Last month saw the release of Star Wars : The Rise Of Skywalker. It was the finale for The Skywalker Saga so naturally I have thoughts. Some good but unfortunately a lot of bad. I’ve since heard that it was incredibly rushed and that they had 3 months less of time than both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and that’s incredibly apparent in the first half of the film. I’m so intrigued by the making of this film and I’m honestly looking forward to whatever documentary we get about it in a few years time. All of that being said, to get into this film will involve heavy spoilers. So if you haven’t seen it yet and want to steer clear of those then feel free to wait until later. This will be here for you whenever you’re ready.
*Once again, Heavy Spoilers on The Rise Of Skywalker*
Alright so here’s how I decided to do this is to start by listing the things I didn’t like first and then go into the things I did like so we can end on a positive Note. So let’s get right to it.
I hated Palpatine
Alright so let’s just get the biggest issue out of the way. Palpatine is a gigantic mess throughout this entire film because he shouldn’t be back. I have to give WiseSage a nod here because he called that Palpatine’s inclusion would hurt everything about this film. Palpatine and Snoke are both largely boring characters because they have no motivations besides just being Evil. Do they have their place in the films? Yes, to elevate the more interesting characters. When Snoke died, I was pumped for an entire film of Kylo Ren unlesahed. He had nothing holding him back and he had all of the power. No one could stop him now…except for a few things but we’ll get to that in a minute. Meanwhile, 9 out of 10 fans were obsessed with finding out everything they could about Snoke and personally, I’m glad that he was nothing more than a test tube grotesque macguffin that made no one happy. When this movie starts, we see Kylo Ren confront Palpatine and I wished so much that he had just killed him then and there. People want to complain about Superhero Movie villains being two dimensional and then here comes Palpatine who wants to raise a new empire just because he’s evil. Now I want to make something very clear here, I’m not saying that the sith aren’t supposed to just be pure evil because they are but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be filled with pathos and motivations.(Prime Example to the EU fans : The Darth Bane Trilogy.) Plus, everything Palpatine does in this film undercuts every other character at a core level. As such, I can’t stand Palpatine being anywhere near this film beyond a cameo.
I hated Rey’s Character Change
Red Lanyard once said, “Rey is the best thing to happen to Star Wars since A New Hope” and I totally agreed with him…until they forgot how to write her in this film. So let’s think about where Rey is at at the end of The Last Jedi. She’s a strong Jedi, she’s just gotten done training under Luke, She’s become a confident and capable hero for us to follow. So why does she basically backpedal on everything in this film? There’s a point where she says “Everyone keeps telling me they know who I am, I’m not sure anyone really does.” and she says this to Finn. If anyone knows her better then him it’s probably Leia. I just don’t understand why we had to get this CW version of Rey questioning who she is. Oh Wait, because of Palpatine! I mean, I understand men might be threatened but did we really need a scene with the line “You don’t just have Power, you have his power.” I mean, did we really have to say that to one of the strongest female characters of the last 20 years? If only she had some kind of conflict that didn’t revolve around questioning who she is. If only her story was more about her becoming the right successor for the Jedi order and if she can actually save Ben Solo or at the very least, Defeat Kylo Ren. Instead we have to suffer through this Nature versus Nurture storyline that honestly just doesn’t hit home as well as her arcs in the previous 2 films. I love Rey so much and to see her character arc end this way really upset me. I know she’s victorious in the end but still, we don’t get to see that incredible finale that we deserved.
Also, of the three names she could’ve taken, it would’ve made more sense for her to say “Rey Organa” instead of “Rey Skywalker.” Leia was the one she had spent over a year with. I love Luke and I love their arc in The Last Jedi but she basically spent a weekend with him and just ran with that name choice because we had to make sense of the Subtitle somehow. Hmm, wait, but wasn’t there anoth…Well, we’ll get to that later.
I hated how they moved away from the moral standards.
Alright, so one of the things I heard about The Last Jedi was “Well, why didn’t they go back and free the children on Canto Bight?” I’m with you, one of my favorite parts about The Last Jedi was how they humanized basically the entire galaxy and gave us this idea of multiple systems believing in the resistance, even the young slaves on Canto Bight know the symbol and that means something to the storyline. I had hoped that they would follow up on that in this film but nope. We have to get a fetch quest for the first half of the film and then get a by the books, “Good Guy Fight Bad Guy” ending which I’d be ok with if it wasn’t set up as something else.
This entire film should’ve been about the conflicting ideologies of Kylo Ren and Rey. It should’ve been about a complete and total Civil War for the galaxy. The thing is that if they had gone this route then you still could’ve had the main message of the final battle and honestly improved on it. If you ask me, the entire film should’ve focused on…Well, hang on, I’ve gotta get to the next part for that one.
I hated how little they used Rose
You should’ve seen this coming if you know me at all. Rose is one of my favorite parts of the Last Jedi and I was hoping to see her role continue even further in this film. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Rose has a shocking 76 Second role in the longest Star Wars film to date. That’s embarrassing. It’s an oversight that can’t be covered up. Rose was pushed under the rug, there’s no way around it. I wish I could say that she had a solid finale to her arc but if I hardly saw her at all then I can’t even talk about her having an arc. Typically I try to avoid getting too political on here but hey, I’m angry and the hate for Rose was primarily due to Sexism and Racism. Maybe not all, but I’d say 9 out of 10 complaints revolved around it. It’s a shame that Disney and Lucasfilm chose to give into them.
Also, don’t you dare say that it was because her scenes were with Leia. 1. Why did Leia’s scenes work with everyone else? 2. So give her different scenes. Using Carrie Fisher’s memory as a means to avoid saying “We wussed out” is cowardly and dishonorable to everything that Leia and Carrie both stood for.
