Tonight's Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Tonight I caught up with the final film in the current STAR WARS trilogy, STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019).

I honestly wasn't particularly anxious to see it as while I had initially found the prior film, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017), solid, with the passage of time I found that it was the film's flaws, which I wrote about here, which remained at the forefront of my memories.

I was curious how the saga would be wrapped up, though, so off to the theater I went to find out. Fortunately I didn't feel THE RISE OF SKYWALKER's problems were as annoying as in THE LAST JEDI, but the new film still has some significant issues, including the inability to edit an overlong film into a coherent story. I'll share some of my thoughts below, while being as vague about the plot as possible.

First, the film runs 142 minutes, and the first half is kind of a mess. After shoehorning in stories and characters that went nowhere in THE LAST JEDI, the filmmakers bizarrely cut one of those LAST JEDI characters (Rose, played by Kelly Marie Tran) almost entirely out of this film...then turned around and added a brand-new character (Keri Russell) who also served absolutely zero purpose! The film should have been 20 minutes shorter, and leaving Russell on the cutting room floor (or out of the script in the first place) was the place to start.

The meandering first half of the film was honestly fairly dull, a remarkable thing to say about a STAR WARS film. The movie finally caught fire and picked up interest in the second half, thanks to a combination of revelations, action, and glimpses of people and places of STAR WARS past, but I have very different ideas for how Rey's (Daisy Ridley) story should have gone.

I'm trying to review the film that is, rather than the one I wished for, but the problem is that there was a complete lack of setup and foreshadowing; I was like "Say what now?" when her background was revealed, and I know I wasn't the only one. I won't elaborate on what I think should have been done in order to avoid spoilers, but I think there was a more profound way to end her story.

Finally, in terms of criticisms, I have zero interest in seeing Adam Driver (Ben Solo/Kylo Ren) on screen ever again. What an uninteresting drip. Maybe I'll change my mind someday, but I don't get his appeal as an actor. At all.

The best moments in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER were the old familiar characters, sets, music, and "callbacks" -- the things some critics derisively refer to as "fan service" but which are the people and places viewers actually care about and want to see, the moments which strike deep emotional chords because of past history and our connections with them. These scenes are scattered throughout the film, especially in the second half, and made it worthwhile; indeed, a certain "swampy" scene with an X-wing almost single-handedly made the entire movie worth seeing for me. That was a Moment.

Also, a side note, how amazing/odd is it that someone who died almost exactly three years ago is the movie's top-billed actor?

In the end, though it has some very good actors and special moments, this trilogy is kind of an interesting failure for me. THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) was the best of the trio, and the films which followed never really reached their full potential. That said, they are certainly better films than the prequel trilogy -- after the first two films, I didn't even bother to watch REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005).

If you're not going to watch the original 1977-'83 trilogy, which are among my favorite films ever made and are endlessly rewatchable, it's far better to spend time with a pair of films which actually "feel" like STAR WARS and have coherent, well-plotted stories: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) and SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018).

It's also encouraging that at the same time this film has come out, we've all had the deep pleasure of watching STAR WARS done exactly right, thanks to Disney+. I found more STAR WARS joy in a single half hour of THE MANDALORIAN than there was in this film; it's the most purely enjoyable STAR WARS since 1983. Every episode made me smile, and the finale was an absolute gem. Creator Jon Favreau clearly understands STAR WARS and knows how to use familiar worlds in service of a brand-new story.

I can't wait for Season 2 of THE MANDALORIAN next fall, and I'm excited that I'll be attending Star Wars Celebration for the very first time next summer, where I can soak up as much MANDALORIAN info as possible -- not to mention Baby Yoda merchandise!

Parental Advisory: STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is rated PG-13.

The movie was directed by J.J. Abrams, from a script by Abrams and Chris Terrio. It was filmed by Dan Mindel, who also shot THE FORCE AWAKENS.

A trailer is here.