I have been wrestling with what to say about The Rise of Skywalker since I saw it and in some ways I'm still not sure. I think, for one, that it is not necessarily a very good movie. It's maybe an OK Star War. There have been good Star Wars that are good movies as well, and there have been good Star Wars that are bad movies. The prequels, for all of their many faults in terms of dialogue, plot, and characterization, are still good Star Wars in my opinion, as the Star Wars universe is largely better for all they have wrought and all they have inspired, such as Clone Wars. Solo was an OK movie and an OK Star War. Force Awakens was a pretty good movie and an OK Star War. Rise of Skywalker is, to reiterate, a kinda bad movie, one that somehow has both too much plot and not enough of a relevant one and has a frenetic pacing in the first act that blows well past exciting and into infuriating. It is, in my apparently controversial opinion, an OK Star War.
The Rise of Skywalker had one task above all others, and it was going to be the main criteria on which I personally judged it, and I am not alone in this regard. This was to end the "Skywalker Saga" as we have come to call it, giving us the resolution to the characters and factions that have waged the titular Star War for 42 years. Now, mind you, I do not think this necessarily had to be the main goal of Rise of Skywalker. It could merely have been the end of the sequel trilogy, and it arguably should have limited itself to that goal, as the first two installments of the sequel trilogy seemed to focus more on the new story they were trying to tell rather than rote continuation of the six movies that came before. Alas, JJ Abrams made it clear this ninth movie "had" to tie all of the films together and provide a finality to some battles we had already thought were over, and so I choose to judge it based on that stated goal. For me at least, Rise of Skywalker very awkwardly stumbles to a more or less acceptable landing with that in mind. The Sith are defeated, peace is once more restored to the galaxy. Leia and Han's sacrifices are not in vain as they bring Ben back from the brink. Luke and Rey ensure the continuation of the Jedi Order. These were the main things I was hoping to get as an ending for the saga as a whole.
I gather this is not the popular opinion, and there are two main sticking points for people who have told me the ending is actually depressing and not at all in keeping with the optimism that should define Star Wars:
1) Rey ends the saga alone on a desert planet, as she began the Force Awakens
2) The Skywalker family line ends, and worse, they are outlived by a Palpatine.
