A Satisfying Conclusion to the Saga

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2019)

It's now the end of an era for yet another franchise in 2019. Love or hate where this franchise has taken you throughout the years, it really should still be thought of as one of the greatest franchises of all time. Spanning decades, this series of films has divided its fan base for years, starting most notably with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. After the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I found myself incredibly invigorated, wanting to see where this new story was headed. Sadly, it's very obvious that there wasn't much of a plan from the beginning. With that said, here's why I still believe this movie serves as a fitting conclusion to this new trilogy and the saga as a whole.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker picks up roughly a year after the events of the previous film. Emporer Palpatine is back without much explanation at first and the trio of Rey, Finn, and Poe are off on side mission with a very specific goal in mind. This film takes a while to find its footing, as the first act of the movie is all about trying to have a fun adventure, while also trying to give answers to burning questions. By the end of this film, I was completely invested in where it ended up, even if I did feel like certain aspects were rushed through or messy.
I didn't see these films until Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith hit theatres in 2005. It was in that time period where I visited the franchise for the first time and really started loving it. Quite honestly, I look at this franchise very optimistically and Episodes 1 and 2 are truly the only films in the franchise that I dislike. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker falls somewhere in the middle of the franchise in terms of overall plotting and resolve, but I have to say that it might just have the best and biggest finale. Yes, there are head-scratching moments and this finale clearly going to please everyone, but it pleased me, what else can I say?
Without getting into specific details, Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren/Ben are two of the franchise's best actors/characters in my opinion. Their arcs are taken to new levels here and I was incredibly satisfied with them, as well as how well Poe and Finn were incorporated into this film. There are returning faces and unique ways of bringing the entire saga to a close, so I really didn't find myself annoyed or bothered with too many things here, even with the twists. The one thing that was very apparent, however, was the fact that they didn't have a plan since Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This absolutely hurts certain portions of the film, as it struggles to tie the events together of the previous movies, while also trying to finish the saga.
In the end, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not a perfect movie by any means, but there are so many worse ways they could've ended this story. John Williams is at the top of his game with his score, the performances are all fantastic, there are fitting ends to classic characters, new characters, as well as story threads that have been completed. There are moments of this movie that took me out of the overall experience, but I would be lying if I didn't say that the majority of the movie is very, very solid. I believe J.J. Abrams did the absolute best that he could to finish this saga and I'm very satisfied with the end result. If you're a fan of this franchise, I would absolutely recommend checking out the finale.