Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- As a standalone entry, The Rise of Skywalker is a thoroughly entertaining popcorn movie with nonstop action. It also has its fair share of stirring moments. As the culmination of four decades of up-and-down storytelling, it was… okay.
Full Disclosure: I fall into the category of “casual” Star Wars fan. I’ve seen all the major movies at least twice, with Solo being the (I’m so sorry for this) solo exception, but I’m not a fanboy. I’ve never delved into the extended universe other than The Mandalorian, I’ve never owned a lightsaber, and I’ve never thought that any of the films have been particularly “great films”. I know they’re beloved by millions around the world, but that’s my take. Some are really good, some are fun, and some are dog shit. Going into The Rise of Skywalker, I was just hoping it would be fun.
Review
I’m of two minds about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. On one hand, I’d like to review it as a standalone film. On the other, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that this is the culmination of a story that’s been 42 years in the making. It’s also the final installment in a trilogy that’s been polarizing fans for the last five years, so it’s damn near impossible to compartmentalize and view this as a single movie. It’s generally, if not universally understood that the original trilogy was the best, the prequels sucked donkey dick, and the third trilogy… well… that one’s a tough nut to crack.
I don’t think this is the time or place to sum up the entire Skywalker Saga, or even the full third trilogy. It’s an exercise in futility to review this movie without referencing the previous films, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll try to stick to the strengths and weaknesses I noticed while watching The Rise of Skywalker.
The stories of Rey, Kylo, Poe, Finn, and many others come to a conclusion in The Rise of Skywalker.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this movie without spoiling anything, so I’ll keep this section short. If you’ve seen a single trailer though, you know that this marks the return of the Skywalker Saga’s “big bad”, Emperor Palpatine. While Darth Vader is certainly the most iconic villain that Star Wars has ever put forth, Palpatine was always the one pulling the strings with his Machiavellian manipulation of Anakin Skywalker. It seemed like Palpatine was about as dead as dead can be after being thrown into a reactor by Vader and exploded in the climax of Return of the Jedi. (Sorry for the 36 year old spoiler.) Personally, I rolled my eyes when I heard his iconic laugh at the end of the trailers. It seemed like an obvious last-ditch effort to bring back the pissed off fanboys who sneered at The Last Jedi.
It’s no secret that the production of this trilogy has been a complete mess behind the scenes. It was a revolving door of writers and directors, with no clear sense of direction or cohesion between the three films. It was a constant tug of war between playing it safe and taking creative risks. There was backstage infighting between the producers and the creators that resulted in multiple rewrites from multiple writers. That said, I think director JJ Abrams did what he could with what he was given. While I liked Rian Johnson’s foray into the universe with The Last Jedi, it took the story in a completely different direction than Abrams’ The Force Awakens.
Rian Johnson is a known risk-taker, while Abrams plays it safe. Both approaches can work, but they can’t coexist. Abrams directing the first and third installments of the trilogy, with Johnson’s film sandwiched in the middle, was undoubtedly a detriment to the overall story. The Rise of Skywalker went out of its way to erase, nullify, and overcorrect Johnson’s film to the point where The Last Jedi seems like an almost meaningless entry into the series. Say what you will about the prequels, but at least they were led by one man with a singular vision; with a through line that was easy to track and follow.
Spoilers Ahead
Rey and Kylo having their final showdown in the ruins of the Death Star II is a microcosm of this trilogy. It’s new characters surrounded by the shell of the original trilogy. It looks cool, it’s nostalgic, but will it have staying power?
First off, I have to give credit where credit’s due. JJ Abrams is a great big budget sci-fi/action director. He does all the explosions and gigantic set pieces, yet still manages to create mostly compelling characters and story arcs. He’s a rich man’s Michael Bay. The Rise of Skywalker is the most visually stunning Star Wars movie to date. The first half of the movie is essentially a series of long lightsaber duels between Rey and Kylo Ren, juxtaposed with the main group’s quest to find and kill the long-thought-to-be-dead Emperor Palpatine (more on that clusterfuck in a second).
The battles between Rey and Kylo are the best lightsaber sequences in Star Wars history. The stunt work melds flawlessly with the CGI and are filled with raw emotion. The original trilogy had the emotion, but the duels were slow and clunky. The prequels were flashy, but they looked silly and lacked emotion. The Rise of Skywalker finally strikes the perfect balance.
How Palpatine comes to be is so confusing and convoluted that I still have no idea what the hell was happening. Did he survive the fall of the second Death Star, or was he resurrected somehow? Is he himself, or a clone? If I remember correctly, he just flippantly explains it away with something along the lines of, “The Dark Side has many mysterious qualities.” Okay? I’m guessing that Abrams meant for Supreme Leader Snoke to be the main villain of this trilogy. When Rian Johnson killed him off without disclosing any of his backstory, it seems pretty clear that Abrams just wanted to bring Palpatine back so we’d have a familiar villain to root against. Palpatine is so awkwardly and suddenly shoehorned into this movie that, for the first time in my life, a Star Wars plot line went completely over my head. Hell, even the lame ass introduction of midichlorians into the universe was easier to understand, and that’s saying a lot.
Palpatine returns to do the same exact shit he did in Return of the Jedi over thirty years ago. Does it save this slipshod trilogy? Meh.
