The question of Rise of Skywalker is it a satisfying as a conclusion to the trilogy and wraps up the nine films? My answer would be no. It should be titled Star Wars: The Rise of Fan Service. There were moments were the audience (except me) laughed, almost forced, and also emotional scenes, but they are not honest or story driven. It is the opposite of the last film and not seemingly fresh as Force Awakens. The film felt like a string of fan service characters and bits that are really spoiled by the trailers. This will not keep fans away and Rise of Skywalker should churn out a massive box office. The movie marks the return of J.J. Abrams to the director’s chair and co-writing the screenplay with Chris Terrio. It was four years since Force Awakens directed by Abrams which to me refreshed the Star Wars story while bringing back the familiar story points. Chris Terrio’s other franchise film was Justice League (2017). The story is also attributed to Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, the filmmaking team who were removed by Lucasfilm in September 2017. Trevorrow is known for developing the Jurassic World franchise including the Battle at Big Rock short this year. Now, I’m wondering what a concluding film would be like with Trevorrow.
We are told in the roll-up that the voice of Palpatine is heard around the galaxy. Strangely, we don’t actually hear the recording or see its effect, it is told not seen. It is noted that this takes place eight months after the last movie. Then, it picks up with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) landing on Mustafar and cutting down unknown opponents with his cross-bladed lightsaber. Mustafar is of course the volcanic planet introduced in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Driver is getting more attention with his performance in Marriage Story this year. Kylo Ren has found a pyramid-like Sith Wayfinder that helps him navigate to the planet Exegol (introduced here) in the Unknown Regions. This is a world connected with all of the Sith and he finds there Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), he looks zombie-like with pale eyes, and has a mechanical device holding him up like the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact (1996). McDiarmid played Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith and returned to the character in episodes of Star Wars: Rebels. He reveals some secrets about Supreme Leader Snoke and that he has a fleet of Star Destroyers to help the First Order take over the galaxy. He orders Kylo Ren to kill Rey to receive the fleet. The return of Palpatine feels contrived, his presence wasn't mentioned earlier, and seems dropped in to mirror Return of the Jedi.
We move to the Millennium Falcon, where Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) is playing the hologram chess game of dejarik with Poe (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega). Isaac was in this year’s action film, Triple Frontier, and Boyega starred in Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018). The costume of Poe is Indiana Jones-style with short sleeve beige shirt, brown pants, with a Han Solo-style holster. Poe heads to the cockpit passing by an alien, Klaud, that is a blobby column with wizened eyes and six tentacles from his head. They meet up with a contact, the alien Boolio, and Finn uses a cable attached to R2-D2 to load the data encoder. TIE fighters head towards the Falcon and they are able to finish loading the data and Boolio tells them to win the war. Finn mans the Falcon’s cannons and destroys some of their pursuers. Poe brings the ship into a new maneuver to lose the others which feels like a video game tactic. This moves to a jungle planet, Ajan Kloss (not identified), where Rey (Daisy Ridley) uses the Force to meditate in the air with rocks floating around her. She is given Luke’s lightsaber by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Ridley was in the drama, Ophelia (2018), bringing a new perspective to the Shakespeare play. It is well known that Fisher’s appearance was from unreleased footage which works well for the movie.
Rey battles the remote, the flying ball that shots blasts, and gets a vision of Kylo Ren and the Dark Side of herself. She uses a new lightsaber move, BB-8 is crushed under a tree, and Rey uses her staff to defeat the remote. Rey returns the lightsaber to Leia. Then, she is studying Jedi texts when she sees the Falcon on fire returning for a landing. The Resistance is assembled and Poe reveals that Palpatine has returned and has set into motion the Final Order in which they will destroy worlds. At the meeting is Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), really a cameo, and Lt. Connix (Billie Lourd). Tran is in the drama series Sorry for Your Loss and Lourd stars in American Horror Story. There is also pilot Wexley (Greg Grunberg) and Resistance trooper, Beaumont Kin (Dominic Monaghan) in what seems like a Lost reunion. Grunberg was in this year’s thriller, Burning Dog, and Monaghan was stalked by a serial killer in the 2018 Bite Club series. Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) is there in what seems like an advisor, another cameo, she of course starred in Us as Adelaide Wilson. Also debriefed is that Palpatine is on Exegol which C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) says is the Hidden Land of the Sith. Daniels played Tak in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and See-Threepio gets an active role in this film, but it appears to be thrown in with many other fan moments.
Rey checks on her Jedi texts and believes that they need a Sith Wayfinder to reach the Sith planet. The Wayfinder is of course the McGuffin of this film, the object of their search. Leia tells her to the world of Pasaana, Pasadena mixed with Santa Ana? (cities in Southern California), and she gives Rey the lightsaber. Kylo Ren’s shattered mask is welded together while the Knights of Ren are assembled. He returns to his Star Destroyer and meets with First Order commanders similar to the meeting of Grand Moff Tarkin at the Death Star. There is General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), reduced to a cameo, and General Pryde (Richard E. Grant), a new character to play the military leader and villain. This year, Gleeson was in the crime film, The Kitchen, and Grant was in the film Palm Beach. Kylo Ren is looking for the spy that is working within the First Order. Spoiler, this is very similar to a character in Star Wars: Rebels. Acting like Darth Vader, Kylo Ren uses the Force on a commander that is testy with the Supreme Leader. The Falcon lands on Pasaana, a desert planet, and they head over to what looks like Coachella. Threepio explains it is the Festival of the Ancestors. It is strange in the galaxy that there is any celebration when the First Order threatens to destroy planets.
One of the native children, Nambi Ghima (played by Kiran Shah with Debra Wilson’s voice), gives Rey a necklace and asks what is her name. The question of Rey’s identity is central to her character’s story with a Dark Side destiny. The identity question we’ve seen with Neo in Matrix (1999). Kylo Ren uses his Force FaceTime power and rips the necklace from Rey. They later encounter Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) who tells them that there are two Wayfinders and there are more objects to find, more secrets to discover, and more battles. Williams returned to the character in 2015 episodes of Star Wars: Rebels. There are new droids, like the lamp droid, D-O, voiced by J.J. Abrams, and new aliens, the tiny Babu Frik (Shirley Henderson) to work on Threepio’s memory. Another Abrams’ colleague, Keri Russell, from Felicity, plays helmeted Zorii Bliss who has a connection with Poe.
Then, they encounter Jannah (Naomi Ackie) who is a warrior and of course a final battle that brings everyone together to take on the Star Destroyers while Rey faces Palpatine. The introduction of new worlds and characters are slap dashed so it is difficult to find any connection to anything. Rey has some new Force powers, similar to Neo, and she has to see if she can defeat or ally with Kylo Ren. The story seems to be cut from Legends material like the comic book series, Star Wars: Dark Empire, and the young readers novel, The Glove of Darth Vader (1992). What seemed like originality in Force Awakens was taking the concepts and try to make them exciting and fresh. The scenes where characters finally have their moments are too fan service, just to get a reaction. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker attempts to close the Star Wars films into nine stories, but I consider the Skywalker Saga to be six complete movies.
Two Lightsabers out of Five!
#RiseofSkywalker, #JJAbrams, #DaisyRidley, #AdamDriver, #OscarIsaac, #JohnBoyega
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