Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, the (Palpatine) Emperor has no clothes

When The Last Jedi came out I was reluctant to criticize it because the one before it was so entertaining. It had some built-in good will that made it relatively critic proof initially. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t arrive in movie theaters with that luxury. That’s unfortunate because the movie tries very hard to succeed. It jams so much content, loose plot stories and guest stars from previous films that the final third of the film feels like a talk show saying goodbye as previous guests walk on screen.  

If you enjoyed The Last Jedi, then you’ll like The Rise of Skywalker. If not, then you’ll probably see it anyway and then moan about the fact that film could’ve been so much better, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

There are lots of things that work in The Rise of Skywalker. Finn and Poe have established chemistry that provides most of the true moments of friendship in the movie. There’s also a cool new robot that looks like it has a brush on its head. As Star Wars fans who know more than I pour over the film they’ll notice extras or Fighter Pilot #2 who was in the first film and made an appearance in this film. On some level it will make the die-hard fans happy because it puts so many Easter eggs into the film.

There are also couple nice action pieces, especially the rock planet that Kylo Ren visits, the ice planet that the Millennium Falcon goes to all too briefly and the planet that has those monstrous waves in the ocean that you’ve seen in the trailer.

However, most of the film doesn’t work, part of that is due to cramming too much into the story and the other part is holding onto strands of previous stories that didn’t work then-and still fall flat now. The problem with the second trilogy of films was that they got too mired down in politics and treaties. The problem with the third trilogy is that they got too mired down in family relationships.

Personally, I don’t care who Rey’s parents are. That’s fine, it was a mild curiosity in the first film in this trilogy, but that emotion is now at Brady Bunch, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha level. Even if you genuinely want to know who her parents are, the length at which the film goes to explore this quest is tiresome and needed about 20 minutes trimmed from the run time.

There are umpteen references, many of which that are out of place or never pay off. When our crew gets stuck in a seemingly deadly trap Finn says “Rey, there’s something I’ve meant to tell you I Lo….” as they get sucked in possible doom. Sure it references the scene where Han Solo and Princess Leia had multiple playful jibes like that. However, when it happens here it’s out of place and simply seems odd.

Speaking of Leia, the film slows down considerably when she’s on screen. Thankfully her scenes are short, but they are pointless. Fisher’s scenes in this film were culled from archival footage and add nothing to the story. Leia isn’t the only old school Star Wars character you’ll see. Stick around and you’ll see lots of them. You thought they were dead, but no, here is…well you get the message. At one point I thought they were going to roll out footage of Alec Guinness.

During our screening there were three moments where the audience laughed out loud. These were dramatic scenes and the people that made noises were not the moderators that you’d find in a Star Wars chat room. They were regular people who review movies for newspapers, magazines or blogs. I didn’t laugh, but I did groan especially loud when something fabulously cheesy happened towards the very end of the film.

The Rise of Skywalker does end the Skywalker saga. That’s a good thing. One fact that the Star Wars film makers never realized is that the ‘Star Wars universe’ is so much bigger than Skywalker. It’s not just about one family and who may-or may not be related to them. Science-fiction fans didn’t abandon the series and it wasn’t a group of online trolls that beat down the final two films. It’s that those two films were not any fun and didn’t change out the old guard. The Force Awakens introduced some cool new characters, but the two that followed it embraced the classic characters and their lineage far too much and ditched most of the fun that the series had in the first place.

I do not think that is is Star Wars fatigue. It’s just a case of the film not measuring up to a fun, entertaining movie. If Star Wars fatigue were a thing, then Marvel Movie fatigue would be an industry, yet it isn’t. Marvel maintains a steady, base level of enjoyment throughout the vast majority of their films, where as Star Wars seems to their opposite cousin with a slightly more devoted fan base.