The Rise of 'Mary Sue'.

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2019)

With 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' being the climactic ending to a nine-film story-arc and heavily divided trilogy in itself, does J.J. Abrams' final attempt to tie-up loose ends and save the 'Skywalker Saga' from a disastrous fate as 'The Last Jedi' exceed expectations?
1. Personally, this film is split down the middle for me and the following review is spoiler-heavy cause there are a few major points I feel the need to cover. As far as story goes, it appears pretty simple on paper. Unbeknownst to the galaxy, the diabolical Sith leader Emperor Palpatine survived his fatal fall at the hands of Darth Vadar and returns with sheer vengeance and a massive Sith Fleet to once again conquer the galaxy which forces the Resistance to undertake a journey in finding and destroying him once and for all. Pretty straight-forward of a plot right? Wrong! Despite the film rushing through the motions from the very first frame, the dramatic elements are interjected at random times throughout the film which belabors the story dynamic.
2. On a couple positive notes, the one story element which should have been pushed more so than the rest was the relationship between Kylo Ren/Ben Solo (Adam Driver) and Rey (Daisy Ridley). There is a better interplay between the two than how it unfolded in 'The Last Jedi' in which they both battle with the dark and light within them. With the termination of Snoke, Kylo Ren has now adopted the mantle of the First Order's Supreme Leader and enlists the 'Knights of Ren' to hunt down and kill Rey at the behest of Palpatine himself. With Driver probably being the most compelling actor and character of the trilogy, he is underused and has lesser screen-time than he did in the previous films. J.J. Abrams has always been a good action director and I had no problems with any of the action set-pieces this film had to offer. Coupled with the production designs and impeccable special effects, the action is quite entertaining on its own.
2. Now onto the problems. With part of the convoluted story involving finding a special device to aid in locating Palpatine, you realize just how useless some main characters are, particularly Finn (John Boyega). Apart from being a terrible actor, Boyega as Finn is reduced to nothing but a yelling/screaming tag-along who continues to have a hard-on for Rey. If you were wondering whether Rey and Finn ever hook-up...........no they don't. Side characters are introduced at the last minute with no real purpose to the overall plot rather than being there to propel segments of the story. Considering Carrie Fisher passed away well before filming, General Leia serves one purpose which I'll get to later. I can't help but think that Palpatine was re-introduced because Rain Johnson made the sole decision to kill Snoke in the previous film and J.J. Abrams was desperate to crow-bar in a familiar villain to end the saga with.
3. Ever since 'The Force Awakens' I had the inkling that the character of Rey was an attempt by Disney to subtly push a feminist agenda into the new trilogy. I foolishly gave them the benefit of the doubt thinking that Rey would be more human and relatable in the subsequent films, but I was proven wrong. Rey is undoubtedly the embodiment of a 'Mary Sue' in which, despite any external conflict/challenge, she remains a flawless and unrealistically strong female without any hint of weakness. One of this trilogy's cliff-hangers was the mystery behind her parentage, and needless to say, I was yet again underwhelmed. As it turns out, she is the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine and he has been in search of her in hopes that she will take his throne to become the new Empress of the Sith. How does someone with hereditary powers of the dark side be able to resist elements of the same darkness and also be able to channel the light side of the Force? Bad storytelling I guess.
4. There came a point where this film almost turned me around and I had a slight sense of hope when it came to Kylo Ren as he relinquishes the dark side and turns to the light. During a vicious light-saber duel on the wreckage of the Death-Star, Kylo defeats Rey but Leia uses the last of her life force to subdue her son before he delivers the final killing blow to Rey. Leia ultimately passes away due to this which leaves Kylo the last of the 'Skywalker' bloodline. The film deceived me into thinking Kylo (now redeemed as Ben Solo) would be the actual hero of the story as he was finally brought back to the light by the love of his parents Han and Leia. Instead, Ben teams up with Rey to battle Palpatine but as this is a feminist story, Ben is knocked out of the fight and Rey is the one to summon the spirits of past Jedi to slay the Emperor in yet another "How the hell would that work?!" type scene.
5. Despite the rediculous nature of the climax, I still had a bit of hope, as Rey dies due to her exertions to kill Palpatine, she is brought back to life by Ben using the Force. Surprisingly, the two share a passionate kiss in that moment and I was thrilled to see a dynamic where rivals fall in love and possibly get married to continue the 'Skywalker' lineage. However, that was the better ending that played out in my head rather than on screen. In actuality, after kissing Rey, Ben dies and his body vanishes in Jedi fashion. The writing in this film is bland and near atrocious in some parts but the story is the most disappointing to say the least especially how things play out. J.J. Abrams must have been inspired by the final scene in 'RoboCop' (1987) when he wrote the final scene for this film cause that's how bad the writing is when you have to borrow from other films. Rey adopting the surname Skywalker for no reason at all was (needless to say) the final kick in the groin for me.
Never was I a major 'Star Wars' fanboy, but I highly admired the classic trilogy and the masterful storytelling/film-making it encapsulated. Those films were inspired, episode 7, 8 and 9 were not. I'm so glad the 'Skywalker Saga' is over because I (like many others) desperately want to move on with something new rather than being sold on nostalgia.