The End of an Era: A Review of The Rise of Skywalker

4/20/2020

Elliott Simmons

By Elliott Simmons
My review and opinion of the final film in the Star Wars Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker.

After 43 years, one of the most famous and beloved sagas in pop culture history as we know it has come to an end. As Emperor Palpatine says in one of the film’s later trailers, “Now comes the final word in the story of Skywalker,” and indeed, the film brings to a conclusion the sequel trilogy which began with 2015’s The Force Awakens and the Skywalker Saga as a whole. Though there will undoubtedly be more Star Wars films and television series in the future, Rise of Skywalker brings to an end the franchise as we know it. How successfully it maneuvers this landing is perhaps the bigger question.

Overall, this entire trilogy has been a rather divisive one. JJ Abrams’ The Force Awakens was initially received positively for its bolstering of a galaxy far far away with modern day visual and special effects, but its story was critiqued for more or less being a rehash of A New Hope and it didn’t really do anything new or innovative. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi will likely go down as the most divisive Star Wars film of all time, both lambasted and praised for Johnson’s breath of fresh air approach and rejecting of old franchise stereotypes in an attempt to both modernize it for today’s political era and to send the narrative in a new direction. Love it or hate it, The Last Jedi was unquestionably a different Star Wars experience than what had come before, which left much of the fanbase angry, fatigued, and uncertain about the possibility of a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. By bringing acclaimed director J.J. Abrams back into the fray, Disney looked to change that. Originally, Colin Trevorrow was supposed to direct the final film, but conflicts with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy over the direction to take the film caused him to be removed from the project. Abrams was chosen as the successor, given his success at reinvigorating the Star Trek fan base and due to his more conservative, safe approach to the plot of The Force Awakens.

On December 18th, fans and critics alike flocked to the theaters to see if this decision yielded any merit. The reception to the film has fluctuated across the board, but most of the reception seems to be rather mixed. Many critics lambasted the film for playing it too safe and not continuing the bolder, more creative storyline that Rian Johnson had cultivated in the previous film. Somewhat opposite the critics, many fans have voiced that the film succeeded in ending the trilogy without another crash, but that it was overall disjointed and only semi-satisfying.

The story sees the return of the nefarious Emperor Palpatine, the penultimate villain of the Skywalker saga, and his threat of final galactic domination with the Final Order, a fleet of numerous star destroyers and their hosts of stormtroopers. Kylo Ren, at the behest of Palpatine, seeks out Rey to finish what started in The Last Jedi and turn her to the dark side so that they might rule together. While the Rebellion seeks to finish the fight once and for all, Rey in the process discovers a terrible truth about her past which shapes both her and Kylo Ren’s character arc throughout the remainder of the film.

There’s no question that the film plays things safe. The important twists are more or less predictable, and the plot heads in a mostly straightforward direction, with few truly interesting moments. This isn’t to say these twists and important plot beats were necessarily bad; on the contrary, they helped flesh out the main characters more and made the film more compelling to watch. That said, many of these plot points made little sense in the grander narrative. The audience is expected to take several important revelations at face value, despite the lack of suitable explanation in any part of the movie or from outside sources. This in many ways was a gear grinder, making the film hard to watch at times and even more frustrating to contemplate afterward.

Another contentious point about the movie was its pacing or lack thereof. Indeed, I couldn’t help but feel while watching it that with the number of important plot points competing for screen time that Rise of Skywalker should’ve been two movies instead of one. Unlike The Last Jedi which ambled along rather slowly, Rise of Skywalker is fast-paced and lacks a dull moment. While there are scenes where some additional dialogue or fleshing out would feel appropriate and enhance the plot, the faster pace and constant action allows for an overall more engaging movie experience.

Another controversial aspect of Rise of Skywalker is the lengths it goes to in an attempt to correct or outright undo the debatable mistakes of The Last Jedi’s plot. While these changes or expansions on what has already been established will undoubtedly be appreciated, if not revered by many (I was happy with what was done in this regard), there is no doubt that despite J.J. Abrams saying otherwise, his film almost entirely snuffs out Rian Johnson’s vision. In fact, I would say that there exists almost no need to see The Last Jedi to understand and enjoy Rise of Skywalker.

Although much can be said of the directors’ positive and negative impacts on the franchise, it must be noted that the faults of this trilogy lie primarily in the hands of Disney. Although they got the cash cow they were expecting, it has become evident that they didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into when they acquired the franchise and therefore mismanaged it. The idea of having three different directors was interesting, but a lack of clear vision for the narrative and conflicting interests resulted in a Frankenstein of a trilogy. Hopefully, Disney can learn from these mistakes as they move forward with future Star Wars films. All in all, Rise of Skywalker delivers a mostly enjoyable, albeit somewhat flawed ending to the trilogy that is more acceptable than not.

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