Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) review

I must admit that I went into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker feeling rather hesitant, a genuine first for me when it comes to Star Wars. Now, to be clear, this had nothing to do with the film itself since I had full faith in the amazing cast and crew who has brought this sequel trilogy to life and, of course, J.J. Abrams, who returns to the director’s chair after getting this whole trilogy started with 2015’s The Force Awakens. What I didn’t have faith in… was the Star Wars fandom. It’s been well-documented at this point that the Star Wars fandom has been in quite the volatile state these past few years after the release of 2017’s The Last Jedi, which has easily become one of the most polarizing films of all-time. While some found it to be quite arguably the best Star Wars film to date for its willingness to take risks when it comes to its writing, others thoroughly hated it for that exact reason. And because of this, the film spawned a small but incredibly vocal faction of critics who have taken it upon themselves to declare war against Disney, Lucasfilm, and the latter’s president Kathleen Kennedy for their allegedly piss-poor handling of the franchise. As such, J.J. Abrams now finds himself having to deal with perhaps the worst set of expectations ever thrust upon a Star Wars film; trying to appease those who despised The Last Jedi while simultaneously trying not to piss off those who preferred that film’s method of storytelling. It’s a complicated task that’s clearly been reflected in the film’s overall reception, but J.J. manages to pull through to deliver a satisfying finale to the Skywalker Saga.

In the year since the events of The Last Jedi, the severely limited forces of the Resistance have struggled against the might of the First Order, now led by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). And if that wasn’t enough, the whole galaxy receives an unexpected broadcast from none other than Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who supposedly met his end during the Battle of Endor as seen in Return of the Jedi. When Ren confronts the Sith Lord, Palpatine reveals that he has an armada of powerful Star Destroyers that will serve as the ‘Final Order’ and destroy the galaxy once and for all. The only one who could possibly stand in their way is Rey (Daisy Ridley), the Force-sensitive scavenger turned Jedi from Jakku who had trained with the late Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and is now guided by Luke’s sister, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Rey and her friends, former First Order stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and Resistance commander/pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), soon learn that Palpatine is hiding out on the uncharted planet of Exegol. And because of its elusive status, the only way to reach it is by finding a device known as a Sith Wayfinder that will give them the planet’s coordinates. Thus, Rey, Finn, and Poe find themselves in a race against time to find the Wayfinder and reach Exegol, all while being endlessly pursued by Ren and the First Order, before Palpatine can unleash the ‘Final Order’. In the process, Rey continues to struggle with the growing connection that she has with Kylo Ren and finally begins to uncover the secrets behind who she really is, which effectively poses some major ramifications for the galaxy.

Despite its immense success with both critics and audiences, J.J. Abrams’ last Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, received quite a bit of flak for allegedly being a ‘carbon copy’ of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope. This, in turn, can explain why a lot of attention was made about Rian Johnson’s efforts to ‘freshen things up’ with The Last Jedi… even though one could argue that it too could be described as a mirror of its original trilogy equivalent, The Empire Strikes Back. As for Rise of Skywalker, the argument of ‘been there, done that’ has once again become a source of contention amongst critics, especially due to the return of Emperor Palpatine as the main antagonist despite the previous film’s concerted efforts to “let the past die”. But just like the whole ‘it’s just A New Hope again’ debate that now dominates the conversation when it comes to The Force Awakens, I’d argue that this isn’t as big of a deal as it’s been made out to be. Sure, all three films in the sequel trilogy do share some similarities with Episodes IV through VI, but it’s not like they’re downright ripping off the plots of those films. Instead, these parallels only help to strengthen the sequel trilogy’s narrative while also providing some nice callbacks and solid conclusions to some of the series’ longest-running plotlines. And because these newer films have done a phenomenal job when it comes to developing their main characters, this paves the way for some incredibly powerful emotional moments. In other words, J.J. Abrams once again proves that he’s a natural when it comes to crafting that classic Star Wars atmosphere. And while The Last Jedi ended up providing some of the most gorgeous cinematography that the series has ever had, J.J. and his long-time cinematographer Dan Mindel continue to prove that they can deliver visuals and action sequences that are just as amazing by comparison.  

