No Star Wars movie is perfect. I feel the need to get that out of the way at the very beginning. Even the celebrated The Empire Strikes Back, favorite to many a fan, has some pretty glaring ones. But at the end of the day, the idea of a Star Wars movie is to entertain as it takes viewers to a galaxy far, far away. Even Attack of the Clones, the film that, still, even after this release is as low as Star Wars can go for me, has a handful of fun and entertaining moments.
The Rise of Skywalker is not a perfect film. Not by a long shot. There are many an issue that this film faces from the aspect of a crazy pace, some cheap and some unearned moments and a villain who ultimately doesn't make a lot of sense, is far too over the top and just honestly doesn't work. But, there are a lot of things that I find did work and ultimately, the good does outdo the bad. But not by a whole lot.
---
The worst offense of The Rise of Skywalker is that of Palpatine. Ian McDiarmid’s scenery-chewing, which was one of the better aspects of the prequels, just didn’t work for me here. I don’t think we needed a deep explanation for his return but his appearance to me felt hollow. And his dialogue? Pretty atrocious. The “I am all the Sith”/“And I am all the Jedi” bit, blatantly lifting a much more earned moment from Avengers: Endgame, fell really flat. And I’m not sure what to make of the acolyte crowd. Are these clones? Indentured servants? Willing followers? Not an overly important question the film needed to answer but something I would have liked to know. That sure-to-be-soon-announced Marvel six-part Palpatine comic can't come quick enough!
There are some serious fakeouts that just don't work. Chewie's supposed death didn't really hold any weight because (1) we knew he had more stuff with Lando; we'd all seen the trailers and (2) we saw him alive before we really had the chance to process it. Although it’s a pleasing moment, having Threepio get his memory back does feel like a bit of a cheat. Particularly after such a fun, emotional and memorable performance from Anthony Daniels in this one to that point. It really lowers the stakes for our heroes if we believe that everyone is going to be okay. Having said that, they did have me on Rey's death. For a second, as Ben held her, I thought that one might stick. But again, he helped her cheat death.
The movie’s pacing is brutal and relentless and unfortunately that leaves some moments unearned. The movie really could have stood to be three hours or with some tweaking, could have easily become two parts. I honestly would have been okay with an Episode X if it meant fleshing out some of the stuff and in turn make some of these issues become less problematic. Maybe some characters might have even gotten a little something to do. I mean between Rey, Ben/Kylo, Finn, Poe, Ghost Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, Threepio, Artoo, BB-8, D-O, Rose, Jannah, Zori Bliss, Maz, Hux, Pryde and Palpatine, that's 19 characters! And they killed off Hux relatively quickly and really short-changed both Rose and Maz. And still, unless the name is Rey or Kylo, I don't know that I have a lot of understanding of character motivations here.
---
That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of positives. Chewie has always been my favorite character and he had some really incredible moments in this one. His breakdown at Leia’s passing elicited some sniffles from the crowd. And I admittedly may have been one of those. As did Maz (who was a fascinating character who was fairly wasted in this in entire trilogy) giving our favorite Wookiee his long-deserved medal.
I really liked the big three here. I wish we would have gotten all of them working together more throughout the trilogy. It was fun to see the fights and grudging respect between Rey and Poe, particularly after only meeting in the closing moments of The Last Jedi. And Finn and Poe’s friendship and partnership really shines through again and I enjoyed what we got of them.
And I have to say, while I am not necessarily Team Reylo, their chemistry really was the driving force for the entire film. Everything else is a backdrop. And it worked. While I was a little confused by the kiss and the reaction after Rey came back to life, I have to say that I think Driver and Ridley have great chemistry and their storyline was fairly compelling. Although I think the romantic underpinnings were unnecessary, the work they've done across this trilogy has been stellar. And while I am sad to see the death of Ben Solo and the end of the Skywalker line, it was handled fairly well.
As for Leia... I think with what they had to work with, it was fairly well done. Some of the deleted scenes from The Force Awakens contains the dialogue utilized here and the costume change they made is pretty impressive. But, the dialogue is a little out of place. It works, but maybe not as well as it could. But, with the limited material that was available, I give them props for trying. My question is, is the appearance of Han(!!!) supposed to be Leia Force projecting? Or is it simply a memory that Ben is having? Regardless, the spin on their scene from The Force Awakens was pretty heartbreaking. "Dad--?" "I know." SLAYS me!
And of course, there are the themes, several of which are Star Wars evergreens. The message of hope, that, as Poe puts it "good people will fight if we lead them," comes to finally prove true. And that family is oftentimes even stronger than blood. Now, I didn't necessarily love the Rey Palpatine stuff but that she rejected it in the end realizing that while blood may be thicker than water, friendship and love is thicker than blood.
