The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
If you didn't have enough of my initial rambling review of The Rise of Skywalker, here is my second half, spoiler-filled (likely too-long) breakdown of the film. Here we go... SPOILERS AHEAD:
Reylo! As with the previous two films, the tense and mysterious connection between Rey and Kylo Ren (now known to be a Force dyad!...) continues to be the highlight of this trilogy. And it all comes to a breathtaking and heartrending end here. Now, for most of us, it was no surprise that Kylo would turn to the light in the end. This whole saga is built around the redemption arc (specifically when it comes to the Skywalker fam). And, as he set out to do in TFW, Kylo does ultimately follow in his Skywalker grandfather's footsteps and returns to the side of the Jedi when it is most needed in order to destroy Palpatine. Like the spectacular team-up fight in TLJ, the rousing visual of Rey and Kylo side-by-side wielding Luke and Leia's lightsabers as they take on the Emperor is a definite high within this trilogy and the saga as a whole. Kylo's subsequent sacrifice to save Rey's life (following the semi-awkward kiss...) is devastating to watch, though his tragic heroism is a fitting end to his arc. In my opinion, Driver/Kylo was the best part of this trilogy and his arc and the end of his story were all done admirably well and in very moving fashion (in large part thanks to Driver's great performance). Though his arc and some of the other beats are not altogether surprising, they work well and help to continue and end the lore and themes of the Skywalker saga.
Many of the callbacks in this film are, for the most part, also fun and affecting. Ian McDiarmid is as fun as ever as Palpatine, as is Billy Dee Williams as Lando, though he lacks some of that sharpness and wit that marked the character in his younger years. There are some notably nice moments and screen-time given to both Chewie and C-3PO (partly because we think they are about to bite the dust, which will be mentioned below). We are given a great fan-service moment with the real-life voices of many former Jedi as they speak to Rey towards the end. Hearing Anakin, Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gon, Mace Windu and more obscure Jedi like Ahsoka and Kanan is a superb cheer-inducing moment that ties together various SW properties all together. Likewise, returning briefly to Endor, Cloud City, Jakku and Tatooine are nice nostalgic touches. Then, there are the other brief but important cameos. Foremost is Kylo's poignant moment with his father, Han Solo, whose words are pivotal in Kylo returning to the light. More moving than even his hand-on-face callback is Han's "I know" callback, here used in a similar way to when Leia told Han she loved him so long ago. Seeing Ford return to Star Wars one last time is never a bad thing. Rey's similar important moment with Luke's force-ghost is an equally moving segment culminating in another throwback moment when Luke finally is able to use the Force to lift his X-Wing out of the water like Yoda did for him back in the day (although his catching the thrown lightsaber was a little cheesy). And lastly, are the brief final appearances of Luke and Leia as Force ghosts at the end leading to the finale where Rey takes on the name Skywalker for herself - a perfect way to end the saga.
Note: if you did enjoy the film wholeheartedly, I really would not blame you at all for stopping reading here before I go ham with breaking down all that I did not particularly like about the film. Everything I say below I say as someone who loves Star Wars, film, and also, a well-made film.
