Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Review

Release Date: December 19, 2019

Director: J.J. Abrams

Budget: $275 Million

Screenplay: J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio

 With The Force Awakens, J.J. had created a comfortable return to a jumbled franchise. He opened Pandora's Box and let the internet run wild with theories. Who was Rey's parents? What was Snoke's real identity? Then came The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson's penultimate entry. It's an understatement to say that The Last Jedi was a controversial film. It left many fans angry, sad, and confused. What Johnson did creatively was to subvert everyone's expectations of explaining questions opened by Abrams. Who was Rey's parents? Nobody. What was Snoke's real identity? Doesn't matter because he's dead. Will Luke return to the fight and be a hero? No, he's turning his back on the force. I respect Rian Johnson's creativity to make something different, but unfortunately it backfired and went too far in many places. As a result, this film is a mess that tries too hard to write its own story and right the wrongs of The Last Jedi. 

After Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is given an offer he can't refuse by a familiar but evil face, Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Issac), Chewie and C3PO race to find the key to the source of this new threat in order to end it before it begins. Will Rey give in to the dark side? Will Kylo see the light? Along the way they meet old and new faces in the climactic conclusion to a forty-year saga.

The first thing you notice is just how quickly this film moves. In the first five minutes the film changes what feels like ten locations. You're not given any time to breathe and take in the weight of each moment. Many times you'll be asking yourself questions like "Wait, how does that work?" or "Why is that character doing that thing?" But the film doesn't give time to explain or help set up certain plot elements. In The Force Awakens, we spent a majority of the time learning about Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren's lives; what their dreams were, what struggles they had. The writers try to make up for lost time in the last two films by giving Poe a character trait he did not have before. Finn's character arc was concluded in The Force Awakens so he serves as a sidekick as he did in The Last Jedi. C3PO and Chewbacca are heavily featured in here as a strong supporting characters, but R2D2 is barely in it. BB-8 is in it a bit, but get overshadowed by his new friend D-O. Two new characters are introduced played by Keri Russell and Naomi Ackie, and they get a little screen time for us to know about them, but not enough for us to care. The always great Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando, if only for a few brief scenes.  Thanks to some CGI trickery and deleted scenes, we see one last hurrah from the late Carrie Fisher, and it was done tastefully.

It’s no secret that the Emperor was in this film, as he was in both trailers. Right off the bat you wonder, “If Palpatine is alive does that mean that everything that Darth Vader and Luke did together to defeat him is completely pointless?” Yes. And the film has a dodgy way of answering that question. But what really bugs me about this film is just how insanely convoluted the plot became, and featured too many conveniences. What follows is a story that feels like video game quests. You have to find a thing in order to find a thing so you can get to this place to fight a thing. It’s madness. Months before the film was released, some leaks of the plot came out online. They seemed too weird to be true, but if I hadn’t read them, I might not have understood what was happening. Moments that could have weight are lifted immediately dismissed in the next scene. And it happens multiple times! I just can’t help but be baffled by the writing decisions and it hurts my enjoyment of the movie.

Now it’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. There were genuinely touching scenes that pulled on my heartstrings, but sadly they were few and far between because I wasn’t allowed to spend time processing it before we were off to the next scene. The films is beautifully shot as always with Star Wars, and the music is nostalgic. Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor is always fantastic and so much fun to watch be evil. As with all three movies, Adam Driver’s acting is the pillar holding these films together. His portrayal of a conflicted son of iconic characters is a treat to watch, and any scene when his character is given time to develop is a highlight, and frankly the best part of the film.

The Rise of Skywalker tries too hard to make everyone happy, and in the end, might please only a few. Some exciting visuals and some brief nostalgia doesn’t quite help the film feel like the proper conclusion to a massive saga. Frankly, after this trilogy and the prequels, the Star Wars saga ended in my mind in 1983.