The resistance in this film should’ve been entirely focused on gathering their allies after sending out Leia’s message at the end of The Last Jedi. You could’ve had Rose gather up what is basically a platoon of Slaves turned into Freedom Fighters. How awesome would that have been? Plus, you could even do a scene where Finn finds a group of other Ex-Stormtroopers and he leads them and finds his place among them. And then you could have a scene where Poe has to go find some more pilots but that means he runs into his old crew before he joined the Resistance. Think about it : Finn and Rose could lead the ground troops while Poe and Lando lead the air combat above them. Wouldn’t that have been great? Speaking of the Ex-Stormtroopers…
I loved the new characters but hated that one was hardly used and the other was largely unnecessary.
Alright, so Zorii Bliss just didn’t need to be in this movie. She’s a fun character to have a few moments with Poe but if we’re already struggling to give meaningful arcs to already existing Characters then maybe we don’t need new characters. As for Jannah, her inclusion in this film should’ve either come sooner or not at all. We’re introduced to her roughly an hour before the film is done and are basically given a blink and you miss it introduction to her because we’re getting the climatic Rey and Kylo Ren scene right after we see her for the first time. Which…once again, if both of these characters had been introduced as new allies for the Resistance then this entire sequence could play out the exact same way just in a more interesting fashion.
I hated the lack of consequences.
Chewbacca’s Dead. No He’s not.
C-3PO doesn’t have memories anymore. Nevermind, yes he does.
Kijimi was destroyed, but Babu Frik and Zorii Bliss both got out and they’re the only named Characters on that planet.
There are absolutely no consequences in the film until the last 10 minutes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I wanted any of these characters to die but why do 3 fake-outs in one film? It takes away from everything else.
Red Lanyard put it best when he said that if you complained about Canto Bight in The Last Jedi then they have no right to talk about Kijimi because it honestly serves no purpose to the rest of the story. You don’t need to have this whole “C-3PO has to give up his memory” scene if you’re just going to backpedal on it later in the film. It just didn’t make any sense to me when they could’ve done other things to lengthen the story.
I loved “Be With Me”
This was just a cool moment where we got a bunch of cameos from the various past Jedi. I think I would’ve preferred if they could’ve been there as actual force ghosts but it was still pretty cool to hear all of their voices backing Rey.
I loved Finn and Poe’s Finales.
The thing is, Finn and Poe both have full and complete arcs throughout this trilogy. Better than Rey in all honesty because they forgot how to write her in this last film for some odd reason. Poe becomes the leader that Leia wanted him to be and Finn becomes the hero of the resistance. Their arcs were very satisfying…they’re just could’ve been a few other differences with how they get there but that’s more on the film as a whole and less about them.
I love John Williams.
That is all. The man is the most consistent part of all 9 films and I’m so glad he was able to do this film.
Kylo Ren might be my favorite Star Wars Character.
If this trilogy did one thing correctly, it was everything involving Adam Driver’s Performance as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. He’s a masterclass really and he comes out the best from all of this. The truth of how good his performance is and how well written he is is the fact that both Red Lanyard and Raven had an hour long discussion on if he should’ve been redeemed or if he should’ve been the ultimate villain. They basically just agreed to disagree and honestly, I think that’s the point of his character, he and Rey are both the perfect balance when they’re together. “Powerful Light and Powerful Darkness” just like Luke tells us in The Last Jedi. Whereas Rey was able to balance it within herself, Ben was unable to…unless he was with Rey. I went into this film ready for Kylo Ren to be the ultimate evil force and Rey rising up to meet him. We got that for two thirds of the Film, he and Rey both have that great scene on Kijimi where each camera turn has a different setting. It’s a beautifully well done scene. Then you have the fight on the death star ruins which once again tells a story because he is in complete control that entire scene and yet, he refuses to kill her…because he’s conflicted for the right reasons. Then he turns after that, He goes to fight with her against Palpatine and it was so well done that I was perfectly content with it. You even have that fantastic scene with Han which is once again just perfect because of how good Ford and Driver are in their roles.
Then…they pulled the rug out from under us. We get the kiss that so many of us have waited for, he smiles for the only time in the series and then he just fades away. That’s his ending. I love that he had this redemption arc but if you’re going to give him that then why on earth would you kill him? If you’re making the choice to go with the “Super Happy Good defeats Evil and everything is perfect” ending then why not let him become a hero at the end or at the very least get some kind of Mention from Rey. He doesn’t even get to be a force ghost with Luke and Leia at the end. Rey just forgets him, I guess. “Thanks for the life energy, I’ll call you later. K, Bye!”
I know I’m being a bit dramatic on the last part but seriously, his literal last words are “Ow”. I think he deserved a better ending where he lived and he and Rey started up a new Jedi Temple…or at the very least, he deserved to be featured in a scene where Rey tells of his tale of redemption or something like that. His character arc was perfect until that. From powerful apprentice to supreme leader to redeemed Jedi. It’s the ultimate Star Wars Story. If only it had been handled differently.
Also, Leia’s Finale would’ve been way better if she had used the last bit of her life force to save either Ben or Rey. Instead she died to Distract Kylo? I guess. See, I shouldn’t have to Question why Leia died in the film. I understand that Carrie Fisher’s passing put them in a bind but either do it right or don’t do it at all.
Overall, I know I’ve been pretty harsh on this film and I’m not backing down from anything I’ve said because I will always believe that Abrams, Terrio, Kennedy and everyone else could’ve done a lot better with one of the biggest film finales of all time. But that being said, I’ve always loved Star Wars, I still love Star Wars and I always will love Star Wars.
