Film Review — Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
The Skywalker Saga finale is one hot mess ★★☆☆☆
Originally published December 2019.
If there were any remaining doubts that Disney/Lucasfilm had no plan in place for their hotly-anticipated saga-ending sequel trilogy, Rise of Skywalker will put them firmly to rest.
Desperate to end on a positive note following the insanely divisive The Last Jedi, J.J. Abrams — a man synonymous with weak endings — chucks everything Rian Johnson discarded back into the mix, along with a Death Star-sized side of fan service.
The result is utterly exhausting.
Rise of Skywalker rushes forward at such a pace it verges on overwhelming. The first 30 minutes had me convinced the movie was being shown at double the speed.
It’s visually stunning, just like the rest of the series, but Abrams can’t slow down long enough to let us take it all in and enjoy it properly.
This is all largely due to one of the most cluttered and convoluted Star Wars stories ever. Rise of Skywalker wants to do everything, go everywhere, and meet everyone. It’s wildly ambitious, but it results in too many half-baked ideas, underdeveloped characters, and unanswered questions. All the key components of an unsatisfying conclusion.
The best way to alleviate disappointment? Fan service. It’s laid on thick here. Sickeningly thick. Some moments work well, while others seem a little wedged in.
Abrams has always been successful in making memorable moments and driving emotion from them, and if that’s your thing there’s a lot to love here, even if the return of Palpatine and crucial revelations feel more Eastenders than anything else.
It clearly worked for the woman next to me. She cried at every reference to the classic movies. Maybe she was just disappointed. I should have asked.
For all its grandeur and celebration, Rise of Skywalker is a mess. An incredibly disappointing final chapter that, despite all good intentions and positive messages of hope and togetherness, will likely only help further deepen divisions in a once-celebrated fandom.
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