The Skywalker Saga reaches its conclusion (for now), as J.J. Abrams once again takes the reins to make a finale that aims to please all factions of fans across the galaxy. This review is spoiler free.
Disney/Lucasfilm
Following the divisive reaction of ‘The Last Jedi’, there was a choice to be made with the final piece of this sequel trilogy; give in to the loud factions of fans who disagreed with decisions made, or develop the story from the threads of Rian Johnson’s daring mid-quel? With J.J. back, business has resumed to normal with ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, a trilogy- capper so eager to please as many corners of the fandom as it possibly can that it forgets to tell a story along the way.
The Emperor has returned. Thought dead, Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has been moving in the shadows and is finally ready to launch his strike. The only thing that stands in his way is the hope of the Jedi in the form of scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley) who is being pursued by supreme leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), as she and the rest of the Resistance fight to ensure a peaceful future for the galaxy.
Abrams is a director who is more than capable of mounting action and creating a peppy sense of excitement and mystery. But sadly here it feels as though he is drowning beneath the weight of the responsibility put before him. From the very off, the apparently troubled production history can be felt as the film panics in setting up its adventure with an opening act that throws all the toys on the table and quickly tries to put them in a specific place. That proves to be a direction that’s frustratingly familiar and only fitfully intriguing, as the film ends up being a furiously paced adventure across numerous planets following multiple hunts for MacGuffins with very vague purposes.
From there, the adventure ends up hitting similar beats to that of the franchise as a whole, from the original trilogy right down to the prequels. While the return of Palpatine does bring with it the fun of McDiarmid’s deliciously pantomime performance, it can’t help but feel like a desperate plea to please the faithful. Along with many other choices that deliberately avoid fragments developed in ‘The Last Jedi’ in favour of a broad assumption of what it thinks the fans want, this quickly becomes a finale that is far too concerned with developing something that brings together the 40+ years of the franchise.
So, while the film is well made with incredible special effects and features a suitably grand John Williams score and is dedicatedly performed by its cast of talented actors, there is the inescapable feeling of desperation powering it all. You can feel the anxiety behind the camera to deliver something that all fans can enjoy, a task which is frankly impossible and doomed to fail. As a result, this is fan service in the worst possible fashion, with characters and plot points dropped in for merely the sake of getting a cheer from the crowd rather than add to the story or to strengthen the overall reason for this sequel trilogy to exist.
‘The Rise of Skywalker’ is a concluding chapter that is so ferociously paced that it forgets to construct a story, moving frantically through action beats which don’t leave much of an impression, delivered at such a clip that it hopes you don’t have time to dwell on the thinly sketched details of what plot there is. What development there is among characters feels largely superficial, and some plot fragments are dropped as quickly as they are introduced. There is the niggling sense that another year in production might’ve allowed Abrams and his co-writer Chris Terrio the time to smooth out their ambitions. However, as it stands, this is a final chapter that feels as though it just can’t wait to get it all done with, rather than one that feels like it wants the moment to last.
Very much the ‘Return of the Jedi’ to ‘The Last Jedi’’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’, in that it concludes its trilogy in an awkwardly paced fashion, TROS is devoid of much ambition other than to get to a place where it feels most fans will be contented. It lacks the confidence of ‘The Force Awakens’ and the thematic bravado of ‘The Last Jedi’. There are some joyous moments along the way that my inner Star Wars fan couldn’t help but smile at, but there are others that are simply confusing, and some that are just a bit embarrassing. A messy, and ultimately underwhelming experience, but one that feels so desperate to please that the sense you leave with is not one of anger or annoyance, but rather one of pity. And so this is how the Skywalker Saga ends, not with thunderous applause but with a heavy shrug of exhausted shoulders.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is now playing.
