A Colorful and Fun, Messy and Limp Ending to a Flawed Trilogy.

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2020)

No, I will not join in on the chorus of jeers. I saw this capper to what Disney now calls "The Skywalker Saga" (a slimy way to ensure more fan fiction is on the way) with expectations for new Star Wars movies pretty well dead. I came away quite content. I don't know for certain, but Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise if Skywalker could be the most purely entertaining of all the Disney Star Wars films. It's fun and adventurous, and not so smug, so already it's a far superior replica of the real Star Wars than The Last Jedi was. The dreadful dourness and awkwardly small structure of that film are replaced with a globe-hopping adventure story that feels in line with what a Star Wars movie ought to do. The Rise of Skywalker is also an unruly mess, but give me that over a cleverly written bore any time.
Rise's reputation suggests it is a course-correction from The Lat Jedi, picking up where The Force Awakens left off and mitigating any consequences of Rian Johnson's story. While part of that is true; the film does gloss over major plot points of its predecessor, it actually functions most like a self-enclosed one-off story. Now, Emperor Palpatine is back, there are a couple new threats to go along with him (The Final Order and the Knights of Ren), and our heroes continue their spunky fight for good. It feels as if very little is being carried over from the other sequels. Instead, brand new characters, situations, and McGuffins are introduced throughout. Unsurprisingly, this gives most of the movie a terribly rushed feeling, where even the action beats don't seem to last long enough before it's on to something else. The young quartet of actors are exactly as you would expect at this point, lively and enthusiastic, bordering on overbearing. Adam Driver is once again the most interesting of the bunch, and the decision to put him back in the mask is a good one (what can I say, he looks cool). Unfortunately, old heroes Leia and Lando are forced into hurried cameos. Carrie Fisher being long dead is quite the hurdle, but at least she gets a dignified sendoff.
The story, all the chasing after different mystical items and relaying information to and through spies, is neither here nor there. What matters most in The Rise of Skywalker is the entertainment value. On that front, it's great. Most impressive is the movie's eye-popping visuals. Rise is incredibly satisfying to look at. Brilliant, filmic color, exciting pace with the camerawork (something J.J. Abrams is exceptionally good at), and gorgeous set design and special effects make Episode IX a candy-colored dream. What the movie lacks in imagination, it makes up for with craft. Sets, puppets, animatronics, and CGI abound. I have called The Force Awakens the most polished movie ever made. Rise may have it beat.
Although it may feel like the action scenes come hot and heavy in this film, there aren't really that many set-pieces. The pace comes more from Abrams' style and the fact that some of the chases and fights go by so quickly that it seems to be more action packed than it actually is. That said, the midway lightsaber duel is visually exciting and the final space and ground battle is fantastic fun. If you can give into the zany spirit, you can have a real good time.
The Rise of Skywalker was never going to have much impact as a conclusion to the series because the whole sequel trilogy has been no more than the deformed tumor growing off the side of Lucas' actual saga from the beginning. This finale is more of a salvage job than a true conclusion. The trilogy has not been building to anything, so whatever Rise closes has only been opened along its own runtime. It's impossible not to look at how Revenge of the Sith handled the task of ending the saga. Sith took compounding story threads, both political and personal, from both its previous films, and brought them to their logical climax. All the while, connecting old threads in a way that closes the circle of all six movies. It was a movie that felt, in every moment, like an epic finale. It even ended on a shot so emotionally perfect and thematically resonant that The Rise of Skywalker had no choice but to ape it. But Rise has none of that feeling of finality. It's another colorful distraction, albeit one where characters die and wars are won.
Looking back on the whole Sequel Trilogy project makes one really appreciate the cyclical storytelling brilliance of episodes I-VI. The way they thematically weave together, all the while being unique, daring, visionary, and unafraid to be silly. But that's with George Lucas, an artist, at the helm. With Disney, Star Wars has smoothed out the quirks and beefed up the effects. As far as fan fiction goes, I'm happy with that approach. As long as you can recognize that these are bald-faced corporate cash grabs, you'll find that they are relatively enjoyable as bald-faced corporate cash grabs go (I'm not sure that applies to The Last Jedi, but nevertheless). I look for these non-Lucas movies to entertain me, and this one did. That is all I require anymore.
73/100