‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019) (9/10)

It’s regrettable that the Star Wars sequel trilogy didn’t seem to have a plan in place, with the overall “story” of the three films feeling messy. 2015’s The Force Awakens pleased crowds around the world with a return-to-basics approach to Star Wars, though there was significant pushback from some fans regarding certain story decisions in 2017’s The Last Jedi. Enter The Rise of Skywalker, which has an overall scattered and chaotic feeling that gives the impression it was written without much care. The noisy action, abundance of visual effects, and much-too-fast pacing attempt to distract you from the first-draft-quality screenplay, but it’s so mechanical and desperate to win back fans that its shortcomings are very easy to notice.