Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review

December 20, 2019 at 12:17am
By Jason Stettner

From the moment that initial iconic crawl comes across the screen you know you’re in for a bad time with this film. Like the plot, that initial writing point was lazy and hastily thrown together in an attempt to please everyone. That’s what a lot of this movie is, just plain fan servicing that feels unearned and generally disgusting in how it’s presented.

This is a pitiful way to end possibly the most iconic film franchise of all time. In a move that feels like it was taken from Spectre, Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) was actually behind everything. Not only that, but it goes deeper which I won’t mention as that would spoil things. This was awful, it ruins the arc of certain characters in past Star Wars movies and doesn’t make a shred of sense.

You just have to go along with it because he’s somehow radio broadcasting that he’s back across the galaxy. This prompts the incredibly intense Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) to go hunting and Leia (Carrie Fisher) to keep on training Rey (Daisy Ridley).

Back to Kylo he’s now got his crew, The Knights of Ren which are essentially useless characters. They don’t talk, they don’t react, they don’t fight, they’re just there and entirely pointless aside from just having them included. The stormtrooper that introduces them has more personality than any of the Knights of Ren.

Aside from that the narrative is typical Star Wars. There are more deadlier ships, we come across more characters and the plot is also semi-recycled from the Force Awakens as people are looking for a map to find a mystical long forgotten force user. There’s a glimmer of decency in this, during the main ending conflict it had brief moments that were alright. I was not however swayed by them throwing nostalgia pieces at me to wrap up in order to try and make me forget what I had just witnessed.

The story in this is weak, it’s light and if taken out of context it does not stand on its own. As part of the overall long running saga it’s a groan. I can’t see how any fan, or regular movie viewer could take joy in what’s presented here. I personally loved the Last Jedi, and this doesn’t hold a candle to it. I bring that up not as point of discussion, but a mention that when you have a set course you steer into, not try to pull away as that only further disrupts things and makes them a complete mess. With the example, being this movie.

There’s a great cast here, and the core group does their best. You get to see more of an evil side to Rey which came out of nowhere basically. Keep in mind she was only drawn towards darkness, which isn’t even close to the sort of things that happen here. Kylo was generally fantastic, his story was a waste. I thought Poe (Oscar Isaac) was trying to keep it together and his main foe from the last time Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) was entirely wasted.

Other side characters are used, there’s a sad fake out which was terrible. Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) was there, but not used, at all. I get that people weren’t a fan, but this movie was just strange about that whole situation involving that character. I’d say C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) was alright, he had some good lines and sort of an attitude that he didn’t even like what was going on. Pryde (Richard E. Grant) came out of nowhere, that was an awkward power shift that didn’t make sense in comparison to past movies.

Lando (Billy Dee Williams) seemed to be the only character that was truly happy to be there. When it comes to the visual elements this wasn’t nearly as well shot as the previous one was. The scale was vast, filled with pieces of nostalgia. Any loose little bit of nostalgia they could find they sprinkled it everywhere they could. Mix that with some fan service and the casual individual should just smile and go on.

The force was neat here, some elements were made up for this release which is fine I suppose. Healing would have been nice to have prior considering the type of injuries that happen, but it’s a casual thing now to do I guess.

The Conclusion

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is an awful conclusion to one of the most iconic franchises of all time, it’s stuffed with fan service that wasn’t earned. This is painful to sit through if you’re a fan of the series, or it should be if you take a second to think about the awful experience this is presenting. There’s a weak story here that was put together just to try and wrap this thing up. It was stupid, completely betrays the past story points that made this series so special.

Certain moments didn’t make sense, and it throws so much at you to try and catch you up that so much is forgotten. It gets flashy towards the end, with some moments that stand out. There was a decent movie there, but they tried way too hard to please people and it fell flat. I can’t believe that this is how the series ends. There are plot holes in this, character decisions that don’t make sense and it was a drag to sit through.

I don’t think any of the Star Wars movies have actually disappointed me, until I saw this. It literally hurts that this how things end, and the actual final scene isn’t at all a bad one. It’s just the crap they stuff in this episode that makes it awful. The Rise of Skywalker, the fall and decline of the overall narrative. If you don’t recall, it was I, Palpatine, the one behind everything! Give me a break.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review at Theater with DBOX 3D AVX Viewing

Rating Overall: 4.0