The series falls to the dark side as Disney's finale fails to satisfy anyone.
This review will be as spoiler free as possible but you may wish to skip until you've seen the film for yourself. Read my Spoiler Review HERE.
Whatever Disney/Lucasfilm & J.J. Abrams were truly planning with their revitalization of the 'Star Wars' franchise, it was bound to be messy and sadly 'The Rise of Skywalker' displays this better than any of their previous efforts. When looking back on his body of work, it becomes more & more clear that Abrams is somewhat of an imitator of cinema rather than the innovator. The safe bet that Hollywood can rely on to guarantee revenue without providing much else. Nothing against the man himself I'm sure he's a nice guy but he really needed to pull out all the stops with this one. But all the blame cannot simply be placed on just him however, nor can it solely be put on Disney. Like most things in our world there's action & reaction and this is how the current state of movies work as well. Disney was quick to capitalize upon their requisition of the 'Star Wars' franchise but whereas let's say the Eisner era (1980's to 1990's roughly) where this would have been a slower burn in order to piece together something entertaining & coherent the current era of Disney feels the name is all that matters and as such they've severely cut corners in every aspect. Toys, theme park attractions, and the movies themselves are given the proper promotion but the execution of these items themselves quickly fizzle.
So back to the focus of the films as a whole, is 'Rise of Skywalker' the worst 'Star Wars' movie? At this moment, I do not think so but does it deserve the backlash and scorning reviews it is getting? For the most part, yes I feel these are warranted. The best part is the visuals are great as always so if eye candy is your thing, then you'll enjoy the film on that alone but there are obvious redeeming qualities about it, such as the return of John Williams' iconic score, some great fight scenes, the actors are good despite the material they've been given, and I will admit that one or two big scenes got me having the feels. However, the biggest sin this movie creates is the script which was infamously documented as being through the wringer. Who knows what the final cut of this film is representative of the scripts and ideas Abrams had in mind but it's ultimately futile to dwell on what could have been because the dialogue, the story beats, and the characterization on screen is what we get and it's not good.
The story attempts to retcon the previous film's plot points away due to fan backlash but in doing so, the film's first act is rushed through so quickly you'll miss something if you have to take a bathroom break. Many aspects of this film simply go unexplained as well such as how Emperor Palpatine survive?, who was Snoke?, and why does an ancient Sith artifact work with a piece of the Death Star? As much as I disliked 'The Last Jedi' upon repeat viewings for essentially closing the doors on every set up J.J. made, this desperate attempt at fan service breaks the trilogy as a whole even more creating the worst continuity for a trilogy since 'The Matrix'. We also have characters that just show up and either vanish or merely serve as background props for the main cast. Anything further will just result in spoiler territory being breached, so I'll save that for later but I think you get what I'm talking about. The trilogy as a whole isn't cohesive which is something even the damn prequels managed to do even if it was muddy.
Films like these have to stay in your mind for a while before you can look back and express your thoughts and for me it took several days to make up my mind on 'Rise of Skywalker'. I've come to the final answer that initially this film made me angry and frustrated with Disney for not having a set plan for their sequel trilogy and I wanted to absolutely trash this film. Thinking more clearly now, I still dislike the film and the trilogy as a whole for simply playing it too safe with no regards to character development or continuity but in the end 'Star Wars' is such an important part of film history and it will survive the bad times if it's truly destined to remain in people's memories for years to come. No matter what Disney or Lucas or anyone does to the series, those original films stay with people and that's the true power of movies.
D+
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