By: James Southworth
Rating: 3/5 Stars
For better and for worse, the "Star Wars" series continues to be one of the most popular- and most talked about- movie series of all time. The sequels have become part of the larger conversation, perhaps becoming even more controversial than the prequel trilogy in some ways. My opinions on the two previous sequel movies have remained relatively the same. I still love "The Force Awakens" a lot. I can't deny that it builds a lot off of "A New Hope", but I enjoy the new characters, and I really think they gave Han Solo a beautiful send-off. Unfortunately, my opinions on "The Last Jedi" are frustratingly split. Rian Johnson is a great director ("Knives Out" and "Looper" are undeniable proof of this), but his choices with this movie either work excellently or are ill-advised. I think the aspect I've grown the most on is Luke's character arc. After watching the movie again recently, I now get what Johnson was going for and felt more satisfied with Luke's end. J.J. Abrams had a weighty task with "The Rise of Skywalker": not only did he have to wrap up everything in the sequel trilogy, he also had to wrap up the Skywalker Saga as a whole. I think this would be a tough thing for any director to do. As a whole, my opinions on this movie are once again split, though I do feel like I know my overall feelings about this movie more than with TLJ. This movie has some truly great moments, but it also has some that are weak. Continue reading this review with caution if you haven't seen the movie. There will be spoilers, as there's some things I just have to talk about.
In "The Rise of Skywalker", Darth Sidious is alive once again. In the wake of his return, in which he promises Kylo Ren a powerful army known as the Final Order, the Resistance has to take down the First Order once and for all. Let's talk about what works with this movie first, because there is a considerable amount of aspects I like. The obvious is that visually, this movie is striking to look at in many moments. This is especially true of the new Sith planet established. Abrams creates a lot of weird visual moments with the planet that gives it this appropriately unsettling feeling. There were many moments here where I was actually awed by the beauty of the movie and the fact that it does look otherworldly in some parts. But it's pretty much a given at this point that the Star Wars movies are going to look good; this one just looked especially good to me. One of the other aspects of this movie I really liked was the completion of Kylo Ren's character arc. From the very beginning of this trilogy, Kylo has been consistently the most interesting character of the series, in my opinion. Rian Johnson absolutely nailed the duality of this character in "The Last Jedi". While I almost wish that this film had fully dedicated to making Kylo a full-on evil Supreme Leader like TLJ, I am generally okay with the direction they took. Some people have pointed out that Kylo's arc is too similar to Darth Vader's, and I can see where they are coming from. To me, there's a key difference. Whereas Vader's change is pretty much directly affected by Luke, Kylo's journey to me always seemed more inward and personal. I like that it's not just a specific action that Rey takes that makes Kylo change; rather, Kylo finds it within himself to go to the light once again. It makes his character really well-realized to me. There are a lot of specific scenes in this movie that I enjoyed, even if some of them have an obvious nostalgia bait to them (more on that later). The beginning scene that showed Palpatine once again actually felt like something straight out of a horror movie. It was shot in a pretty unsettling way, and I wish more of the movie would've dedicated to Palpatine being a horrific figure. The scene between Kylo Ren and Han Solo (which was a big surprise) is perhaps my favorite scene in all of the sequel trilogy. It was poignant and one of the most emotionally affecting moments in any Star Wars movie. The scene of Chewbacca mourning Leia's passing really got to me; it was a heartbreaking moment where you'd be hard pressed to not feel something.
As far as the performances in this movie go, they are almost collectively great. Daisy Ridley shines yet again as Rey. I'm not sure how I feel about how her character was dealt with in this movie (more on that in a little bit), but there's no denying that I felt so much charisma from her. She really does honor the legacy of the other Jedi actors that came before her in giving a compassionate, heartfelt performance. You can tell she cares about honoring the legacy of the Jedi because Ridley convinces us of it. I've never quite understood why people do not like Rey as a character, as I've always felt she was one of the strongest elements of the sequel trilogy (even if I do acknowledge that she becomes a powerful Jedi way too easily). John Boyega is giving it his all as Finn in this movie, even though at this point I feel as though his character was sadly wasted. Almost more than any of the three main characters, Boyega shows a passion for being in these movies. I can just tell he loves playing this character and he loves working with the rest of the cast. His performance is always earnest and exciting, which makes Finn a character impossible to dislike. I've generally felt Oscar Isaac is one of the weaker elements of these series as Poe Dameron. I still feel the same in this one, though maybe not to the same negative extent. I like Poe's performance, but I still think his character does little to nothing to truly effect the plot. Though I wish he was in it more, it was fun to see Billy Dee Williams on the screen once again as Lando. Like all the actors that came back for the new trilogy, Williams doesn't miss a beat and embodies the effortless charm that he had in "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". I couldn't help but smile whenever he appeared on screen. I won't deny that's the nostalgia speaking. Sometimes nostalgia can be a good thing. And finally, we have Adam Driver shining once again as the best performance in this movie. I think at this point I could listen to Driver reading off a phone book and still be utterly compelled by him. The emotion and gravitas he puts into Kylo is beautifully executed. I do not regret watching the sequel trilogy, because if I hadn't I would've never been able to witness what is one of the most compelling Star Wars characters. In the oftentimes black and white morality of the Star Wars universe, a morally ambiguous character seemed like something that wouldn't be possible to achieve. Kylo Ren disproved that.
