A Galaxy Saved and Salvaged by J.J Abrams

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2019)

Being a huge fan of the original trilogy and enjoying the lore of the prequel trilogy, I can respect and finally see where J.J Abrams was going with the Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker. Turns out Rey is a Palpatine and wouldn't be revealed until episode IX, where Abrams wanted to clue us into new mysteries and to raise new questions in order to keep us on our toes. Examples of this is introducing a new villain like Supreme Leader Snoke, who really was a puppet and clone of Palpatine.
PROS:
I can appreciate the story for what we were given by trying to repair the damage after Rian Johnson's terrible writing of The Last Jedi. The characters all had good stories, except Rose. I love the lore of how Palpatine survived and how he was behind the entire saga, which tied the events of all the movies together. I also loved when Rey called out to the force and seeing older characters return such as: Yoda, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan. The ending was well written mimicking the original movie of A New Hope of Luke Skywalker looking out into the sunset, but now it is Rey returning to the home world of Anakin and Luke. The cinematography was excellent! The CGI was great and we got Ewoks! Also we got porgs for merchandising just like Yogurt says in Spaceballs "Merchandising". The Emperor's story is the best part of the movie and makes it feel like a Star Wars movie and also it ties it in with lore from Revenge of the Sith essentially making Darth Plagueis true as that the Emperor claims that all the sith live within him. Essentially, the Emperor struck down his own master in order to obtain Plaguesis life force. This also explains the power that Anakin was so greatly after in order to save Padme from death, which is the power of healing that Rey has since she is a Palpatine. I like how the Knights of Ren were finally used as Palpatine's servants. It was also nice to see the visuals of him decaying as so much time has passed from the events of Episode XI to now, which means he would be over 100 years old. Now let's move to other characters. We got more C3PO this time around and Daniels did a great job for the final movie of this saga making him have a good purpose to the story. We got Lando back and it was fun to see him and Chewbacca in the Falcon for the final battle. Princess Leia was a gem in the movie and I appreciate what they were able to do with her since she passed before the making of this movie. Luke Skywalker as a force ghost was awesome, but I wish he was still alive to fight the Emperor along side Rey and Ben Solo. Ben Solo character came full circle and was enjoyable. Adam
Driver did an excellent job with him! Han Solo came back as a vision to Ben and I loved how he got that time with his son through Leia's sacrifice. Fin and Poe were fun to see, but were more of a B plot to the movie, while Rey, the Emperor and Ben were the A plot. There was plenty of nostalgia and it was a good and fun movie to see on a Friday night!
CONS:
The plot was good, but had a few holes that were unresolved from The Last Jedi that Abrams couldn't explore when seeding up for the next movie in the franchise from Force Awakens. Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy ruined Luke Skywalker's arc and made him way to feminine out of his own character. Not to mention, the infamous throwing the lightsaber off the cliff part, which nearly happened again with Rey. I personally didn't care for that part. It seemed that the movie had a lot of different locations, but were too much for a single Star Wars movie for me. Another small issue was over usage of the light speed control on the Falcon that Poe used during the escape scene in the beginning part of the film. I was not also a big fan of the Chewbacca death cliffhanger only to find out he survived 10 minutes later. That part was a bit forced. I think some parts of the movie could be trimmed and were unnecessary. It did feel like the movie was based on entirely nostalgia and fan service for terrible efforts of The Last Jedi.
Overall, Rian Johnson should NOT write another Star Wars movie. The saga is done, so don't make episodes X, XI, and XII. The new trilogy by Disney is decent if you don't count The Last Jedi. The lore was fun to explore and the story was good and the movie was fun to watch, which made it not predictable unlike the Last Jedi. We got Ewoks! We saw old familiar locations, yes Cloud City I am talking about you! The fan service was not much, but we deserve it after The Last Jedi. I really enjoyed this movie and the best part is the tie to the rest of the saga, which is the Emperor's story! Nicely done, Jar Jar Abrams! The galaxy will finally sleep in peace after avenging the evil Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy!