Nowadays, Star Wars seems like it can only be talked about in hyperbole.
“The Force Awakens is the most unoriginal movie I’ve ever seen,” said the Star Wars fan who wanted something new instead of familiar.
“The Last Jedi did things to my childhood without even taking it to dinner first,” said the Star Wars fan who wanted something familiar instead of new.
“I would die for Baby Yoda,” said me.
And now, “The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars movie ever,” said Forbes.
While I disagree with Forbes writer Scott Mendelson, I can also see the argument. Rise is a film that is even more conflicted than its protagonist Rey, putting on clear display the total lack of planning from Disney in making this trilogy. At times, it feels like the actual clash is between J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, instead of our heroes and Emperor Palpatine. Still, there is a lot of fun to be had, despite an overstuffed and needlessly complicated story.
The Rise of Skywalker is three movies crammed into one, as J.J Abrams desperately attempts to simultaneously end his trilogy and the Skywalker Saga while also undoing the decisions Johnson made with The Last Jedi. As a result, RoS is so frantically paced that it has no time to breathe, and no time to let its characters naturally interact with each other. Certain lines and plot twists (which of course I won’t reveal) are so painfully obviously directed towards “fixing” TLJ that it completely takes you out of the story.
Others are just plain bad – a character is revealed as being a spy because he says “I’m the spy”. I wish I could see the writer’s room when they approved that one in the final draft.
In terms of the old cast, Emperor Palpatine, Lando, and Leia’s presence in the film holds no weight to the story, and is instead further evidence that Abrams is throwing everything at the screen and hoping it sticks. Palpatine is an especially needless addition – an exposition dump at the beginning of the film simply tells us this is the new main bad guy, and then the story moves along. This first act of exposition and MacGuffin-chasing sets a tone of remarkably low stakes and little danger, a major issue for what’s supposed to be the culmination of a 42-year story.
And yet – despite all the unnecessary story fluff and muddled direction, The Rise of Skywalker relishes in Star Wars adventure. Despite its relative unoriginality, Force Awakens established Abrams’ ability to mold relatable characters and familiar swashbuckling action, and there are leftover flashes of brilliance here.
While the non-stop pace is an issue for story cohesion, it also allows Rise to give us a lot of moments that are just flat-out fun, from shocking monsters to goofy new characters. Most of all, Poe and Finn are given much more to do here after being saddled with groan-worthy side plots in The Last Jedi.
Another positive – they cut back on the character of Rose, who is responsible for my least favorite scene of all time (I’m serious) in The Last Jedi when she sexually assaults Finn with a kiss on the lips in the middle of a battlefield.
The Rise of Skywalker‘s faults are largely because an overcorrection in responding to The Last Jedi – but it still mostly succeeds in delivering the exciting Star Wars adventure that die-hard fans are looking for. I’m left wondering what this trilogy could have been with one director at the helm for all three films.
The Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmind, Domhnall Gleeson
The Elevator Pitch: Pay money to see J.J. Abrams passive aggressively roast Rian Johnson
The Score: 7.5/10
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