After Star Wars: The Last Jedi, J.J. Abrams was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had to keep the ball rolling after Rian Johnson had subverted several plot threads and set his own play into motion, all the while doing the legwork necessary to conclude the new trilogy. The resulting product, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is a mostly enjoyable film that feels both spectacular and safe at the same time.
After Supreme leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) reaches the lair of the once-dead Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), he is persuaded to Palpatine’s service, who promises him a gigantic fleet of new Star Destroyers. The only thing he needs to do is to kill Rey (Daisy Ridley). Rey, on the other hand, embarks on a quest to discover the location of Palpatine’s lair, learning about secrets about herself along the way.
If you had problems with The Force Awakens, you will probably have problems with The Rise of Skywalker too.
There’s a considerable amount of fan service, and while some of it, like the force ghost of Luke Skywalker catching his lightsaber (as opposed to throwing it away) does seem a bit too on the nose, most of it is enjoyable in its own way. And if you thought Rey was powerful in the first two movies, think again. She literally stops an airborne transport using the force in one scene, and she more than holds her own against Kylo Ren.
While much of the film feels like a rehash of what you already know about and expect from a Star Wars movie, at least it executes the narrative with a lot of visual flair.
The locations and cinematography is, at times, breathtaking. The fight scenes are also great, often venturing into phenomenal territory. Some of the humor is also great, and C3PO in particular is refreshing.
If you think about it, the plot seems both convoluted and simplistic. The first hour or so is mostly about the gang chasing after a mcguffin called a Sith wayfinder, and then the next bits are about the resistance trying to rally together in the face of overwhelming force and Rey coming to grips with her heritage. Palpatine is said to have been ‘pulling the strings this whole time’, but that falls apart when you think about it. If the First Order is just a distraction, why bother creating something like the Starkiller base at all in The Force Awakens? And if Snoke is just a puppet, why would he want to kill Rey, when that runs counter to Palpatine’s machinations?
Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker is best enjoyed when watched with low expectations, especially when you give in fully to the nostalgia trap. Some of the character arcs, like Kylo Ren’s journey, are done well, as is the send-off to Carrie Fisher’s Leia. Given the constraints they had, they pulled off Leia’s involvement the best they could have under such circumstances.
However, as you watch the film, you can’t help but think that the new trilogy would have immensely benefited from a guiding voice to unite the narrative of the three movies. The Last Jedi introduced a big wrench into the works, and while that movie doesn’t always work, it was, at least, bold and tried to move the narrative forward by asking interesting questions. The Rise of Skywalker, on the other hand, feels like how you would expect your next Big Mac to taste. Familiar and filling for the moment, but nothing you would dwell on in the days afterwards. And that’s not bad, for a Star Wars film to feel like a corporate burger of a film.
But The Last Jedi, and to a lesser extent, side stories like The Mandalorian made you feel that Star Wars could be so much more, and in that respect, The Rise of Skywalker can’t help but feel disappointing. Still, the film is undoubtedly well made, and if this is the last major Star Wars film in a while, then it’s not the worst way to go out. Of course, that’s probably not the case.