Movie Good, Trilogy Bad

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2019)

The latest Star Wars movie, Rise of Skywalker, delivers a good movie. Unfortunately, it is not enough to completely rebound from The Last Jedi. True, I enjoyed the previous outing more than most people, but Rise of Skywalker was better in many ways.
We pick up right after the end of the last one - where we found out Kylo Wren is hearing the voice of Palpatine. He flies to the Sith Planet and discovers the former Emperor is alive and trying to manifest himself within another. Then, we return to Rey being trained by Leia. Poe, Fin and Chewie are up to saving the galaxy as one. When they all put their heads together, they realize the only way to find the Sith Planet is through a Sith Finder that will guide them there. To find the clues, Fin, Poe, Rey, Chewie and Threepio must travel to a couple of different planets, ending their quest near the Endor system where fragments of the Death Star have landed. Rey and Kylo are playing a cat and mouse game and have their final light saber duel. Now it is up to Rey to stop Palpatine and the Resistance fleet to stop Palpatine for returning and taking his new fleet to conquer the galaxy. The journey is fun, the battles are epic, and the story is ... well a story.
This is my first gripe of the new movie. While the pacing is far better, some things are developed that do not pay off well. Threepio seems to be making a huge sacrifice, which is really not has heave as we were led to believe. Adding to that sin is the attempt to do too much, too quickly. No, it is never boring, nor does it drag, but the plot is haphazard and unfocused. Also, Abrams has the direct intention of putting a Lesbian kiss, hoping to make a cinematic universe full of Wookies, Jawas, Uhgnaughts, Ewoks, and whatever the hell Jar-Jar Binks seem more culturally diverse.
The biggest error, though, was lack of a cohesive story. I'm not talking about the individual movies, but rather within the scheme or a trilogy. For the most part, there is no consistency to bring them together. Even though the prequels were terrible, they did have consistency, and story-arcs that played out. The original trilogy did it superbly. The blame here, though, rests solely on Disney. After the Force Awakens with Abrams, it was handed off with no idea of the beginning, middle and end.Johnson took what Abrams did and discarded much of it - mostly on the death of Snoke. Now it was up to Abrams to set things straight, which forces him to make a long movie that has to rectify things like Rey's parents, and the death of Snoke.
However, what makes up for it is the individual movie. I liked the three new protagonists of Rey, Fin and Poe together most of the movie - something missing in the last two movies. Also, Adam Driver does a great job as Kylo Wren. He is a superb actor with a good, sinister presence. Daisey Ridley also makes a convincing Rey as someone who struggles with her identity and who her parents were. And, of course, are key cameos, some fan service, epic battles, and incredible special effects.
You will not be blown away by Rise of Skywalker, but I think fans will like this one more than Last Jedi. Still, the next time Disney decides to make a trilogy, I hope they realize a trilogy must be a three-part story, not three separate films.