Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Richard E. Grant, Ian McDiarmid, Keri Russell, Billy Dee Williams
This is now Episode Nine and the Star Wars series is now old hat, like it is turning back on itself and repeating the same things we saw in better Star Wars movies. The First Order is no Empire, and even the re-introduction of Emperor Palpatine, who was thought to be long dead after Darth Vader threw him off a platform and into the Death Star abyss in Return of the Jedi, feels like a desperate attempt to make the First Order seem like something more than the lightweights they are.
We finally discover who Rey's parents are, the Rebellion obtains a tracking device leading straight to Emperor Palpatine's hideout, Lando Calrissian (Williams) returns at the age of 82 to steer the Millenium Falcon into battle once more, and battles of dizzying proportions occur where First Order and Rebellion fighters whiz at, past, and through each other. The air dogfights are hard to follow.
Unlike Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope for fanboys), we can't gain any sense as to who is shooting at whom or why. It is CGI overload of the highest order.
A Star Wars movie, no matter how the story lines play out, will always have superior production values that won't fall below a certain level of quality, although Rogue One was iffy with its CGI de-aging of Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia. Speaking of the Princess turned Rebellion general, Carrie Fisher again appears in The Rise of Skywalker despite passing away three years ago. Her scenes are a distraction. I found myself concentrating more on the editing techniques which make her appear as if she is actually occupying scenes with other actors. They were pretty good, by the way, but were they necessary to be included at all?
The Rise of Skywalker's best scenes involve the conflicted Kylo Ren, whose fate is never in doubt, but Adam Driver is up to the task of leveraging pathos to his role. His relationship with Rey is more complex than expected, and contains some touching nuances. The rest of The Rise of Skywalker, where Poe (Isaac) and Finn (Boyega) continue taking it to the Empire, er First Order, despite being outgunned and outmanned and making banal declarations about being both, are mostly marking time until we get back to the more engrossing drama of Kylo Ren.
We have cameos from not just Billy Dee Williams, but other past Star Wars notables brought in to tidy up subplots or just to elicit a "whoa" reaction from the audience. One is particularly effective, and echoes back to a similar scene in The Force Awakens, which seemingly set Star Wars back on course before The Last Jedi exploded it. J.J. Abrams was brought in to clean things up, and maybe send this Star Wars trilogy out on the right note, but even he is seemingly recycling past Star Wars movies with Palpatine urging Rey to strike him down and thus allowing the Dark Side to win. It isn't fully explained how Palpatine even survived his fate in Return of the Jedi. Let's say he was able to survive an infinite fall, didn't the Death Star blow up again ten minutes later? There was some offhand mention of cloning, but did Palpatine get cloned only to reenact the same death wish he had before? He said he foresaw Luke killing him thirty years earlier, and now Rey doing the same thing. The evil emperor had better get the batteries checked on his foresight mechanisms.
I conclude by saying The Rise of Skywalker was better than The Last Jedi, but it is hardly a satisfying conclusion to this third Star Wars trilogy. (Spoiler alert, although probably not), when the First Order is eliminated and the rebels win, I wasn't stirred as much as relieved it was over. Is Star Wars over for me? I should hope not, and I'm sure we will see more Star Wars in the future, but will anything bring back the inspiration and spirit which made the original trilogy such a trio of masterpieces?
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