Now it's time to get into my critiques of the film. For as many positives I had about the movie, there are also many negatives that can't be ignored. Most of these negatives come down to the writing/directorial choices that Abrams made. Like most any SW fan, I enjoy Palpatine immensely in the canon. Even if he isn't my favorite Sith (that honor obviously goes to Darth Vader), he is still the most fun one to watch. What I always loved about him is his psychological manipulation of other characters. He is the smartest one in the room and he knows it, so he can twist others to his will. I was worried about him coming back for TROS. It seemed to me that this would reduce the weight of Darth Vader's sacrifice. After watching the movie, I feel I can confidently say I would've preferred the film without him in it at all. Once again, why couldn't the movie have put Kylo Ren as the antagonist? "The Last Jedi" pretty much definitively said that Kylo was the new danger. Ian McDiarmid is clearly having fun playing the Emperor. I can't deny that I liked hearing his iconic voice once again. But putting all that aside, Palpatine serves little to no purpose to this movie. It's basically Kylo Ren carrying out all of his orders anyway. The final moments with Palpatine, Rey, and Kylo are relatively anti-climactic. The "fight" between them feels like something straight out of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (not a compliment, if you know my feelings about that film). Nostalgia can be a powerful force, but it can only take me so far with a character that doesn't need to be there in the first place. This establishes a precedent in the Star Wars movies that any character could come back at any time if we really wanted them to. That reduces a lot of weight to any character's death. I really hope following Star Wars movies do not use the resurrection trope again.
Perhaps the biggest issue with this movie is its WAY too fast moving plot. This is especially apparent in the first act of the film. One of my problems with "Rogue One" was the planet hopping, but that seems relatively tame compared to "Rise of Skywalker". There's some times in the film where it feels like everything is moving at a breakneck pace. In places, there's hardly even a moment to breathe, as characters get trapped in crazy action set piece to crazy action set piece. There's also SO many mcguffins in this plot, like a knife that belonged to a Sith lord, a Sith Wayfinder, a First Order token; even C-3PO sort of serves this purpose in part of the film. Having so many items appear to simply propel the plot forward is pretty lazy writing to me. In the midst of the fast-moving plot, J.J. Abrams tries to bring in some character development for our three main protagonists, but it often feels half-hearted or really stupid. The former is more true of Poe. When I really think about it, we know barely anything about this character. He hasn't had much of a character beyond being a somewhat reckless but charming pilot. This movie tries to bring in some backstory for him, but it's ultimately too little too late. The backstory given to him could be interesting, but it's passed over so quickly and we're given little time to care. John Boyega's passionate performance as Finn makes me feel angry that this is the second movie in a row where his character is wasted. His interesting backstory of being a deserter of the First Order has never come up again. One would think that maybe Finn would still feel some sort of conflict being that he was in the First Order for so much time. In this movie, his character only seems to care about Rey, and it seems like half his lines are screaming her name. Though this movie doesn't do that much retconning, the stuff done with Rey is idiotic to me. I would've been okay with her parents being nobodies, as that actually brought about an inspiring theme of the hopefulness of the Jedi being an ability for anyone to have. But J.J. Abrams decided that wasn't going to be a thing, and instead made Rey be Palpatine's granddaughter. This reveal was pointless and mainly made me roll my eyes. This was only done as empty fan service. Maybe something cool could've been done with it, but J.J. Abrams clearly had no idea other than name recognition. This reveal makes Rey's character make decisions that seem largely out of character for her. She's consistently rejected the ways of the Sith for two movies now, and for some reason in this one, she almost decides to entirely reject the ways of the Jedi. I get her character should be conflicted, but it felt overinflated in this film. Finally, there is another new ability to the Force established in this movie, an ability that somehow both Rey and Kylo have mastered in between TLJ and TROS. This ability lets its user heal any wound, and can apparently bring someone back from the dead. How either of these characters mastered this is beyond me, and this ability really reduces the weight of any character's death. If any Jedi can bring a character back from the dead, then why should we be emotionally invested in any character dying? I hope this is the last time we see this power used.
So, what are my feelings as a whole for "The Rise of Skywalker"? Unlike "The Last Jedi", I do think I have a more definitive answer for this movie. I can't say that I like it significantly better than TLJ, but I did like it a bit more at the end of the day. There are things that TLJ does better than TROS, and there are things TROS does better than TLJ. Who knows, my opinion on the two could equal out upon repeat viewings. Did this movie disappoint me? Not really. It may have not been the best ending in the world to the Skywalker Saga, but we could've gotten much worse. I think the ending scene of the movie does a pretty good job at wrapping things up, giving homage to an iconic scene from "A New Hope" without overstaying its welcome. For all the problems I did have with this movie, I still found myself enjoying it. I can't get away from the plot inconsistencies and the oftentimes unnecessary fan service, but those things didn't hinder me from having at least a good time watching the film. So, I do recommend you watch this movie if you're a Star Wars fan. It will be interesting to see how this sequel trilogy is viewed many years later. Will it be regarded by a new generation with the same reverence as the original trilogy? Or will it be more disdained like the prequel trilogy? Or will this trilogy have its own unique reception in the future? Only time will tell. For now, I think I can breathe a sigh of relief that the Skywalker saga is done. I am done talking about these movies for a while.
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