entry in the saga. As the ending to the sequel trilogy that started with The Force Awakens- it serves its purpose just fine. And I really mean fine, I still think there are a lot of missed opportunities when it came to this trilogy. But, as a movie that serves to answer some of the questions that were brought up in The Force Awakens and went completely unanswered in The Last Jedi, it delivers- albeit introducing some of its own unanswered mysteries in the process, which is sort of frustrating for the last movie in the saga.
That's one of the failures of this film- it doesn't really work as the finale of what's being pitched to us movie-goers as the last part in this colossal nine-part epic. It's so centered around the characters and events of this trilogy that even when it tries to bridge the gap between this trilogy and the prequel trilogy, it feels forced. It's not a boring movie by any means, I mean there is so much that happens in this film, and I usually love it when a Star Wars film is paced that fast. But, whereas in films like The Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, Rogue One or The Force Awakens, the fast pace at least feels fine- here the clunkiness shows. Scenes just happen- they go by so fast that it becomes inconsistent when the film comes to a standstill- which it very well does in some of its more pivotal and dramatic moments.
That's not to say there is nothing redeeming about this film. First and foremost, John Williams' score- the movie is probably worth watching for that reason alone. I thought the score for both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi was good, but boy does this movie's score tear both of those scores a new one. Absolutely legendary and possibly the singular best thing about the so-called Skywalker Saga, hands down. The acting- particularly from Adam Driver, is good. Other than that, there's the usual Star Wars highs- the cinematography is breathtaking, the audio-visual effects are presented the best way they possibly could (for 2019 standards anyway), the production design and art design both deserve an A+ for effort. There is no doubt about it- the sequel trilogy looks and sounds amazing, though by any means, that is not solely what makes a good movie and I think this is a good example of that.
As for some of the decisions they made in this movie regarding plot elements and the usual important characters- it's obviously not for everyone, for some fans it's a hard pill to swallow whereas others might be more accepting of what happens. You can't please everybody, which holds true not only for this film or this franchise but for any piece of media that has a large amount of fan following already and comes with so many expectations. As a fan myself, I found that some decisions sat right with me, while the others were frustrating in that they were confusing. Obviously since cinema and Star Wars is so subjective, your mileage may vary.
Like I said before, it's not boring- I have seen Star Wars movies that have bored me- even as someone who considers the franchise my favorite. For the average movie-going person this is an enjoyable film. For the Star Wars fan, it's enough to start a discussion, which essentially all Star Wars films have been doing since The Empire Strikes Back. I just think the last film of the saga deserved a lot better when it came to the writing, which is what I assume many will come to feel once the hype for this movie (or the vitriol) dies down. It's obvious that when it comes to Star Wars, people have a lot of expectations and they'll go out of their way to rate films such as these on either extreme ends depending on how they feel about the film. All I have to say is, it's a decent enough movie, though it could have been so much more with better writing.