Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Written by: Chris Terrio & J.J. Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Joonas Suotamo, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Domhnall Gleeson, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Billie Lourd, Kelly Marie Tran, Lupita Nyong'o, Greg Grunberg, Dominic Monaghan, Jimmy Vee
Action/Adventure/Fantasy - 141 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 18 Dec 2019
Written by: Chris Terrio & J.J. Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Joonas Suotamo, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Domhnall Gleeson, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Billie Lourd, Kelly Marie Tran, Lupita Nyong'o, Greg Grunberg, Dominic Monaghan, Jimmy Vee
Action/Adventure/Fantasy - 141 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 18 Dec 2019
Disney advertises Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Episode IX, as the last of the true saga. Spin-offs be damned, the powers that be proclaim this is it - the story you know all the way from Luke Skywalker staring at the Tatooine sunset ends here. Call me jaded, but I do not put as much faith in that proclamation as everyone else. Disney did not purchase the rights to Star Wars for $4 billion to end it here and wish it well. J.J. Abrams returns after sitting out The Last Jedi and shapes the final chapter as many of them go; it is a nostalgia factory. Old faces pop in and famous lines, themes, and locations drop by long enough for a wink, but exit spritely enough so as not to overstay their quick chuckle. While new secrets emerge from the dark and a couple new characters add their frames to the canon, The Rise of Skywalker is less cutting edge frontier and more “look where we’ve been” greatest hits.
The Millennium Falcon gets a lot of face time even though it continues to take a beating. While the rebel alliance is on its last legs, hiding out in a forest, with no more personnel than a rugby squad, these pesky do-gooders continue to fight another day. There is a spy in the First Order feeding them intelligence on a new armada so grand, it is called the Final Order. Always silhouetted in the dark and briefly illuminated by lightning flashes, the new Star Destroyers look like a pack of sharks rising up out of the deep. But that is just the grunt work. Remember how Han Solo and crew ran around on Endor and Lando flew around in space? It was mostly an action sideshow to keep our pulse’s up while the real battle between those with force powers raged on in a more cerebral and confined setting.
The Millennium Falcon gets a lot of face time even though it continues to take a beating. While the rebel alliance is on its last legs, hiding out in a forest, with no more personnel than a rugby squad, these pesky do-gooders continue to fight another day. There is a spy in the First Order feeding them intelligence on a new armada so grand, it is called the Final Order. Always silhouetted in the dark and briefly illuminated by lightning flashes, the new Star Destroyers look like a pack of sharks rising up out of the deep. But that is just the grunt work. Remember how Han Solo and crew ran around on Endor and Lando flew around in space? It was mostly an action sideshow to keep our pulse’s up while the real battle between those with force powers raged on in a more cerebral and confined setting.
Rey (Daisy Ridley) continues to train those raw powers, but the mystery surrounding her remains. Who are her parents, where did she come from, and does any of it matter? Someone out there knows and teases us along with a, “She is not what she seems” cliffhanger. But first, more nostalgia. Rey trains with a blast shield like Luke did, there is a pathfinder device akin to the Waze app to find on an Endor moon, and Darth Vader’s mask continues to beg to be put out of its misery. In a bit of cinematic sorcery, Carrie Fisher returns as General Leia Organa, even though she already passed before she shot any of her scenes. The temptation of the dark side and all of its alluring possibilities and power also lingers.
Even though it should remain on the screen, the Star Wars universe endured its own schism since the release of The Last Jedi. While the majority seemed to celebrate Rian Johnson’s unique lens on a galaxy far, far away and relish the behind the scenes plots we never got to see under George Lucas, some took a different tack and lambasted his efforts as blasphemous and corrupt readings of the scripture. Johnson confronted challenging plots including insubordination when you believe the leadership is wrong, touched on a military-industrial complex, and dared to give a large amount of screen time to an Asian female, Kelly Marie Tran. The divide took on political machinations with more conservative voices taking one side against the more liberal side. Even Star Wars could not escape our polarized society.
Abrams chose a side. The new direction is gone, everything you’re familiar with is back, and he just about wrote Rose, Tran’s character, out of the script. In Star Wars terms, Rose has as much to do as Boba Fett did in Return of the Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker follows that film's arc as all forces eventually end up circling a climactic, final battle, but this is after a bit of repetitive cat and mouse games between Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). The duo still share a shady, open communication channel and every time Rey takes a step to peel back the next onion layer, there is Kylo right behind her for another lightsaber duel.
The two new characters with the largest roles are both women, but one of them never even takes off her mask, even though she is played by the more then recognizable Keri Russell - at least the credits say she is in there. I will not touch on any specific returns or concrete plot descriptions - Star Wars films are always better experienced fresh. However, I hope the announcement of the saga’s end does not mean the end of Rey - she is a very compelling character, one who can carry more films and continue the Star Wars spark. There was a time when Return of the Jedi and then Revenge of the Sith were going to be the final films. Perhaps The Rise of Skywalker is taking a cue from them; there is a stronger impact when you know there are no more.
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