Yesterday we watched The Rise of Skywalker, the final movie (so far) in the Star Wars chronological timeline after The Last Jedi. It’s been an interesting experience watching all 11 movies in chronological order in a relatively short time frame. It’s allowed me to see and understand connections between characters and movies that I hadn’t before, and I highly recommend it.
This is not a review and it isn’t meant to rain on anybody’s opinion of this movie – it’s simply an attempt to articulate my own feelings about it. Your mileage may most definitely vary.
The last time I saw The Rise of Skywalker was when I saw it at the theater, but I honestly didn’t remember anything other than a couple of brief scenes. I do remember coming away from the movie being a bit baffled, but that’s about it. So the only thing I brought into the re-watch was the suspicion that the movie was hamstrung from the start simply because it followed the story disaster that was The Last Jedi. I’m willing to forgive a lot because of that.
Warning! Spoilers Below (if there can be such a thing as spoilers for a movie released in 2019).
What I Liked
Rey, Poe, and Finn. Together – finally. They should have been together in The Last Jedi (so much should have happened that didn’t in The Last Jedi), but at least we get them together in the end. They’re a lot of fun to watch when they’re playing off one another. I was also very happy that the movie left them all as friends without an overt romance between any of them. I’m happy to have that left to whatever shipping goggles someone wants to wear (or none, for that matter).
Rey in Training. After watching this scene, the more bitter I am about what could have been in The Last Jedi. Argh.
Luke. We finally see the Luke Skywalker (as a Force Ghost) that we should have seen in The Last Jedi. At least we got that much of him.
Leia. I’m still amazed that this worked so well (and was handled so sensitively).
Rey is a Palpatine. I vaguely remember some people claiming this was a retcon of Kylo Ren claiming Rey’s parents were nobodies in The Last Jedi, but honestly, it felt right to me. For one thing, Ren only knew what was in Rey’s mind (and she didn’t know her true identity). For another, even if Ren had known who she was and he lied to her, I would have been fine with that. People lie all the time, so why do we assume a character in a movie must be telling the truth?
Rey and Ben. Their connection finally made sense to me. Their lightsaber duel was phenomenal, and pairing it with Leia’s death was gut-wrenching. Their interaction in this movie made me see all of their previous interactions in a different light. I loved having Ben see the memory of Han, echoing their meeting in The Force Awakens. And I loved how it ended for them.
Force-sensitive Finn. I’ve suspected this was true since The Force Awakens. I didn’t need Finn to finally tell Rey in the movie (though I’m glad J.J. Abrams confirmed that’s what Finn was trying to say in the scene where they were sucked under the desert).
Lando Calrissian. Lando is one of my favorite characters from the original trilogy. I was glad to see him – and to see his contribution – and I liked how the movie set up a potential future for him searching for the family of ex-stormtrooper Jannah (and maybe others?).
What I Was Ambivalent About
Return of Palpatine. On the one hand, it felt rushed (and I can see how to some people it might feel contrived), but like most of the things that don’t quite work in this movie, I blame The Last Jedi for not setting this up properly. On the other hand, if you look at the three trilogies as a whole story, this makes complete sense. Especially since Darth Sidious was always interested in/looking for immortality. So for me this is, right idea, poor introduction.
What I Disliked
The Lighting. The beginning of the movie and the majority of the scenes on Exegol were far too dark. I know this was meant to contrast the Light and the Dark sides of the Force (as exemplified with the sunny, green world where the Resistance was based and the desert planet with the colorful, vibrant celebration). But the overly dark scenes really made it difficult at times to understand what was happening. More of a nit, to be honest.
Confusing Beginning. Yes, I understand that Kylo Ren is searching for Palpatine, but there are no on screen titles for the planet – was that Mustafar? – or what the heck the pyramid-shaped thing was that he retrieved (or how he knew it was there). And then we have to guess what it does based on context. We don’t really get an explanation of what it is until our heroes start their search (and we don’t know why it’s so important until even later). A better explanation in the opening crawl of something like ‘Exegol is impossible to find/navigate to without a Sith Wayfinder’ OR ‘Kylo Ren searches for a Sith Wayfinder on Mustafar in hopes it will lead him to Exegol, the ancient hidden planet of the Sith where he expects to find – and kill – the phantom Emperor…’ (instead of the actual ‘Kylo Ren rages in search of the phantom Emperor…’) would have gone a long way to make everything less confusing in the first six to ten minutes of the movie.
“Somehow Palpatine returned”. Yeah, there’s a reason why this became a meme. I understand why J.J. Abrams just dropped this information in like he did. I’d be tempted to do it that way, too, if I was him. Kind of like drawing a line under The Last Jedi (which should have set this up) and being done with it – and then being free to get on with the story, without a lot of additional exposition.
Conclusion
The Rise of Skywalker may be uneven in parts, but it is eminently watchable and is an entertaining and satisfying end to the Skywalker Saga. In fact, I can’t wait to watch it again.