The Bad:
As two of this trilogy's 'main' characters, Finn and Poe's stories and threads are deeply lacking. One of Finn's main things is his relationship with Rey and here, through the first half of ROS, we keep hearing him tell Rey that he has to tell her something. Either this is him telling her he loves her or it is that he is Force-sensitive. However, his 'confession' to Rey has zero conclusion in the end and is not addressed at all. The 'love' thing would have been pretty awkward considering what ends up happening with Rey and Kylo (erm, Ben). The Force option could have been interesting and could have been a way to say that the Jedi Order is continuing with Finn as one of the first of the new generation of Jedi. Regardless though, this is all left unsatisfactorily unresolved, and Finn's whole trilogy arc doesn't have much meaningful conclusion. Then there is Poe. His whole thing with Zorii is a nice touch that gives some background to his character, however, it too seems to be all for naught as Zorii's existence seems to be more to move around pieces so that the deus ex machina spaceship cavalry can come in last second to help save the day. At the end, during the celebrations there is an awkward little final interaction between Poe and Zorii, again, making this whole side plot feel extraneous and insignificant. As for Poe's trilogy arc, I guess it's that he is the new head of the Rebellion or Republic or whatever it's called now. His being the new leader was a logical progression through the films at the very least. Next is the use of the Knights of Ren - Kylo's seemingly badass entourage of warriors, or something... They have been tantalizingly hinted at through this whole trilogy with everyone thinking that at some point their story would be told. But, not really... Once again, they are used sparingly and enigmatically with no overall relevance to the story. Their legacy now stands as being semi-cool looking characters that possibly may be good combatants but no one is really sure. As mentioned above, Chewie and C-3PO are both given nice moments here, although they're in quite manipulative fashion. At different points we are led to believe that both these beloved characters are about to meet their end - and thus our eyes begin to tear uncontrollably - however, in both cases, they are saved and live right through to the end. Don't get me wrong, I am happy they are both alive still, but that was pretty emotionally shitty for the filmmakers to pull our strings like that just for us to well up in this final instalment. Also, were they insinuating at the end that Jannah was possiby Lando's daughter? Uhh...? Lastly, in terms of characters (and I admit this is being a little nitpicky) is Leia's lightsaber being buried with Luke's on Tatooine. Clearly Luke has a major connection to Tatooine, but, as far as we know, Leia has none. She is from Alderaan (RIP). Therefore, her saber being buried at Luke's home is a tad odd - but, then again, the only alternative may be sending her saber off to float with the remainders of her planet in deep-space. Oy.
With regards to the plot, the first half of the film is tried-and-true MacGuffin territory / fetch quests with everyone trying to get their hands on a couple Sith wayfinders. As any writer will tell you, this is a very derivative and uninspired storytelling technique that is often used to efficiently place our heroes in places where they can take part in some action set-pieces, visit new locales and run in with some classic characters. Storywise, MacGuffins never really feel significant with tangible ramifications or connections to our main characters - the kind of thing that one would desire in a trilogy (and saga) ender. Additionally, not only is this the first mention of wayfinders in Star Wars (seemingly similar but different to Sith holocrons...) but the first act also introduces the idea of lightspeed skipping. This would be fine except that a number of characters continuously question Poe on being able to lightspeed skip in a way that makes the audience believe that 'skipping' will have some significance later on. But, again, no. It is never mentioned again in the film and has no meaningful significance. Lastly, is a more surface-level criticism, and that is some of the very cringeworthy dialogue. I am not going to hone in on any lines in particular and I definitely recognize that every previous Star Wars film has had some outrageously groan-inducing lines (looking at you prequel trilogy...) but, to be annoyingly thorough, I thought I would just add that in.
The Ugly:
Now, whereas the 'bad' dealt with some things that one may be able to look past in the future during rewatches, these 'ugly' issues I see as actual detriments to this trilogy. I mean, the Emperor is back... buuuuut, he was brought back in the opening crawl! The ultimate baddie of Star Wars was resurrected in-between films! Come ooooon! Instead of having the first half of this film be about finding miniature glowy pyramids, why not plot out a suspenseful and exciting progression to a reveal that Palpatine is still alive? They could have still used the ominous voice recording as a sorta MacGuffin but one that slowly leads to the return of Palpatine a bit later in the film. This opening crawl reveal may be one of the worst storytelling decisions I may have ever seen, and it is a huge disservice to the fanbase. My honest belief is that the studio decided to have Palpatine return right at the beginning of this film so that they could market ahead of time the fact that he was in it. His return was not meant to be a twist as it was fully announced ahead of time that he would be in this film, and I think Disney/Lucasfilm did this in order to draw more people out to see the movie. The Emperor's return surely is a selling point for new and old fans alike to come out to see the final chapter and I think this illustrates that, at the end of the day, the studio cares more about ticket sales/profits than making a good and true story. I get that this is a cynical outlook but it really seems to be the only thing that makes sense. Can you imagine how incredible it would have been if Palpatine's return was a shocking twist? The story still could have been rejiggered so that Kylo would have had his tense moments with Palpatine prior to his turn to good - it just would have occurred slightly later in the film. The very return of Palpatine leads me to my greatest gripe about ROS...
