Fine as a Stand Alone, Just Ok in the Trilogy

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2019)

Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker Review:
Returning director J. J. Abrams cowrites and directs this finale to the Skywalker saga. Here, Palpatine mysteriously returns and the Resistance faces the First Order once more to bring peace to the galaxy. I'm a Star Wars fan. Any Star Wars fan was excited to see this finale. The original trilogy (4-6) is just amazing and nothing beats it. The prequels (1-3) are ok but not great. The only one I actually like is Revenge of the Sith. Now they decided to do the sequel trilogy (7-9), I just have to say I hate that they call it that but that's what it is I guess, and I like it. The Force Awakens was pretty good and showed a promising trilogy. Now this will anger many people: I think The Last Jedi is one of the best films in the whole saga and I wish Rian Johnson would have directed the whole sequel trilogy. Despite people saying how I shouldn't like The Last Jedi and it's not right, I thought it was just great. Now here's the thing: J. J. Abrams had The Force Awakens be setup for the trilogy. He started it off and handed it over to Rian Johnson. There's a great analogy that I watched for this and I'm going to use it. At the end of The Force Awakens, Rey holding out the lightsaber for Luke to take is Abrams handing over the trilogy to Johnson. Then in The Last Jedi Luke throws the lightsaber and that's Johnson basically saying "I don't really like this setup so I'm going to change it up." People really didn't like that and just trashed the film. The problem now with The Last Jedi is it's a different setup so we have two films with two setups. Abrams came back for the finale and has to find a way to complete a trilogy with two different setups. Since Snoke is dead Abrams had to find a different threat so he decides Palpatine. This is my biggest issue with the movie. I personally didn't like the addition of Palpatine. It felt forced and there wasn't much exposition for the whole thing. The first three paragraphs we read at the beginning were just so confusing at the beginning and we're just supposed to except it all. The writing was just jumbled to me. There wasn't a whole definitive for the whole trilogy which didn't help. The prequels had a plan. The originals didn't have a plan at first, but then George Lucas mapped out the whole thing after he saw the success from the first. This trilogy was a free for all. My problem is that they needed consistency with the writing and direction throughout all of this. The first hour is all trying to setup all of this and I thought it was slow. The very beginning had a cool sequence and then it just slowed down. After the hour I think it found it's footing and took off. The action scenes were all fantastic. There's a specific one where it's Rey and Kylo on this wreck surrounded by water. The whole battle there had to be my favorite part of the movie. Most of that is due to the marvelous visual effects and the acting. The acting has never been just good in the sequel trilogy, it's always great. Daisy Ridley is such a fantastic actress and there isn't a better actress that could play Rey. Personally, Rey isn't my favorite character but I do like the conflicts with her and how much of a badass she is. Now Kylo is the best. I hated him in The Force Awakens. We used to call him "a pussy in a mask". Then during The Last Jedi he got a shit ton of development and I loved him. He's the highlight of The Rise of Skywalker. I praised Adam Driver in my review for Marriage Story so you can read more about that in there. He's also the perfect Kylo and couldn't get anyone better. There's even more of a turning point with him in this and I proved to be probably my favorite character in the whole saga. It's been decided just now that he's my favorite character. The Rise of Skywalker is mostly good with characters. There's an addition of characters that didn't really effect the plot that much. They may have done little things but nothing super major. As we all know Carrie Fisher has been dead for a while. They decided to recycle some footage and add Leia to this which was cool, but I don't think she should've been in this much. It's not their fault but everything she said was an inspirational quote and didn't flow well. Personally I think they should've just said she died or just have a funeral for her at the beginning. They tried what they could, however it didn't flow well. Without spoiling the movie this is all I can say really. I have a lot more things to say but if you'd like to know more of my opinions, come and talk to me. As a stand alone movie it's good. In the context of the trilogy it's a disappointment. I totally understand if you really liked it or really didn't. I think this is fine. I wasn't a fan of how the finale went. My mother even said "As a fan of Star Wars for 42 years, I was let down." There's many mixed feelings on this movie, just about as much as The Last Jedi. So don't get mad at me for having opinion. There's no correct opinion. I just thought this was fine. It took me two watches and six days of thinking to actually write this. If you're going to comment stuff trying to claim it's the best or worst I will probably not comment back. Really it's just all opinions.
My Grade: B-
My Ranking of Star Wars (Best to Worst)
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. The Last Jedi
4. Return of the Jedi
(Rogue One)
5. The Force Awakens
6. The Rise of Skywalker
7. Revenge of the Sith
(Solo)
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Attack of the Clones