Review: "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker"
Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 12:00PM 
"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to." were the desperate words of an angry man. "The greatest teacher, failure is." was the philosophy of a wise master. Somewhere in between the two sentiments, those of Kylo Ren and Yoda, lies the ethos of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. There's no place for toxic nostalgia in that director's vision of the Star Wars universe, though a critical look at what came before is necessary or else we're bound to never grow. Independently of Episode VIII's other faults, one would think such a theme would be unanimously celebrated and generate little to no controversy. One would be mistaken.
Johnson's Star Wars feature sparked a wave of antagonistic discourse that's still active two years after its release. While the perpetual litigation of that production's merits is no one's idea of a good time, it's crucial to consider its themes when analyzing the latest episode in the saga. If every film in a franchise is having a conversation with its brethren, The Rise of Skywalker represents a repudiation of The Last Jedi's core ideals. JJ Abrams' return to the saga is an open celebration of uncritical nostalgia. Indeed, it appears to have been conceived more as a cowed response to fans' complaints than as a satisfying narrative…
From the very first words of the opening scroll, attentive viewers will be wary of what's to come. Instead of organically following the story established by its predecessor, The Rise of Skywalker creates a new conflict off-screen and throws away any vestige of character development. This is effectively a retcon and the shamelessness with which it does its retconning is startling. Polarising female characters are expunged to the margins of the action, ideas of egalitarian heroism are substituted by the power of magic lineages and old helmets are put back together with the cracks still showing. It's always nice when a filmmaker offers their critics such a useful bit of imagery as an illustration of their project's failures.
No matter how much it tries to rebuild the nostalgia edifice brought down by The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker can't hide the lines of incoherence gluing everything together. Worst of all, it isn't entertaining to watch. The entire film is supposed to happen over less than a day and it feels as if we're watching the plot of three films zipping by at full speed. Any moment of grace, rhythmic variation, any glimpse of precious humanity is judiciously cut for there's a plot to advance and there's no time to tie all the knots together. So much happens in so little time that you start to gradually disconnect from the story unraveling before you.
Since I was a child I've been a Star Wars fan and I can draw a straight line from my first glimpses of the franchise to the costume design studies I pursued in college. I have literal boxes full of Amidala and Leia drawings. My connection to these blockbusters is intimate but not even I could muster a shred of emotional investment for the new inchoate plot shenanigans. The movie quickly dispels the idea of stakes and, after that, it's difficult to care about the character's fates. Nothing feels permanent, not even death since resurrection and ghostly apparitions with contradictory messages are aplenty.
All of this is mostly a matter of narrative, tone, and rhythm. Those things are important, but there's more to a movie than that, especially when the movie in question is a billion-dollar space opera. No matter my resentments towards his vision of the franchise, JJ Abrams knows how to come up with potent iconography and his talent with actors is modestly undeniable. Poor Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver give their best performances of the trilogy here, in part because they are challenged to make sense of the ludicrous rollercoaster of their new character arcs.
The visuals are also perfectly fine, with a couple of ominous-looking sets deserving applause. As you may have heard, Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is back and, while his interior decorating skills might not be as sophisticated as those of red-obsessed Snoke, the man has flair to spare. For puppet fans, there's a new adorable critter to gush over and a surprising amount of physical effects to dazzle those who love them. John Williams continues to excel as the saga's main composer and he'll probably nab a 7th Star Wars related Oscar nominationeven when the movie is undeserving of the rhapsodical wonders he provides. The Rise of Skywalker is far from being an incompetent movie, it's just joylessly mediocre and pandering in the ugliest of ways.
While I can feel my disappointment quickly curdling into active dislike, I'm curious to know what others feel about The Rise of Skywalker. If you liked this new Star Wars episode I'd love to hear from you. Help me join the Light Side of the Force, so to speak.
Reader Comments (22)
I hated. It felt like a Harry Potter fan fic with Star Wars characters.
jota -- There's a lot of fanfiction with better writing than this mess XD
I'm trying to resist the call of hatred, but this film is aging like milk in my head.
All bets were off when it was revealed Palpatine would be returning, for no reason other than nostalgic rehash and despite not one iota of setup across the two films before this.
Johnson threw down a challenging gauntlet, and Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, et al just shrugged and took Return of the Jedi off the shelf instead.
This trilogy had so much potential, and it was all squandered for self-mythologizing and nostalgia. And the most vocal corners of the fandom enabled it.
There was more freedom and less agendas when the 1st Trilogy was made,now everyone from fans to non fans must be apeased and the story suffers and the fun gets lost.
The force awakens was the most likeable because it moved the story forward. The last Jedi However was a lousy mess. The rise of skywalker which I’ve already seen was good conclusion but not the best which belongs to the original trilogy and Revenge of the sith
I was Star Wars obsessed when I was a kid. I loved the Last Jedi. When asked to choose between the light and the dark sides, Kylo and Rey chose neither, and headed down their own paths. I loved the way it brought new life to a tired narrative while maintaining its mythic sweep.
I haven't seen the new movie yet, but the idea that it undoes all of these developments is so disappointing.
Sad to read all of these bad reviews. The first two films in this trilogy were amazing. TFA built on our love of everything about the originals while also creating new and interesting characters and relationships. TLJ had some really great moments that flipped our expectations on their head while also complicating the mythology and meaning of the force.
I hated hated "The Last Jedi" I was actually rooting for the villain.
