Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - Review - Full spoilers past the three paragraphs
Yes, I've got my reservations about that film (weird Marvel-esque humour, the film becomes lazier as it goes on, and some very on the nose dialogue) but it has grown on me a little more over time. What really got me back into Star Wars was The Last Jedi that for all its flaws (and it has flaws a plenty including an upping of the Marvel banter, and one rug pull too many, as well as a side plot that goes nowhere) felt like a film with a point and purpose, and which could serve as a great jumping off point for the trilogy closer.
Unfortunately, none of that has come to fruition in Rise of Skywalker, with J.J Abrams retaking the directorial duties after he last sat in that captain's chair for Force Awakens. In brief, before getting into spoiler territory, Abrams has seemingly taken Rian Johnson's direction in The Last Jedi to heart, as well as most disturbingly the angry mobs of internet fan-boys rants regarding that film. And so he has crafted a slavish fan-fiction film, with little wit, bogged down with plot contrivances, and fetch quests, coming off like a bad Star Wars video game. And yet, the film is buoyed up considerably by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, as Rey (importantly, with no last name), and Kylo Ren, who push the plot along with lightsaber crackling intensity - that is until a CGI mess of a finale threatens to collapse upon them all.
Fair warning - spoilers for here on out...
Perhaps blame to this rush to weave Palpatine into the narrative can't be laid squarely at the feet of Abrams. Particularly if this was the plan all along (doubtful considering how much free rein Johnson was given for The Last Jedi). However, to have not a hint of Palpatine in these last 2 films belies the belief that this trilogy tells a conclusive story. Instead it feels much more like 3 separate Star Wars stories, that may have served better with release dates further and further apart to reduce the level of expected inter-connectivity.
The return of Palpatine is also indicative of the other largest issue of the film - its total lack of imagination. His villainous plot is not particularly inventive, and the finale replays all your favourite Star Wars hits (grand space battle before the evil villains lair, who is in the process of trying to turn the pure lead to the dark side, in lieu of his apprentice). Except, as is Abrams want, things are cranked to way past 11. The Return of the Jedi had some large fleet battles - why not have every single ship in the known galaxy show up, with infinite Star Destroyers (who can now destroy planets cus destroying planets is the only way this series seems to think tension can be generated). Palpatine's lightning power is pretty cool - what if it could zap into space and for want of a better word go "nuclear"? It just amounts to little more than sound and fury.
Which is a real shame, for Ridley and Driver's conflict is the truly interesting part of the film, one that was adequately set up as the primary conflict to follow on from in Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I can't help but feel that the backlash to the left turns in The Last Jedi have led to this extreme course correction in Skywalker. What should be at the heart of the movie, is the conflict between Rey and Ren, and when they are given a chance to share the screen (which is more often than not thanks to some actual creativity in relation to how they have managed to interact over vast gulfs of space, evoking, of all things, Nancy's powers in the Nightmare on Elm Street series) the film feels propulsive and inventive. The highlight is a stupendous duel atop the ruins of the second Death Star, whilst the hero and villain are battered by the torrential tides.
This scene is also capped off with one of the few moments in the film that actually lands it emotional punches, with a genuinely unexpected appearance from Harrison Ford, reprising his role as Han Solo once more. The scene is a clever redux of his climactic death in the Force Awakens, and Driver's expressive face sells the weathering of his rage to regret.
Concurrent with this face-off is the death of Leia, a tragedy of which is clearly intensified by the fact that Carrie Fisher died prior the filming of Skywalker. Her appearances is aided by some wonderful technology that has repurposed unused footage of her from Force Awakens to create new scenes. The effect is not wholly convincing but it is an elegant workaround to the death of a true screen icon. It appeared to be the case that each film in this new trilogy was to focus on one of each of the original 3 heroes - Han, Luke, and Leia, with the third to have been her movie. A shame that this could never be realised, however her final moments are true to character, which hits home hardest seeing how the ever loyal Chewbaca reacts to the news of her passing.
You may have noticed that I've said little to nothing of characters like Finn, Po, Rose, and Chewbaca. Well that's because the film hasn't got a lot to say about them either. They are simply there to push Rey along (or in Rose's case not even there at all really - being completely sidelined - again I hope not as a reaction to the trolls on the net who managed to bully the actress off social media following her introduction in The Last Jedi). The plot to get Rey and Ren together (and unfortunately they do for a brief moment become an item...) is somehow needlessly convoluted when it should be simple, involving naff McGuffins to travel across multiple planets, bump into more and more secondary characters who serve no purpose other than to point the way to the next level.
Part of the reason for the tangle of plot threads is that they have tie into the one question that I really didn't want reanswered. That being Rey's parentage. I found the explanation given in The Last Jedi that she was "no one" to be more than satisfying, it is freeing. Finally, we've had a break away from this almost incestuous galaxy, where people only get by on the name's of their family members. But nope, that had to be retconned as a half truth, and that she's actually a Palpatine all along. It could've been worse, she could've been a Kenobi...
It seems like such a shame that this generation spanning saga, has had so much energy poured into it - and it really has, the special effects, costume design, sets, practical effects (that little tech gremlin thing steals the show), and music (long live John Williams), all show how much care has gone into making this trilogy. However, it seems like writing team bottled it and gave into their darkest urges to give the fans what they want, and the electrocuted sink too.
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