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The Force Awakens didn't take many risks but introduced some compelling mysteries and characters while delivering a powerful emotional punch.
The Last Jedi, meanwhile, turned much of what we had seen before on its head (sometimes for the better, oftentimes for the worse) but it was still a bold and visually stunning entry in the Skywalker Saga. Sadly,
The Rise of Skywalker is a shallow, mostly disappointing effort terrified to upset anyone and determined to play it safe for a finale which feels low on stakes and definitely devoid of a lasting impact.
The first half of the movie plays as if it's on 1.5x speed as we jump from place to place and character to character never really getting to know anywhere or anything beyond a passing glance. All the newly introduced heroes and villains are paper thin, utterly forgettable, and appear and disappear as frequently as screenwriter Chris Terrio casually undoes what initially seemed to be a game-changing decision made mere moments earlier. You thought that character was dead? Nope, they survived with the weakest possible explanation you can imagine! It's clear that the goal here was to send fans home happy and to absolutely not upset anyone after the controversy surrounding The Last Jedi. Now, that might sound like a good thing on paper but it robs The Rise of Skywalker of being anything more than a by the numbers adventure film with heaps of fan service but almost nothing and no one to get invested in. The humour never really lands (a genuine shocker given how funny the previous two chapters were) and there's an obscene amount of material here which should have been left on the cutting room floor in order to give the important moments room to breathe. While J.J. Abrams may have been going for edge of your seat action, the result is a film it's impossible to get lost in and by the time our heroes are looking for the thing that will lead them to the other thing to find that thing, you'll be well beyond the point of caring.
What saves the movie is the continued exploration of Kylo Ren and Rey's relationship. It makes for fascinating viewing and both Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley knock it out of the park with stellar performances and an on screen chemistry which has blossomed into something truly special. Oscar Isaac is also great as Poe Dameron but John Boyega's Finn sadly doesn't make as big of an impact as in the previous films. Thankfully, the way Carrie Fisher is incorporated into the movie as Leia is hard to fault and actually rather lovely. There are also at least a few genuinely great, unforgettable moments scattered throughout and with stellar action scenes and John Williams' wonderful score, you'll likely be able to find a lot to love in The Rise of Skywalker among the many head scratching decisions.
The problem, however, continues to be the script. Abrams' visuals aren't quite up there with Rian Johnson's but this is a great looking film and he's a director who knows how to make your jaw drop when the story calls for it. The endless MacGuffins, baffling character decisions, and apparent lack of interest in explaining something as important as The Emperor's return overshadow all of that, though, and that villain is a huge part of the problem here. His ludicrous plan just serves to make The Rise of Skywalker an even bigger mess and the iconic villain's highly anticipated return ultimately disappoints. A master manipulator in the prequels and a terrifying force to be reckoned with in the original trilogy, Palpatine is now just another bad guy with a dumb and easily foiled plan. The Sith Troopers blend into the background and, like most of the other new additions, it's hard to escape the feeling they're only here to sell toys.
Like the other modern Star Wars movies, fans will no doubt spend years debating the decisions made in The Rise of Skywalker and some will love it, while others hate it. That's fine, and was to be expected, and moments which make some people cringe will leave others punching the air in joy. What category you'll fall into may hinge on how invested you're able to get in a film with an abysmal story and a final scene worthy of as many facepalms as the lives snuffed out on Alderaan once upon a time. This isn't the finale the franchise deserved and while all the ingredients were there to make it something great, that simply never happens. It's sad to see both the Skywalker Saga and this trilogy end with a whimper but with unfinished character arcs and an endless list of unanswered questions, perhaps a future movie will be able to revisit these heroes and give them the ending they deserve.
A mostly terrible movie with some admittedly great moments, you'd be better off skipping Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and binge-watching a few episodes of The Mandalorian instead.