Episodes 7 & 8 were not good. I have no desire to see this one. I’d rather rewatch The Mandalorian.
Just finished watching the last Jedi. What is with all the hate, I don’t get. I thought it was an 8 out of 10 for me. A good flawless movie with minor complications. Disney really are moving forward with Poe, Rey and Finns story. Some great stuff. Almost as good as the original trilogy. Tlj is no phantom menace. Root for Star Wars again. L
LOL. This, Frozen II, and Endgame have done nothing except show just how....unsatisfactory Disney's movies/shows have been ending lately!
The critics are being rather silly about all this and are getting way too wrapped up in the online discourse about TLJ. JJ Abrams is not "capitulating" to anyone, he's more or less just reverting to his original vision. This is exactly the third film you'd expect from the trilogy that started with The Force Awakens and is very much in line with that movie. I don't get why anyone who liked that first movie would hate this one.
I really liked it. And I do not understand the hate this film is harvesting, it is a perfectly fine Star Wars film and one that ties up an ending, mostly satisfiying, to the 9 movies arch. Exposition and callbacks did not bother me this time around (they did with VII and VIII but I just rewatched them both this week and they hold way better than I remembered). Rating for the whole Franchise (in chronological order)
The Phantom Menace * 1/2
Attack of the Clones *** 1/2
Reveng of the Sith **** 1/2
Solo: A Star Wars Story ***
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story **** 1/2
A New Hope **** 1/2
Empire Strikes Back *****
Return of the Jedi ****
The Force Awakens ****
The Last Jedi ****
The Rise of Skywalker ****
Much like people who say Die Hard is a Christmas movie with a smug tone, anyone who despises any of the last two Star Wars is almost 100% a douchebag. Whichever you prefer, the lesser title is still a 6 or 7 out of 10.
Hoo boy. I thought it was even worse than the scathing reviews described. So bad. So very bad.
It's pretty disgusting that they caved into the worst and most sexist sub-section of the fanbase with this one. Poor Rey deserved so much better. And also the actual last Skywalker basically being an afterthought was a bizarre choice. Justice for Ben Solo since none of his family members outside of Han really seemed to give a fuck about him. The only highlight is seeing all the love and praise The Last Jedi has been getting. Years from now people are ever gonna wonder how in the hell the vastly superior film of the trilogy was ever considered controversial. Same thing happened with Empire. It's like poetry...it rhymes.
I just saw it. Parts of it were pretty cool.
I think of “The Last Jedi” as comparable to “The Prisoner of Azkaban”, the Cuaron directed movie in the Harry Potter series. A talented and thoughtful director expands the possibilities for the series.
The marginalization of Rose Tico in “The Rise of Skywalker” engenders a slow burn that doesn’t go away. I would have rather seen more of Rose than Finn and Poe, who were boring in this movie. Lots of activity for them, but they weren’t interesting this time out, they were just filler, the actors doing their best to add energy to their lifeless bits.
I thought Rey and Kylo Ren were great though. Although I kept thinking that if Rey hadn’t been the lead for the first two movies, they would have marginalized her like Rose. As it is, they kind of diminished her agency.
If I was feeling obstinate, I might wish for the kind of Academy backtracking and rewarding people later because of previous perceived slights.
I would nominate Rian Johnson as Best Director for “Knives Out” and for Best Original Screenplay. To acknowledge that the director of “The Last Jedi” deserves respect (and exhibits a large and accomplished range in the many kinds of movies he does so well).
I would nominate Daisy Ridley for Best Actress, like Ripley in the “Alien” series, an iconic heroine, who grounded and carried 3 movies.
I would nominate Adam Driver as Best Supporting Actor for Kylo Ren. Why nominate Driver for some one-off movie no one will watch in 5 years, instead of for one of his signature roles? Driver made Kylo Ren a successful character, that we will be watching for years to come.
One last comment: People keep writing that Daisy Ridley cried with relief when she heard JJ Abrams was coming back, and use it as a slur against Rian Johnson. But the person Abrams replaced was Colin What’s-his-name, and I’d cry too to be rid of whatever Colin had planned (that NOBODY liked).
Totally agree - I was not a fan of The Rise of Skywalker and how it not only regressed Johnson's themes, but actively played into why fans hated it. Abrams throws so much at the wall, the script and characterization is barely consistent, let alone deep or intriguing. Every time something significant happened to a character, the impact landed with a thud due to a fake-out or general poor execution. I was cackling like Palpatine by the third act because I couldn't understand which direction the film was heading towards. Unfortunately, none of the new ideas last long enough to compete with all of the homages. This was not the finale I was looking for.
I am shocked at how bad this movie was. I thought THE FORCE AWAKENS and THE LAST JEDI were both fun entertainments. didn't even have fun at this one :(
This movie felt like a bad fan fiction from Reddit come to life. I really enjoyed TFA and TLJ was amazing and now Abrams tries to retcon everything and just ponder to fans without it making any sense. The film had its good moments (anything with Driver and Ridley) but the conclusion felt hollow and hopeless.
Wouldn’t this be John Williams sixth Star Wars-related nomination? He wasn’t cited for any of the prequels.
Thanks for the movie review. Since I am a movie buff, it is always interesting to see the places where any movie was filmed. And thanks to blog.depositphotos.com I was able to find a few of them. Including an unrealistically beautiful place in Tunisia where Star Wars was filmed.