It's still Disney, but it's not the worst finale you can ever imagine.

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2019)

After the previous episode... I don't think anyone expected anything good from this one. Well, maybe except J.J. Abrams' fans. If those even exist on our poor, poor planet (never met any). Anyway, my expectations this time were pretty low. So, I can't say I was disappointed. Quite the opposite, actually, I was a little surprised. Only a little, though. Because this movie? It's a mess. Not because its intentions were bad, though. Quite the opposite. It tries to tell us way too much. The Force Awakens was like a long intro. The Last Jedi was more like a bunch of stupid jokes. Not much really happened in both of them and both movies just kept adding questions without giving us any real answers. The Rise of Skywalker? It tries to give us most of the answers at the same exact time. I'm saying "most of" because, well... we still don't have a freakin' clue about who the Knights of Ren are, for example, and what were their intents to begin with. Aside from the fact that the guys are, well, kind of evil. One way, or another, there's way too much answers in this movie. And the biggest problem with that is that the narrative thread suffers a lot. Like... A LOT. Even though this movie is longer than two hours, it feels extremely rushed. There's just no time to let us actually FEEL things. And a really bad directing that ruined pretty much every single dramatic moment (J.J. Abrams' fans, are you there?) doesn't help with that either. Like I've said, this movie is a mess with too many different things happening too fast. It's even hard for this movie to keep a certain kind of the atmosphere because of that. Just because it's trying to do all the job for both previous flicks that just wasted our time.
As for the plot holes, mistakes and stupid developments... Those are here, of course, but I don't want to focus on them too much. I mean, who cares? I always thought that those are not really that important. Like... at all. The more important thing to me is that we've got ourselves a Star Wars movie this time. That's right, the best thing about The Rise of Skywalker is that it abandoned previous movie's idea about turning the entire thing into MARVEL-like something and focused on what we all love the most. The Force, space battles, legacy and the lightsabers. It's all here (yep, nobody throws the lightsabers away like those are nothing) and it isn't nearly as bad as you may expect. Sure, we've got more anticlimactic developments for certain cult characters. But this time? I didn't feel that bad about such things. Just because there's some sense in them now and they play some important role in the story. And as for the story, at least this time, unlike the first movie in the trilogy, it tries to deliver some surprises. It doesn't succeed all the time, since at least some things you can easily guess after watching the trailer, but still, it tries. Way better stuff than "let's just re-create the original trilogy and call it a thing" from the first movie. Not like The Rise of Skywalker doesn't do that at all, but, well, it's better this time.
And the action parts? Those are pretty cool. Sure, Star Wars movies are not your typical action flicks, but I think it's important to note that both action sequences and lightsaber duels feel pretty fresh this time. I mean, back in the seventies, those space battles from the original trilogy were EXTREMELY impressive and very fresh. Naturally, it was important to show us something like that too. And I really admire the fact that they didn't aim for more of the same this time. Remember that cool looking final battle from previous movie? This movie aims for such stuff quite a lot. Which is fun, since action parts with Finn and the others inspire you more than those scenes that were supposed to be dramatic (MAN, the directing sucks...).
Another important thing to mention is that they're still using real props, models and even puppets. Which, I think, is vital for Star Wars. Because without those the franchise will lose its iconic atmosphere. It's kind of fun too, though, since with all those huge budgets and modern technology behind them, they still can't do as good as the original trilogy's team. Kylo Ren's new helmet, for example, looks like a cheap Chinese toys for cosplayers. One of those that you can buy from AliExpress (not a sponsor). But, well, they've tried.
That's pretty much it about this movie. Unlike the previous two? They've kind of tried. Will you like it if you didn't like previous two? Nope. Not at all. Does it act as a good finale for current trilogy? Well, kind of. I really do believe that. At least, this time we've ourselves got some unique story with some satisfying battles. Not "we're too afraid of experiments, so, let's just do more of the same" from the first movie. And not stupid jokes with pathetic villain from the second one. At least, we can say that The Rise of Skywalker is a thing on its own. A thing that desperately tries to make sense (you can clearly see that some stupid developments were fixed just because too many reviewers pointed them out). Sure, all the drama goes down the drain thanks to poor directing. Sure, it can be painfully stupid, illogical and cheesy. Sure, some props look pathetic. But I don't think it's the worst way for current trilogy to end. I sure hope that the next trilogy (hello, Disney) won't be anything like this. But as the finale for the painful disaster current trilogy was since very beginning? This movie is pretty much OK. I'd say, if you've followed the story so far, it does worth going to see it in theater, in 3D. Which is not as cool as in some MARVEL movies, but still has its moments. I also liked the fact that the Star Wars universe is now openly accepts the LGBT community. They did it totally right here. It felt logical, it didn't ruin anything and it didn't feel like they're trying to shove their ideas down to your throat. It felt totally good and inspiring (instant 16+ in a certain homophobic country). So, all in all, it's a very messy movie. With some things done right, some things done wrong and tons of the awful legacy from two previous movies. I don't think I'll ever want to re-watch it (not in a couple of years anyway), but I didn't feel bad about paying for the ticket. Like I've said, the current Disney's trilogy is finally over and this movie is not the worst way for it to end. Dixi.