Movie Review: The Rise of Skywalker

This past Monday I saw the final chapter of the Star Wars Saga, the Rise of Skywalker, in theaters with my dad in Fort Wayne. Now I must confess I walked into this thing with low expectations, having been quite disappointed with the previous film, The Last Jedi. However I can say for the most part I found the film to be quite entertaining, with still a few disappointments which I will address. I found this film to be much better than The Last Jedi and overall a satisfying conclusion to the saga.

I realize many traditionalists are strongly against these Disney saga films, and I slightly do agree with them as an old school Star Wars fan myself. I thought The Force Awakens was practically a clone of A New Hope, and was disgusted with what the writers did to Luke Skywalker's character in The Last Jedi. However as a lifelong Star Wars fan I suppose I felt it as an obligation to see the story thru, and that's exactly what I did with this last episode. (On a side note I will say for the record that I am a fan of Disney's spin off series such as Rogue One, Solo, and The Mandalorian, so to be fair they haven't completely destroyed the Star Wars universe).

Palpatine's Return

I'll have a full plot analysis below here, so from this point on there will be spoilers. Before I recap the plot, I want to point out two of my biggest complaints with the story. The 1st is the return of Emperor Palpatine after being killed by Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. I consider this to be poor writing when you resurrect a dead character, especially in the case of Palpatine, whose death marked the crucial victory of the rebellion as well the rightful conclusion to Anakin's story. Yet everything that was resolved in Return of the Jedi was thrown out the door when the Disney writers decided to bring back Palpatine as the chief villain once again.

Also it is never made clear exactly how Palpatine returns. Sure he's a very powerful sith lord capable of defying death, but still an explanation would be nice. For the record I also was not a fan of the return of Darth Maul in the Clone Wars series, who was presumed dead upon being cut in half by Obi Wan Kenobi. Maul's restoration was at least explained in the animated series. The theories to Palpatine's return are numerous, the most common being from a cloning of his spirit (Voldermot style). Surely a new series or film will expand upon this mystery, however I still dislike how they leave us in the dark on it all, yet even more so that they decided to bring his character back at all. 


Unresolved Love Triangle

My 2nd complaint on this movie, was the complicated love triangle between the characters Rey, Finn, Poe (and to some extent Ben Solo). Throughout this trilogy Rey has had various love interests. In the first film it seemed Finn was in love with Rey, then in the 2nd film it seemed Finn was drawn to Rose Tico while Ben Solo became drawn to Rey, now in this third movie it seemed both Finn and Poe were in love with Rey (as well as Ben Solo).

The complexity of this relationship only got deeper when it appeared Finn had dropped his interest for Rose and found a new relationship with a fellow ex-stormtrooper, Jannah. Poe as well had another relationship with a bounty hunter named Zorii Bliss. It seemed that Poe and Finn would happily get over Rey and each have their own boos, while Rey would settle with Ben Solo and everyone would ride off happily into the sunset, however that was not the case at all. The love triangle was unresolved in that Jannah went off on a mission with Lando, Zorii Bliss insisted she was not interested in Poe, and Ben Solo died. Therefore the end of the movie leaves us with the threesome hugging one another as friends, or lovers, and we cannot be sure whom Rey would choose.


The Story

After escaping from the New Order, the Resistance is able to regroup and Rey is able to continue her Jedi training under Princess Leia. Meanwhile Kylo Ren hunts down Emperor Palpatine and discovers a massive fleet of Star Destroyers that can destroy planets. Palpatine shares his plan with Kylo to restore the Galactic Empire and to eliminate Rey. Kylo Ren sets off in search for Rey with his band of knights. Meanwhile Finn and Poe are able to gather information that Palpatine is hiding on the planet Exegol and set off on a mission with Rey, Chewie, BB8, and C-3PO to locate him.

They travel to the planet of Pasaana, where during a great festival they meet with Lando Calrissian who is able to show them the clues they need to locate Palpatine. However Kylo Ren is able to locate Rey and the two have a fight which causes Rey to destroy a transport ship with her powers. At this point it is presumed that Chewbacca is killed in the transport and Rey, Finn, and Poe must escape from Kylo and the New Order. They travel to the planet of Kijimi to extract Sith information located in C-3POs memory.

On the planet they find one of Poe's old acquaintances, Zorii Bliss who shows them someone who can extract C-3POs memory. When they retrieve the information they need from 3PO, Rey realizes that a star destroyer has tracked them and has Chewbacca on board. With the help of Zorii Bliss they sneak onto the destroyer to free Chewbacca, meanwhile Rey faces off with Kylo Ren yet again. Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca are captured on the destroyer yet are freed by General Hux who tells them he is their spy. After they are freed, Hux is discovered and executed. Kylo informs Rey that she is the granddaughter of Palpatine, which explains how she is so naturally powerful. Kylo pleads her to join him and defeat Palpatine, however Rey chooses to escape on-board the Millenium Falcon with Chewie, Finn, and Poe.