---
So, no, The Rise of Skywalker isn't a perfect finale to the Skywalker Saga. But it has its moments for sure. For me, it's a little bit better than average, and I'd rate it as a B-. I need to let it sit to find my exact placement on the Saga films, but I think its something like this with 4-6 being a little fluid at the moment:
The Rise of Skywalker is not a perfect film. Not by a long shot. There are many an issue that this film faces from the aspect of a crazy pace, some cheap and some unearned moments and a villain who ultimately doesn't make a lot of sense, is far too over the top and just honestly doesn't work. But, there are a lot of things that I find did work and ultimately, the good does outdo the bad. But not by a whole lot.
---
The worst offense of The Rise of Skywalker is that of Palpatine. Ian McDiarmid’s scenery-chewing, which was one of the better aspects of the prequels, just didn’t work for me here. I don’t think we needed a deep explanation for his return but his appearance to me felt hollow. And his dialogue? Pretty atrocious. The “I am all the Sith”/“And I am all the Jedi” bit, blatantly lifting a much more earned moment from Avengers: Endgame, fell really flat. And I’m not sure what to make of the acolyte crowd. Are these clones? Indentured servants? Willing followers? Not an overly important question the film needed to answer but something I would have liked to know. That sure-to-be-soon-announced Marvel six-part Palpatine comic can't come quick enough!
There are some serious fakeouts that just don't work. Chewie's supposed death didn't really hold any weight because (1) we knew he had more stuff with Lando; we'd all seen the trailers and (2) we saw him alive before we really had the chance to process it. Although it’s a pleasing moment, having Threepio get his memory back does feel like a bit of a cheat. Particularly after such a fun, emotional and memorable performance from Anthony Daniels in this one to that point. It really lowers the stakes for our heroes if we believe that everyone is going to be okay. Having said that, they did have me on Rey's death. For a second, as Ben held her, I thought that one might stick. But again, he helped her cheat death.
The movie’s pacing is brutal and relentless and unfortunately that leaves some moments unearned. The movie really could have stood to be three hours or with some tweaking, could have easily become two parts. I honestly would have been okay with an Episode X if it meant fleshing out some of the stuff and in turn make some of these issues become less problematic. Maybe some characters might have even gotten a little something to do. I mean between Rey, Ben/Kylo, Finn, Poe, Ghost Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, Threepio, Artoo, BB-8, D-O, Rose, Jannah, Zori Bliss, Maz, Hux, Pryde and Palpatine, that's 19 characters! And they killed off Hux relatively quickly and really short-changed both Rose and Maz. And still, unless the name is Rey or Kylo, I don't know that I have a lot of understanding of character motivations here.
---
That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of positives. Chewie has always been my favorite character and he had some really incredible moments in this one. His breakdown at Leia’s passing elicited some sniffles from the crowd. And I admittedly may have been one of those. As did Maz (who was a fascinating character who was fairly wasted in this in entire trilogy) giving our favorite Wookiee his long-deserved medal.
I really liked the big three here. I wish we would have gotten all of them working together more throughout the trilogy. It was fun to see the fights and grudging respect between Rey and Poe, particularly after only meeting in the closing moments of The Last Jedi. And Finn and Poe’s friendship and partnership really shines through again and I enjoyed what we got of them.
And I have to say, while I am not necessarily Team Reylo, their chemistry really was the driving force for the entire film. Everything else is a backdrop. And it worked. While I was a little confused by the kiss and the reaction after Rey came back to life, I have to say that I think Driver and Ridley have great chemistry and their storyline was fairly compelling. Although I think the romantic underpinnings were unnecessary, the work they've done across this trilogy has been stellar. And while I am sad to see the death of Ben Solo and the end of the Skywalker line, it was handled fairly well.
As for Leia... I think with what they had to work with, it was fairly well done. Some of the deleted scenes from The Force Awakens contains the dialogue utilized here and the costume change they made is pretty impressive. But, the dialogue is a little out of place. It works, but maybe not as well as it could. But, with the limited material that was available, I give them props for trying. My question is, is the appearance of Han(!!!) supposed to be Leia Force projecting? Or is it simply a memory that Ben is having? Regardless, the spin on their scene from The Force Awakens was pretty heartbreaking. "Dad--?" "I know." SLAYS me!
And of course, there are the themes, several of which are Star Wars evergreens. The message of hope, that, as Poe puts it "good people will fight if we lead them," comes to finally prove true. And that family is oftentimes even stronger than blood. Now, I didn't necessarily love the Rey Palpatine stuff but that she rejected it in the end realizing that while blood may be thicker than water, friendship and love is thicker than blood.
---
So, no, The Rise of Skywalker isn't a perfect finale to the Skywalker Saga. But it has its moments for sure. For me, it's a little bit better than average, and I'd rate it as a B-. I need to let it sit to find my exact placement on the Saga films, but I think its something like this with 4-6 being a little fluid at the moment:
- ANH
- TLJ
- TESB
- TFA
- TRoS
- ROTJ
- TPM
- ROTS
- AOTC
