The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga.
There are those Star Wars fans, like myself, who grew up on the original trilogy, and then there are the prequel fans, and finally, the devotees of the new sequel trilogy, and while we all may bicker and argue about which films are the best, in the end, it all comes down to personal preference. I loved the original trilogy the most because they are the movies that gave birth to the Star Wars phenomenon. The prequels were bogged down with an overabundance of unnecessary politics and trade negotiations that took away from the actual storylines and character arcs and while the new trilogy is loved and cherished by many, I would have to say, for the most part, they would be my second favorite trilogy in the entire franchise.
When you are dealing with a beloved and established series such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Harry Potter, the fans love what they love and the filmmakers would be wise to listen to them, otherwise, you risk losing them and in return, receiving unimaginable backlash. This is what happened with “The Last Jedi,” my least favorite Star Wars film ever, I would even go so far as to place “The Phantom Menace” in front of it, something I never thought would be possible. Director Rian Johnson took everything that ever came before in the Star Wars universe and decided he wanted to tell a different story and turned some of our favorite characters into lamebrained, cardboard cutouts that resembled nothing of their former selves. Even Mark Hamill expressed his distaste with how the narrative structure and character exposition in “The Last Jedi” unfolded. And so did the fans, even going so far as petitioning Disney to delete “The Last Jedi” from Star Wars canon and remake it. Not even “The Phantom Menace” generated that much outrage.
Thankfully, J.J. Abrams, who directed “The Force Awakens,” returns to set everything right. Or at least most of it. Love him or hate him, he started off this new trilogy with TFA and made the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy and he knows what the fans want and on this outing, he gives it to them in buckets.
As the movie begins, a mysterious transmission is heard around the universe in which someone, or some thing, claims to be the late Emperor Palpatine. When Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) hears this, he discovers that the transmission is being broadcast from the dead planet of Exegol on the other side of the galaxy and he heads out with the intent of killing this “being” as he wants to be the universe’s only major bad-ass. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) is being trained in the ways of the force by Leia (Carrie Fisher) but is unable to finish as she and Kylo have a psychic connection, one that was established in “The Last Jedi” and she feels something truly evil is attracting Kylo to it. When Kylo finally reaches his destination, he is greeted by Palpatine, who has been hiding in the shadows since his apparent demise in “Return of the Jedi,” and has orchestrated everything that occurred in “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi.” He promises to give Kylo control of the new Final Order and a new fleet of destructive Star Destroyers if he kills Rey. Kylo agrees and sets off to find her.
In the meantime, Rey now knows what Kylo is up to and in order to defeat the Sith, once and for all, she must uncover Palpatine’s lair and through Leia, learns that the only way there is by using a Wayfinder, a pyramid-shaped apparatus that points the way to Palpatine. In order to track it down, she must unearth a dagger, one inscribed in ancient Sith hieroglyphics, that will lead her to the Wayfinder, and, inevitably, to Palpatine. Leia informs her that Luke tried, unsuccessfully, to find the dagger on the distant planet of Pasaana many years ago but couldn’t find its whereabouts. Now Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and BB-8 must follow in Luke’s footsteps if they are to retrieve the dagger with any hope of eradicating the Sith and The Final Order.
“The Rise of Skywalker” has been receiving polarizing reviews, mixed to say the very least and while the movie fares much better than the previous abysmal “The Last Jedi,” it is most certainly not without its own issues. Disney is branding this as the final installment in the Skywalker saga and in order to wrap everything up, they have to cram a lot of characters and exposition into its 141-minute runtime. At times, it is brimming with lots of potential new avenues but they are never explored as the concentration here is squarely on Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo. I always enjoy reading fan theories about what could possibly transpire in any new Star Wars film and while some of them actually materialize here, there are quite a few surprises that not even I could have predicted. In “The Last Jedi,” our central trio of Rey, Finn, and Poe, were split up and separated and the movie suffered tremendously as a result, here though, Abrams and co. keep all three united for most of the film.
In many ways, “The Rise of Skywalker” is one big apology for “The Last Jedi.” While that movie has its followers, for the most part, it divided Star Wars fans unlike any other film in the series and much of what transpired in “Last Jedi,” here, is either explained away as a bad decision or choice (think Luke’s grumpy old man routine, the biggest irritation in that movie), or scenarios such as Snoke’s demise, which is presented as something that was meant to happen, at Palpatine’s insistence that he was always behind the scenes, pulling everyone’s strings. However you look at it, “The Rise of Skywalker” manages to bring this incredible, 42-year saga to a successful conclusion. Naturally, the ending is left wide open for our new characters to appear in future iterations but in regards to Luke, Vader, Han, and Leia, their story is now officially closed. Time to take a break from Star Wars and let some fresh new blood come in and create a whole new saga for us to love, or hate, and give us all the opportunity to bicker back and forth as to what worked and what didn’t. Ah Star Wars, gotta love it. Or hate it!
Now available on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, and DVD March 31st