The group travels to the planet of Kef Bir, where they find the remains of the Death Star and the tool they need to locate Palpatine. On the planet they meet a group of New Order deserters, such as Jannah who develops a relationship with Finn. Once again Kylo Ren engages Rey in battle and nearly kills her, until Leia intercedes thru the force, causing Leia to die. Rey is able to kill Kylo at this point, however she immediately heals him when she realizes Leia's sacrifice. At this point Kylo Ren realizes his conflict and takes upon his former identity as Ben Solo.

Rey travels to the dark planet of Exegol to seek out Palpatine and gives the Resistance a trail on how to get there. She eventually finds him and the Sith lord declares that she is indeed his granddaughter and the rightful ruler of the new Galactic Empire. Palpatine insists she kill him to take on his full power, which Rey refuses. Meanwhile the Resistance navy arrive on the planet of Exegol to attack Palpatine's fleet of Star Destroyers, and are later reinforced by Lando and a massive fleet of civilians.

While the battle ensues in space, Rey is suddenly joined by Ben Solo who hope to overpower Palpatine. However Palpatine easily launches Ben Solo off a cliff, and then attacks Rey. Rey is weakened at first but is able to regain her strength with the help of various jedi voices thru the force. She is then able to kill Palpatine with both the lightsabers of Luke and Leia, however this action also causes her to lose her life. However at this point Ben Solo arrives to revive Rey, as she did to him, yet in doing so he sacrifices his life. With Palpatine dead and the fleet destroyed it appears order has returned once again to the galaxy.


The New Characters

Rey (Daisy Ridley): She steals the show yet again with her incredible raw power. While she is quite under trained she possesses a natural power unlike any before her, and this makes perfect sense when it is revealed that she is the granddaughter of Palpatine. 

Kyle Ren/Ben Solo (Adam Driver): He is yet again the conflicted villain that everyone dislikes, who is clearly too weak to face Rey. He hopes to defeat the emperor with the help of Rey so together they can rule the galaxy. However he is able to redeem his villainous character in returning to his former self of Ben Solo, most especially when he sacrifices his life to save Rey.

Finn (John Boyega): His character is especially annoying in this film as he is obsessed with Rey and constantly trying to save someone who is very capable of taking care of herself. It appears he develops a new relationship with another ex-stormtrooper in Jannah, however in the end she sets off on her own adventure and Finn is left with his obsession for Rey.

Poe (Oscar Isaac): He is yet again the hot-headed heroic pilot who develops feelings for Rey as well as the bounty hunter Zorii Bliss. He admirably leads various missions including the final attack on the fleet of star destroyers.

Jannah (Naomi Ackie): A former storm trooper who has deserted the New Order and helps Rey locate the Sith Wayfinder and helps Finn attach the Star Destroyer. It appears she has a strong relationship with Finn, however in the end she sets off on her own adventure with Lando to locate her parents.

Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong'o): She returns as the wise old figure of the Resistance.

General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson): He becomes the spy for the Resistance due to his great dislike of Kylo Ren. He is able to free Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca however he is later discovered and executed.

Zorii Bliss (Kerri Russell): She is a bounty hunter on the planet of Kimiji and an old acquaintance of Poe. She helps Poe and his friends fight off the empire, and while Poe demonstrates feelings for her, the feeling is not mutual.

Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran): She is a mechanic who appeared to have feelings for Finn, however her story is somewhat downgraded in this film, as a fighter for the Resistance.

BB-8: The fast moving, fast thinking droid reprises his heroic role on-board the Millenium Falcon helping his friends in every way he can. He is always by Rey's side especially at the end when she returns to Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia's lightsabers.


The Old Characters

Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher): Her role in this film is quite minimal, especially given the fact that Carrie Fisher passed away three years ago. However she plays a key role in sacrificing her life in using the force to dissuade her son Ben Solo from killing Kylo.

Palpatine (Ian McDairmid): His return as the dark lord is a controversial and a questionable one, however he yet again reprises his role as the chief arch-villain. He builds a massive fleet of planet destroying star destroyers, and attempts to convince his granddaughter to take his place as emperor.

Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams): The smooth talking smuggler reprises his classic role to aid the Resistance. He first informs them on the location of a Wayfinder clue, then he partners with Chewbacca to pilot the Millennium Falcon and recruit a massive navy of civilians to attack Palpatine's fleet. He is a most welcome familiar character and has several comedic and heroic moments in the movie. 

Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo): Chewie revives his likable role as the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon and a brave fighter in combat. He mourns the loss for Princess Leia more than anyone, and heroically teams up with Lando to gather a massive navy of civilians against Palpatine's fleet.

C-3PO (Anthony Daniels): The actor of C-3PO makes his impressive 9th appearance in the Star Wars Saga, and plays a much larger role in this film than the others. He is able to decipher the Sith Code, but is unable to recite it and must have his memory extracted so his friends can recover the data. His memory is later recovered by his long time pal, R2-D2.

R2-D2: Has a small role in the film, hanging back with Leia during the Falcon's missions.

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill): His ghost visits Rey to convince her to attack Palpatine and he is able to offer his X-Wing fighter as the transport she needs to travel.

Han Solo (Harrison Ford): He visits his son Ben Solo in a vision, confirming the end of Kylo Ren and the return of his former identity.