Keep expectations low, and you may just enjoy yourself

Rating: 4/10 (2 January 2020)

STAR WARS: EPISODE IX - THE RISE OF SKYWALKER-
With this newest trilogy, I normally returned multiple times to the theaters for a couple of reasons. One was that I wanted to see the films after my initial expectations had died down, and also because I actually enjoyed the films themselves. I mean STAR WARS is just as big now as it has always been, regardless of the lovers, the haters, and the in-betweeners. I saw THE FORCE AWAKENS four times, THE LAST JEDI TWICE, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER only once. I still highly enjoy TFA, but TLJ has only gotten worse for me through multiple home viewings. It actually borderlines on boring and damn near pointless, to be honest. With THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, I honestly planned to see it again. However after a couple of weeks to think about it, I don't care if I ever see it again. I've spent enough money on Disney's halfassery (my word, copyrighted) for the forseeable future.
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is for lack of a more descriptive term, a big jumbled watchable mess. It doesn't honor any of its characters properly (aside from Carrie Fisher's), and it handles pre-established plotlines by lightly touching on them or completely ignoring them altogether. There are way too many characters, and very little for them to do except nod to a conversation and then step aside for another one's brief appearance. I don't hate what has been done here, but like a father who has been let down by his highly talented children, I'm just disappointed and ultimately underwhelmed. What's odd though, is that THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is never boring. It's a high energy distraction from all of the weak and lazy writing that tries to balance a story that never gets any justice. The character of Rey has advanced in such a short time to having full on FORCE UNLEASHED powers, that not even Yoda came close to having in EMPIRE. Oh, and the cheap, ten year old child writer's excuse for why she's so powerful, is laughable at best. She hasn't earned it throughout this series and nobody is going to convince me otherwise. Everybody else takes a back seat to her, and the whole thing suffers because of it. The only character who has remained consistently written this whole time is Kylo Ren. It just sucks that not enough was given to him after the events of TFA. The reasoning for the return of the Emperor was also mediocre. There was a really good story in there for him if capable hands had been involved. Instead, he's just the baddie of the moment, there to growl and look scary with little purpose than what was fed to us.
In spite of my irritations with this movie, I have to give props to Director J.J. Abrams for taking over the monumental task of keeping THE RISE OF SKYWALKER from crashing into complete irrelevance. He had to steer the storyline back onto the path that he established with TFA before Rian Johnson monkeywrenched it in TLJ, while also trying to please all of the fans in the process. I can't even imagine how difficult that must have been for him to attempt. Because this movie could have turned out far worse than it did. Now, if any of you enjoyed this film and all of the fan service that it provided, then I am truly happy for you. But for me, I hold STAR WARS to a certain standard, and if they are going to play scattershot with this iconic franchise, then I am unable to be so forgiving. Hell, despite its many flaws, George Lucas's prequel trilogy actually looks far more grounded and planned out than this one and, it always felt like STAR WARS. This one, not always. Now that this trilogy is over, I pray to the Gods of Life Day that those executives pull their collective heads out of each other's asses, find the right people for the job (THE MANDOLORIAN showrunners are a great example), and let them do what they do best; not try to give medals four decades later to cover up any current inadequacies.