The sudden and unfortunate death of Carrie Fisher also had a glaring negative impact on the story. What should’ve been an epic and heart-wrenching death for a beloved character ended up being a throwaway tertiary subplot created with unused footage from The Force Awakens. While I’m glad that they didn’t bring Fisher back from the dead using CGI, the filmmakers were in a no-win situation here. Leia’s death didn’t make any sense. The Skywalker family has always been able to feel one another’s presence through the Force, so her “having” to kill herself to bring Kylo Ren back to being Ben Solo was weird. Abrams made the moment about as poignant as it could be, given the circumstances, but the legacy of Princess/General Leia Organa is forever tainted. It’s nobody’s fault, and I certainly don’t mean to trivialize the death of a real life actual human being, but that’s just the way it is.
I never thought I’d ever see Harrison Ford don Han Solo’s iconic jacket again, especially given his well-publicized disdain for the character (and the series as a whole) over the years. That cameo came as a true shock and was a very well-kept secret given the gargantuan profile of this franchise. At first, I thought Disney must have just written him a blank check so they could have one last scene with Han where he comes back and saves the soul of his son. Upon later reflection, I have a less cynical take. I think Ford returned here to protect the legacy of his old pal Carrie Fisher as much as he could. Thinking of that moment as a meta tribute to Fisher, rather than just a scene in a movie, makes it a lot more touching. Han restating his most iconic line in the series, “I know.” was a really nice touch here as well.
Princess Leia Organa, as she should always be remembered.
This review is already longer than what I set out to write, so I’ll get to what is ostensibly the most important aspect of the film: the conclusion of Rey’s character arc. It was, again, okay. Her being Palpatine’s granddaughter was a shock, but not in a good way. First, it wasn’t foreshadowed or preplanned in any way whatsoever and once again illustrated the creative differences between Abrams and Johnson. While Star Wars has a history of being written on the fly and retconned, (Luke making out with his sister in The Empire Strikes Back always comes to mind) this is the most egregious example of that. Mostly though, this is weird because I can’t imagine Palpatine ever fucking anybody. It’s a disgusting thought. I’m guessing he inseminated Rey’s granny before he turned into a pale, yellow-eyed lizard boy, but I don’t wanna ruminate on that too much. That’s for the Reddit threads and Tumblr pages.
If you don’t think about it too much, the climactic sequence was nothing short of epic. While it was just a rehash of the climax of Return of the Jedi in almost every conceivable way, it looked and sounded cool as hell. It was a really enjoyable theater experience. I didn’t like the resurrection tradeoff between Rey and Ben. For a second I thought they’d stay locked in a back-and-forth resurrection face-off. I liked Rey kissing Ben even less. Their relationship always came off as more brother/sister to me than romantic. Rey staying dead with Ben having to carry on would’ve been more poignant, but Abrams plays it safe once again.
The ending was the best part of the film, which is always a good thing. It was certainly a better wrap-up than the previous two trilogies. The Ewok dance party was atrocious, and Natalie Portman dying of a broken heart was stupid, but this party was nice. The embrace that Rey, Poe, and Finn shared was genuinely touching. Rey traveling to Tatooine to bury the old Skywalker legacy and embracing the new was really good. Finally, what would a Star Wars trilogy be without an epic shot of those two suns accompanied by the legendary score of John Williams? He elevates all nine main Star Wars movies with his music. Even though I’m not a fanatic, I can’t help but get goosebumps when his iconic musical cues play.
Bottom line: It’s really fucking hard to to end such an epic and beloved saga in a satisfying way, especially with so much money on the line and so many cooks in the kitchen. Just look at the Game of Thrones finale earlier this year for another example. Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings came close, but even they are not devoid of ridicule. Besides, they already had a blueprint set in front of them, written from a single vision by exceptional authors. That’s another conversation for another time though. While this wasn’t our last visit to a galaxy far, far away, it was a fairly decent finale to what is sure to become the most polarizing trilogy in the Skywalker saga.
5 Quick Hits
Unfortunately, I feel like people will remember this trilogy as, “Well, it at least it was better than the prequels.”
The character of Finn was completely wasted over the course of the trilogy. He was basically a red herring in The Force Awakens, he had an incredibly pointless tangential storyline in The Last Jedi, and he kind of just flailed around in The Rise of Skywalker. I feel like Abrams had a plan for him, Johnson didn’t, and Abrams didn’t have the time to fix it here. It also hurt that he had three different love interests over three movies. First it was Rey, then it was Rose, then it was Jannah (and Rey again kind of). What was the point of having Finn almost profess his love for Rey if there was no pay off? Rose got friend-zoned hard as fuck. Jannah looks like she’s in to older dudes and she’s gonna be traveling the galaxy with Lando. Such a waste of a character who started with so much potential.
I was glad to see Endor and the Cloud City get one last hurrah in the final celebratory sequence. Those locations are iconic parts of the Skywalker Saga, plus Warwick Davis got to don the old Ewok costume one last time!
Billy Dee Williams looked like he was having a blast in his return to the role of Lando Calrissian for the first time since 1983. He still has the charm and charisma he had all those years ago.
Poe’s romantic advances getting constantly shut down by the new character Zorri was by far the funniest part of the movie. His wordless exchange with her at the end of the film was a phenomenal bit of facial acting by Oscar Isaac.
Man, there were so many characters in this movie. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I know it’s Disney’s last chance to capitalize on the Skywalker Saga and make as many action figures for as many characters as possible, but enough is enough. While he put in a fine performance, what was Richard E. Grant doing in this movie? Domhnall Gleeson was a great General Hux, but his semi-face turn was bullshit. He should’ve remained second in command for the First Order.
