To quote Emperor Palpatine: Augghhhh!!!
MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT
ONWARD:
So, what the hell was Finn going to
say to Rey!? Seriously, they build-up
Finn (John Boyega) wanting to tell Rey (Daisy Ridley) this important thing—something he couldn’t mention
around Poe (Oscar Isaac)—bringing it up on multiple occasions throughout the film, and give
zero resolution to it. Was it a love
confession? Is Finn a Force-sensitive (and
if the latter, why couldn’t he mention that around Poe?) Is it supposed to be a “subversion of
expectations”? I ended up staying until after
the end credits to see if there were any extra scenes. There weren’t. The whole situation left me incredibly
frustrated, which also nicely sums up my feelings for Rise of Skywalker.
The final film in the Disney Star
Wars sequels ends the trilogy on a baffling, frustrating finale. My expectations for Rise of Skywalker
were relatively low after The Last Jedi, though not for the same reasons
as numerous others. I’ve listened to the
criticisms and revisited the film and I stand by that The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back (you can find my many reasonings why in its review). I
expected the sequel to not hold up when J.J. Abrams returned to the director’s
chair—having previously directed the plot recycling Force Awakens. It seemed clear that Disney was backtracking
from Rian Johnson’s more ambitious, risk-taking approach to Abrams' safer
tackling of the series. Yet while the
story is certainly falling back on familiar roots, its structure is a janky
mess.
Rise of Skywalker is the
definition of insanity in multiple senses of the word, emphasized most
prominently with the return of the Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The film wastes no time throwing Darth
Sidious back into the fray…actually, I take that back, the film wasted two
whole films before artificially squeezing Sidious into a plot he had no buildup
for and no right being in. The
Emperor is a poorly thought-out attempt at “salvaging” the sequels by
bringing back an iconic foe after The Last Jedi killed off Snoke (Andy Serkis)—the
sequel trilogy’s main antagonist…except that’s bulls***! Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) was being beautifully set up as a
great main antagonist—a complex antagonist without the need for a
redemption arc (much like how Maul became once the CGI TV shows took hold of
him). But we can’t have that, Kylo Ren
is a Skywalker descendant and must have a redemption arc no matter how forced
(Darth Vadar 2.0, just as Abrams wants).
So, why not take the guy who is the
first six films’s main antagonist and do it again—only this time in one film
instead of multiple. Who needs
setup!? Just mention in the opening
scroll that the Emperor’s back, then immediately show how he’s been behind
everything, artificially created Snoke, and has secretly built a fleet of Star
Destroyer ships each equipped with their own planet-busting cannon. Sounds
reasonable to me! Oh, and somehow the
Emperor has become one with all the Sith and is now super-duper powerful—not
Star Wars comics Force Storm overpowered, but can disable an entire Resistance
star fleet with Force Lightning OP. It’s
incredibly ludicrous to spring all this on the viewers and expect them to just
roll with it.
Such events required proper
build-up right from The Force Awakens, but that couldn’t happen because
these ideas were clearly not thought up until the last minute. The worst part is, regardless of how insane
these jarringly massive developments are, one would still except entertainment
from Ian McDiarmid’s performance—one of the prequel’s defining saving graces. Yet McDiarmid feels a shell of his past
over-the-top spectacle—giving an impression of not wanting to be there. His performance feels lackluster, restrained,
and bland. There’s no fun or lovely
cheese to be found, just a generic evil villain sprouting monotone monologues. The role brings nothing interesting to The
Emperor and only serves to sour the character’s near spotless reputation.
Adam Driver ends up being the
highlight of Rise of Skywalker, with every scene he’s in as Kylo Ren/Ben
Solo being a delight. Rise of
Skywalker's best scenes are when Ren and Rey confront each
other. The film doesn’t skimp out on
these scenes, utilizing the previously established Force Connection so they can
commute, discuss, and spar throughout the film without having to actually be in
the same place—a genius tactic that allows antagonist and protagonist to
interact whenever without causing pacing issues or placing Rey in inescapable
situations. I love Ren continuously trying
to sway Rey to the dark side, pushing her to the limits both mentally and physically,
being the ultimate test for her as a Jedi.
Their chemistry here is undeniable, the best interactions between two
characters throughout the sequels. Ren’s
potent screen presence and engaging dynamic with protagonist Rey makes it all
the more painful having the Emperor swoop in and steal his show as main
antagonist.
Ren and Rey’s chemistry ultimately
leads to romance, which surprised me as Abrams strikes me as a Rey/Finn (John
Boyega) shipper. I’m not against
a romance between Rey and Ren/Ben, per se, but it requires a lot of clever
writing to pull off effectively—after all, Ren has done a lot of horrible s***
and tried to kill Rey on multiple occasions, far from what I consider a healthy
relationship. Rise of Skywalker’s
solution does work within the lore, it’s just part of the lore I find really
dumb and cheap. Just as Darth Vader and
Anakin Skywalker are often considered different individuals of the Force, so
too are Kylo Ren and Ben Solo—with Rey “killing” Ren, thereby "reviving" Ben. I hate the concept of splitting a
person’s good and evil actions into being “different” people (unless it's an actual psychological issue), primarily because
it does not relate to our own morally grey world and makes the Star Wars
universe all the more childishly black and white. The payoff to the romance is far worse than
the execution, however, leading to the film’s worst quality bar none.
The film’s pacing is absolutely
abysmal. Star Wars: A New Hope
has some of the best damn storytelling pacing I've seen in any film and Rise
a Skywalker is quite the opposite. The
film just breezes through things rapidly without any breathing room to take in
events. New coming and veteran characters
show up briefly and leave just as fast, without any development. There is no bonding time between Rey, Finn,
and Poe despite having more screen time together than in any
other film—events are just moving way too fast to allow for such growth. They kill off General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson),
a great wormy villain played by a fantastic actor, as if they just killed off a
fodder character—quick and insubstantial. Kylo Ren has his big redemption moment and a big
damn kiss with Rey before suddenly dying in an almost comically quick manner,
never to appear again in the film, not even as a Force Ghost alongside Luke and
Leia. That’s like if Darth Vader didn’t
get his cremation funeral scene nor Force Ghost appearance in Return of the
Jedi—instead dying on the Death Star, never to be seen or mentioned again. One should never give such an unceremonious
end to one of the most prominent characters in a trilogy.
Rise of Skywalker is an
absolute mess. I will say it is an entertaining
mess, with some good stuff surrounding Kylo Ren and Rey, but surrounding it is
just pure structural chaos. Love them or
hate them, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi at least told
their stories with structure and flow, over Rise of Skywalker's blitzing
through major events at lightspeed, rushing to the finale like it just wants to
get it over with. With messy
backtracking, poor decisions, horrible pacing, and a plot that was clearly not thought
out from the beginning, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker ends The Force
Awakens’ good start and The Last Jedi’s great middle on a puzzling,
disappointing final note.
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