by Abby Koch–Director J.J. Abrams returned to the Star Wars franchise to conclude the recent trilogy with Rise of Skywalker. The final chapter of the trilogy and of the Skywalker saga begs to be liked but ultimately feels odd and an unfulfilling conclusion.
The final chapter starts with the news that Emperor Palpatine is still alive and sending a message of his presence to the galaxy. Kylo Ren views Palpatine as a threat to his power over the First Order and searches for him. Rey, Finn, and Poe stop their training or missions to team up again and stop Palpatine and evil for good.
The main quest for the trio of heroes is to find a compass that will lead them to where Palpatine is hiding. Along the way, they run in to old friends and introduce the audience to new ones.
Rise of Skywalker is visually stunning. It has some of the most seamless CGI and effects out of all the Star Wars movies. Audiences will love looking at planets, rooms, or large galactic ships that are all beautiful.
I was impressed with how well the movie handled General Leia Organa, played by Carrie Fisher who passed away in 2016. The visuals played a lot into how they involved her character in the story and make her look very natural.
The humor doesn’t feel as odd as it has in the previous two in the Disney trilogy. There are quite a few chuckle moments that do help audiences realize the relationships between characters. The humor doesn’t feel cheap but sometimes feels odd for a Star Wars movie.
Rise of Skywalker is a long begging fest with the audience to like it. It brings so many nostalgia and character moments that it tries to be pleasing but turns out being odd. These moments do feel like damage control due to the hatred of The Last Jedi.
There are themes or backstories to characters that are introduced but are never dived in to, especially with Finn. A majority of these things should have been explored towards the end of the first movie and throughout The Last Jedi, not Rise of Skywalker. If I knew these details of these characters earlier in the trilogy, I would have more feelings for them going into this one.
All of the sacrifices and actions in this movie become tarnished by other moments. It undermined the value of what characters did in this movie and I was upset every time it happened. I especially hated that some of the characters’ actions took value away from the original and prequel trilogies.
I feel like there were so many underutilized characters in this movie. Rose is definitely the one that jumps out as underutilized in this movie. Its aggravating and awkward that the audience sees a character that was introduced previously and then tip toed around in Rise of Skywalker.
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker was a visually beautiful mess of a movie. The characters feel the same unexplored characters that we met at the beginning of the movie when you reach the end and given interesting details that should have been looked at in previous movies. Plus, every action or idea immediately loses its importance due to other actions or deus ex machinas made. I recommend this movie if you have seen the other two movies or are looking for something to do.
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker gets 4/10 Babu Friks.
Leave a Reply