Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Movie Review

By
Susan Giles
6

10

0
6

10

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars has always been very special to me and its millions of fans worldwide. Even though the movie has its flaws, you can’t deny that it will succeed, nonetheless. For many, this was probably a dissatisfying ending to the trilogy, but every one of the talented actors gave it their all and it wasn’t their fault that the movie wasn’t appealing to numerous fans.

The major flaw I see in The Rise of Skywalker is that it wasn’t consistent with the previous two movies. It had many character nods to please the fans, and some great memorable moments, but the film, as a whole, wasn’t exactly making sense with the rest of the story.

Say what you will about the original trilogy prequels; I feel like they were extremely consistent and the entire story made sense. Everything was flowing perfectly. I guess that is the difference between having George Lucas fully involved and not having his input at all.

Sadly, the people who own the Star Wars franchise now weren’t capable of creating something similar to the old movies. It would have been better to go with the flow because the Star Wars legacy is just too special to ruin.

The movie was good, and it had a lot of excellent visuals and amazing moments. After I was done watching it, I had to re-watch it again, just to grasp some of the key points that make this movie ‘just okay’ but not the best. It wasn’t a disaster; it was just underwhelming and incomplete.

I’m going to start with the good parts. Firstly, I think every visual, wardrobe choice, the makeup, and special effect were spot on and spectacular. Scenes like Kylo and Rey’s fight on that ship in the water, Palpatine raising the star destroyers, and that scene where he used his force lightning on everything flying was simply badass and amazing to watch.

I enjoyed the scene with that alien worm. I think it was cool in a lot of ways. I loved the fact that Rey was powerful enough to use her healing ability multiple times and stay strong. I guess being the emperor’s granddaughter has its perks.

I absolutely loved how they portrayed Leia. I think they did an amazing job being respectful to Carrie Fisher and made the scenes look good. This was an extremely difficult task because of her real-life death. I’m glad they had old, unused footage to add to the movie and with the aid of technology, they managed to bring her back in the most beautiful way possible.

Her death was poetic, sad, and bittersweet. I think what struck me the most was R2-D2 and Chewie’s (Chewbacca) reaction to her death. I felt the grief in these characters, and it was heartbreaking. It took talent and skill to portray those reactions. Managing to move people’s feelings like that was remarkable.

https://revyou.com/uploads/thumbnail-960/1609700550344244206.webp Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Movie Review

Another iconic scene has to be Han Solo and how he was talking to Kylo again. Harrison Ford is already extremely talented, and it was moving to see him again reprising the role. It was beautiful to see that moment between father and son. You could see Kylo’s eyes and his facial expression, which was worth a thousand words.

You can tell that he feels regret for what he’d done. Even when he tries to tell his father that he misses and loves him, Han Solo’s “I know” was another amazing nod to the legacy of the character. It was such a beautiful scene and it was one of my favorites.

I think the best thing we got out of this trilogy was Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. The character had depth, meaning, and purpose. The trilogy had compelling characters for sure, and this movie was a great opportunity to properly see their story arc through.

However, it was a missed opportunity and they didn’t manage to do that for a lot of them. I feel like Kylo is the only consistent character that has a good arc. Adam Driver did a spectacular job with this character. You can easily feel for him in this movie and any scene with Kylo was enjoyable and beautifully made. His heartbreaking and poetic death with his mom was tragic. Even though Rey managed to bring him back, it was still a scene I’ll remember forever.

I had indifferent thoughts about Rey’s powers to resurrect and heal. I understand she’s the granddaughter of probably one of the most powerful beings in this universe, but I just didn’t feel like it was good to have her learn it so quickly and easily. I kept thinking back about other badass Jedi from the past that didn’t even have the power. Overall, though, it did make sense in the end.

Palpatine coming back was totally out of left field. I didn’t expect him to come back and I just didn’t feel like the story needed him to. But it was a nice surprise and I enjoyed his scenes.

I don’t think they did Finn justice. His arc was a missed opportunity and I wasn’t happy that a force-sensitive character was ignored like that. I don’t think it was fair and I believe his story was left unfinished.

The ending wasn’t perfect in my opinion. Sure, it was epic and beautifully made, but I didn’t like how Rey suddenly became Ironman in the Avengers with her last words before she killed Palpatine. I understand Disney’s motives to make things epic, but this isn’t the way for Star Wars. Kylo managed to prove again just how badass he is by bringing Rey back to life but dying again after their kiss was just… so… bad. I don’t think it was right.

Overall, the entire story had amazing and compelling ideas, but they didn’t manage to use them right. I felt this movie was kind of a rushed way to just end everything. Is this movie the best? Not really, but it isn’t the worst either. I am sure people will enjoy it regardless of the flaws. The Star Wars fandom just had high hopes and was disappointed that it wasn’t worthy of George Lucas’s legacy.

I’d give this movie a 6/10. It’s not bad, but it was an underwhelming end to the trilogy.