Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Ends an Era

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

I actually really liked this movie. There was a lot of good in this movie, but it was messy. It felt like a four hour movie that was squished to fit the two and a half hour standard. There was some definite heft to the story, blitzing through a half dozen settings and only having enough time to give significance to one of them. I don’t know if this was because the plot was too ambitious or if J.J. Abrams didn’t want to face the criticism Rian Johnson faced over Canto Bight (by far the worst part of The Last Jedi). The one good thing about the pacing is that the 157 minutes flew by. The movie was as non-stop as Alexander Hamilton. There was always something happening and everything was necessary. I can’t think of any part of the movie that needs to be cut, but I can think of plenty that I wish were longer. For all of the buildup of the Knights of Ren, they were barely used but could have been integral to some scenes. Besides one clash between Rey and Kylo Ren, the only battle given any time was the final battle. That final battle was a visual spectacle, with crisp CGI and bombastic music behind it. The entire movie looked gorgeous, blending advanced digital and practical technology seamlessly. Even the acting in front of the beautiful backdrops of each planet was great. The script felt forced at times, but every actor gave their full effort, and while some lines deserved groans, no scenes were as clunky as many in the prequel trilogy. Honestly, people may not like this movie, but anybody who says that it is the worst Star Wars movie is just wrong. It is flawed and could be improved, but it could have been so much worse. I liked Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker enough that I will be seeing it again soon. I give it 32 out of the 42 years that we have had the Skywalker Saga. I am confident that if you watched any trailers, I have not given away any plot points, but I will in my comments below. So this is your spoiler alert.

SPOILER WARNING

Did you know that those things on the wings of planes were spoilers? I didn't until today.

To start off, I know how bad this sounds, but this movie would have been much better if Carrie Fisher didn’t die. It felt like there were plans for Leia and her son that couldn’t be realized due to the limited footage not used in The Last Jedi. Kylo Ren had the moment with Han in The Force Awakens, but he never had one with his mother. This trilogy felt like it was building to that, but, unfortunately, we will never see it. I think that Harrison Ford was a stand-in what would have been Leia’s scene on the remnants of the Death Star late in the second act, but they treated it fairly, doing the best they could without Fisher. It also didn’t help that her power was highlighted and it was established that she was the last Jedi in The Last Jedi. They couldn’t have her train Rey without being there; so the movie started with an incredible time skip. At least that is why my light side thinks they had the time skip, but my dark side thinks it is so they can make more money by having either a comic, a book, or a game that shows what really occurred, making me spend more money as they chase Pokémon as the most financially successful franchise. I am not sure if I like the time skip because there were some stupid teenagers that were talking during the title crawl, so I was very frustrated until my brother told them to quiet down, in a way. After the time skip, the movie follows a basic formula as J.J. Abrams tries to make the safest conclusion to the franchise as possible. Many of his creative decisions felt like a course-correct from Rian Johnson. Where Johnson took risks by introducing new major characters and subversive plot threads, Abrams played up the most popular characters doing fetch quests and story arcs similar to the original trilogy. I remember debating with people about Snoke and his significance, and Johnson boldly cut him in half with no explanation. Abrams, who cut his teeth with this type of red herring on Lost, explained away Snoke in a line as a clone made by Palpatine. Johnson also tried to create new critical characters, like Rose Tico and Holdo. Rose is an afterthought in The Rise of Skywalker, being ostracized from the core group of characters, with no explanation. Abrams introduced new characters, but they were either only significant for one line of dialogue, or they were a MacGuffin. The only other this Johnson did differently was focusing on a separate storylines. It worked for Rey and Poe, but Finn and Rose on Canto Bight was terrible. Abrams was very aware of the complaints about this and tried to keep everyone together and only spend a little time one each new planet. In football terms, Abrams played prevent defense with this movie. He kept everything in front, never gave up anything big, and really wanted it to end. I know this sounds like complaining, but a safe movie is fine and is often good. The only types of safe movies that always fail are direct remakes or flat comedies. Abrams didn’t challenge me as a viewer or a fan. Some moments that felt huge were negated shortly after. It would have been very bold for him to actually kill Chewbacca, but as a fan, I knew that he didn’t die because there were several clips of him flying with Lando in the trailers. The moment that hit me the hardest was when C-3PO had his memory wiped. I had actual feelings, but then they were completely negated when R2-D2 restored his memory from a backup. Of everything in this movie, I was most upset about them stealing that moment from me.

Holy Gungans, Batman that was a lot of negative, but there were a lot of moments I liked. I enjoyed everything with Poe. He was equal parts charming and serious. I also like the advancement of force powers, like when Rey healed the serpent and Ben, especially the fact that she also healed his scar. If I am being honest, though, I would have thought it was stupid if I hadn’t already seen it on The Mandalorian. I also liked the force-to-physical connection between Rey and Ben, and the growth of their connection in general. I am indifferent to their relationship, but the burgeoning force connection was intriguing. My favorite part of the movie was the last battle. It reminded me of the Battle of Endor, with ground troops disabling a transmitter, a space fleet against another space fleet, and the Emperor against a Jedi and a former apprentice. I knew that help would come, but I couldn’t help but pump my fist when Poe looked up at hundreds of ships heeding the call. Besides wanting a better fight with the Knights of Ren, I loved the last act. It was the most on brand part of the movie and gave a worthy conclusion to the series.

Thanks for sticking with the review to the end. I know I listed many issues, but they were really only seven or eight moments that are far outweighed by the rest of the movie. I hope you enjoyed my review and may the force be with you.