The Disney trilogy of Star Wars films has come to an end and supposedly ends the Skywalker Saga. And like many films in the Star Wars franchises, it has divided the fan base.
Since the events of The Last Jedi an old enemy has reappeared: the long-dead Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Kylo Ren (Ben Driver), sets out to find Palpatine on the secret Sith world and destroy the old emperor. Instead, Palpatine offers Kylo a fleet of Imperial Cruisers if Kylo kills Rey (Daisy Ridley).
This new threat makes Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac) go on a mission to find Exegol and kill the Emperor before the fleet can cause havoc across the galaxy.
The Star Wars fanbase has a reputation for being whiny and entitled. This started back when the Prequel films were released with countless articles and videos complaining about every little detail. Some of this was deserved. But it got worst with The Last Jedi where a vocal sector of the fanbase rallied against that film and demanded it was erased from the canon. Despite The Last Jedi making $1.3 billion and being well received by critics; Disney has conceded to this corner of the internet.
Since Disney’s brought LucasFilm and the rights to Star Wars their production has been a mixed bag. Rogue One and Solo were production nightmares that required extensive reshoots and changed their directors. Colin Trevorrow was hired to write and direct Star Wars IX before being replaced by J. J. Abrams at the last minute. His brief was to please the fans.
In The Last Jedi Rian Johnson subverted expectations. He killed off Supreme Leader Snoke who was set up as the big overarching bad guy, and Rey discovered her parents were nobodies who sold her. Abrams had to reverse these reveals with different reveals. Palpatine basically takes over Snoke’s role, and Rey’s makes another discovery about her parentage. It was a silly move but it did provide Jodie Comer a cameo. Kelly Marie Tran’s role as Rose was reduced by an incredible amount – she basically standing with the commanders. Tran suffered at the hands of internet trolls to the point she quit social media.
Abrams was brought on to direct and co-write Star Wars at the last minute and it shows with the story. Abrams and his co-writer, Chris Terrio, basically used a video game template. The main trio keeps finding artefacts or get information from someone on a new planet. Disney’s plan for Star Wars was to release a film for this trilogy once every two years but there was never an overarching plan which resulted with this rushed product. The original trilogy and prequel trilogy had broad plans regarding their direction and there was a three-year gap between films.
Abrams is known for being a big fan of Star Wars. His Star Trek films were basically his Star Wars audition tapes. And he knows how to craft an image – there were impressive sequences like the opening scene where Kylo Ren fights his way to the Waypoint, and when Kylo Ren and Rey have a psychic lightsaber duel. But he is an unoriginal filmmaker – The Force Awakens was basically a remake of A New Hope and Rise of Skywalker copied scenes from Empire and Return of the Jedi. This film’s final arc was the same as Return of the Jedi‘s.
The return of Palpatine has been criticised as a desperate attempt to bring back a classic villain to please the fans. I personally think bringing back Palpatine could have worked if there was a bit more forethought. Palpatine was a master manipulator in the original and prequel trilogies and villains coming back from the dead is nothing new in fantasy fiction. Sauron, Voldermort, and The Dark One from The Wheel of Time all survived death or had some sort of contingency and Palpatine could have done something similar. He could have used the Dark Side of the Force that kept his spirit alive, cloned himself, or upload his consciousness onto a computer. But this is me playing retrospective fan-fiction.
Rise of Skywalker has been marketed as the closer to the Skywalker Saga. I don’t believe that for a second. If there is money to be made Disney will return to this Saga in an instance.
Even though Rise of Skywalker was made to appease Star Wars fans it has resulted in a new division. Some people have claimed it to be the worst ever Star Wars ever, whilst others say it’s a great conclusion to the Saga. The reality is its neither. Rise of Skywalker is nowhere near as bad as The Phantom Menace or The Clone Wars, nor is it a classic entry in the franchise. Rise of Skywalker is just mediocre.
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Summary
A lacklustre and rushed end to the saga.
Good review. I think the film is better than mediocre but you raised some good points. If it truly was a cap to the entire saga, they could have connected more to some prequel trilogy. I thought they kind of ignored the prequels. I wasn’t looking for much, but maybe referencing some key events would have tied all the films together. Perhaps they could have mentioned Order 66, the killing of the young Jedi, Mace Windu, Qui Gon ghost.. Something. Then to me it would serve as a true capstone to the 9 film series (the standalone films aside).