One interesting thing to note about Rise of Skywalker is that it’s the first entry of the sequel trilogy where the lead trio of Rey, Finn and Poe are all together for a good chunk of the run-time whereas the previous two films had them separated in various ways. This wasn’t a bad thing, for the record, but it is nice that this film finally gives these three a chance to work together and Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are all fantastic once again in their respective roles. Rise of Skywalker also does a wonderful job when it comes to furthering their overall character development, whether it’s Poe continuing to grow as a leader for the Resistance or Rey learning about her heritage and what that could potentially mean for the galaxy. All this great character development from the protagonists is matched perfectly by their foil, Kylo Ren, as Adam Driver continues to shine as the emotionally volatile Dark Side user whose complex character arc reaches its cathartic conclusion in this film. The four leads are then excellently backed by several of the sequel trilogy’s great supporting players, including Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux and Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, although fans of the latter will be disappointed by her severely limited screen-time. After that, the film adds in some fun new characters including Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss, an old acquaintance of Poe’s, Richard E. Grant as First Order General Pryde, who slowly works his way into becoming Kylo Ren’s sinister second-in-command, and Naomi Ackie as Jannah, who is revealed to be a former First Order stormtrooper just like Finn.

Moving over to the series veterans who notably make a return in this film, the biggest of the bunch is, of course, Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine. Regardless of how one feels about the decision to bring the character back, McDiarmid is once again terrific as the imposing Sith Lord, especially since he opts for the generally more subdued version of the character from the original trilogy instead of the cartoonishly over-the-top iteration from Revenge of the Sith. Another welcome return comes via Billy Dee Williams’ suave smuggler Lando Calrissian, who promptly continues to be one of the most charismatic figures in the entire Star Wars galaxy. But easily the most notable element of this film’s cast is how Leia ultimately factors into everything. While it was originally planned to give her a prominent role a la Han Solo in The Force Awakens and Luke in The Last Jedi, those plans ended up falling by the wayside after Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing in 2016 after she had finished working on The Last Jedi. However, instead of just giving Leia an unceremonious off-screen death as a lot of films tend to do whenever an actor/actress doesn’t return to reprise their role, J.J. manages to work her in via the use of unused footage from The Force Awakens. The overall implementation of this footage into the film is a truly fascinating feat to behold given how much work clearly must’ve been done to make it all possible. Nevertheless, it does its job beautifully and effectively gives the most iconic heroine in the Star Wars saga the emotionally fitting send-off that she damn well deserves.

I’m well aware that everything that I’ve said in this review isn’t going to fly well with certain audiences. Just like The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker has been an incredibly polarizing affair to the point where even critics are just as mixed towards it as audiences are. As alluded to earlier, while The Force Awakens may have managed to scoot by without getting dinged too hard for supposedly being ‘too much like A New Hope’, it’s clear that critics weren’t as forgiving towards Rise of Skywalker for doing the same thing. And yet, as someone who has been a fan of the sequel trilogy ever since the first teaser for The Force Awakens was released, I found Rise of Skywalker to be a perfect finale for this trilogy. As a film that’s truly grand in both scale and emotional depth, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker provides a wholly satisfying conclusion to both the sequel trilogy and the entire Skywalker Saga as a whole. Sure, some have argued that it attempts to undo a lot of the controversial plot-points from The Last Jedi, but the ways in which J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio conclude the story of Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren still feels consistent with what we’ve seen from the previous two films. And through it all, J.J. and his crew continue to go above and beyond when it comes to the film’s incredible action sequences and breathtaking visuals. Sadly, though, it seems like The Rise of Skywalker will end up being regarded as a ‘failure’ even though I’d argue that it isn’t the film’s fault. Instead, I’d attribute it more to the period in which it was released where the Star Wars fandom proved to be in a state of total disarray, thoroughly compromised by its utterly ambiguous expectations.

Rating: 5/5!