It's amazing how formulaic and derivative it is...

Rating: 4/10 (2 January 2020)

I'll give credit when it's due, the action and imagery in The Rise of Skywalker is enthralling and I couldn't help but grin at the nostalgic fan service. God, it's so forced, but the charm always disarms me. That's it, though. That's everything of value I got out of this film. It's a fine set piece movie. What it flounders at is telling an effective, original and comprehensible story and concluding it on an impactful note. It's amazing how formulaic and derivative it is. The characters are just too Mary Sue, uninteresting and nothing they do or achieve feels especially earned. Even worse than The Last Jedi, the film plays it too safe and bails when it does get potentially interesting. There were a few legitimate twists I didn't see coming but seconds later the film drops them like they never happened. It's so frustrating. I walked out of The Rise of Skywalker feeling nothing and being that Star Wars is a shining example of cinema, that didn't feel right at all. Looking back, this sequel trilogy is just a really big fan of the original...and it's a lazy and manipulative one.