Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Release date: December 20th, 2019
Rating: 7/10
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the latest entry into the Star Wars franchise and the finale to both the sequel trilogy and the Skywalker Saga.
Right off the bat I’m gonna say that this movie is very divisive and controversial. A lot of people absolutely hate it. I am not one of them. While I see the issues that these people have with the film, these issues don’t make for a horrible movie. What we get is a very fine, very enjoyable Star Wars film with cool action set pieces, throwbacks to previous Star Wars films, and overall a solid movie.
Now, was this the movie that I hoped for? Not exactly. A lot of the issues I have with the film are how it fits into the trilogy that it’s capping off. J. J. Abrams directed The Force Awakens, then the sequel was put in the hands of Rian Johnson who, whether you like The Last Jedi or not, very clearly changed some of the things that Abrams set up in The Force Awakens. For example, Rey’s parents. The Force Awakens leads us in the direction that her parents are significant people, but we don’t know who they are. Johnson decided that he didn’t like that and had Rey’a parents be nobody. Scavengers that sold her for drinking money. While this upset some people, it was a very clear choice that was made. Well, after the backlash of The Last Jedi, Disney decided to hire J. J. Abrams again to direct The Rise of Skywalker; and instead of building off of what Johnson did, he decided, “No, you know what? I don’t like that so I’m gonna make Rey’s parents (SPOILERS) “nobody” by choice because her dad is hiding from the Emperor, his father.” So yeah, Rey is Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter. Honestly I wouldn’t have as big of an issue with it if there wasn’t this back and forth between directors of what’s going to happen in these movies. It feels like Disney really just handed over all creative control to the directors, which can be a good thing; but in this case I think they had no idea where this trilogy was going to go the entire time.
I will say the best part about this movie, and probably the trilogy as a whole, is Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s arc. Watching him struggle between these two identities, the light side and the dark side, is interesting. Specifically, there’s a scene on the Death Star where Kylo Ren struggles with identity that is fantastic.
The visuals are also breathtaking. From the opening sequence the the final battle everything looks amazing in the way it was shot, colored, and animated.
To me, there isn’t anything glaringly wrong with the movie. That is to say, there’s no one issue that takes the movie down. I think it’s just some of the story choices and the pacing that makes this feel less impactful than previous Star Wars films. Many people absolutely hate this movie and, while I see the reasons that they’re upset, I don’t understand why they hate it. It definitely isn’t the best Star Wars film but it’s still a decent movie with a lot of fan service and a followable storyline.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker caps off the sequel trilogy with weak willed attempt at being the safest movie Disney could make. It’s an enjoyable 2.5 hours but ultimately doesn’t feel like either a sequel to The Last Jedi, nor the final film in the 9 movie Skywalker Saga.