The retconning and lack of cohesive story. I discussed this in my main review already but it is fully visible that the story/themes/direction of this trilogy change from one film to the next. JJ started off with retreading beats and threads from the original trilogy, Rian then tried to move the story into new directions, and then, JJ, taking over again, had to course correct the trilogy from (what the studio and fanbase perceived as) Rian's blunders. As such, an enormous part of ROS is painfully rewriting and correcting what Rian did in TLJ. Rian killed off Snoke, the apparent big bad of the new trilogy? That's okay, JJ will bring back Palpatine and just say Snoke was pulling the strings all along. How was clone Snoke a powerful Force user? Why were clone Snokes even needed? Eh, who cares. Who is piloting Palpatine's massive armada of hidden ships? Millions and millions of clone Snokes? Eh, who cares. Rian had Kylo break away from Vader's shadow leading to him symbolically destroying his Vader-inspired helmet? Yeah, true, the helmet was pretty cool visually, so let's just have JJ literally make Kylo put the pieces back together so he can wear it again (an altogether apt metaphor for the entirety of ROS). Does Kylo doing this retcon his arc in TLJ? Eh, who cares. Rian had Rey make a huge discovery finding out that her parents were no one significant. Does that anti-legacy theme that anyone can be a Jedi/hero go against the Skywalker legacy theme - sort of, but it is an intriguing and moving nonetheless. Okay, no, we have to stick to the rulebook. JJ, make Rey a Palpatine, okay? Does it make any sense though? At what point did Palpatine have a wife/partner/harem/whatever leading to him having a son? Who the hell knows. Does Palpatine procreating jive with anything at all we know about him? Eh, who cares. It honestly boggles my mind why Disney/Lucas didn't plot out the arcs of the main characters of this trilogy for each subsequent director to stick to. I deeply respect JJ and Rian as filmmakers but the fact that there was no cohesion or seemingly little communication between them as one passed on the trilogy to the next makes no sense at all. And the end result is it being a total and ugly detriment to this trilogy that, sadly, now cannot be rectified. Why, oh why, could they not have just adapted the incredible Thrawn trilogy of books (*the originals*) to be this new film trilogy...
Oh, and just to throw it in: General Hux as the rebel spy?? Are you kidding... That is one of the dumbest sequences in all of Star Wars... Was that actually meant to be a satisfying twist or just a bad joke (even though he has been one of the trilogy's main villains). One of the heroes (I think Finn) voices all of our inner-thoughts at the reveal, "You're the spy?!". And then for him to be killed off a second later... Like what in the hell was the studio thinking with this... They needed to put Richard E. Grant's officer in charge that badly for him to serve Palpatine?? My dog could have written a better ending for Hux than that hot-garbage...
The Unfortunate:
Now, I am not putting this down as either a good or bad but, rather, simply a tragic and unfortunate part of The Rise of Skywalker. And that is the death of Carrie Fisher. As most know, Carrie passed away in 2016 prior to filming any scenes for the new film. Therefore, JJ and the writers had the immensely difficult task of crafting a story for her only by using extra footage that she had shot for The Force Awakens. And they wisely did not go the alternate method of creating her role through CGI. Watching ROS you can definitely see some of the awkward cracks in Leia's storyline and the filming of the scenes; she was originally meant to be a major part of the final film focusing on her training Rey. And for this reason I am not criticizing anything Fisher/Leia-related in this film but rather simply saying these were very unfortunate, and also sad, circumstances for the film to contend with.
Okay, there's the end of my psychotic spiel. Let me know your thoughts and comments below (or why you have now decided to unfollow me...). May the force be with you!
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