Star Wars: The rise of Skywalker. The final word: The force is strong with the final hour of this film

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2019)

My expectations for this film were quite low and I thought that I would be writing something like: "A forgettable series with forgettable characters comes to a forgettable end" for the third film in this trilogy. Early on, things weren't tracking well, as far as my score went, as I found the action uninvolving and the comedy not grabbing me, such as when Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) and Poe (played by Oscar Isaac) were bickering early on in the film. To be fair, though, in retrospect the 'banter' between Han Solo and Princess Leia in Episode V, especially, I think, wasn't that great...when viewed again as someone who is no longer a pre-teen. Engaging banter isn't a strength of George Lucas, as it is for, say, Joss Whedon (e.g. the "Buffy the vampire slayer" TV series).
The film steadily becomes more involving, tracking to score about 70% for me. It's not until there is less than an hour to go when it finally becomes a worthy instalment in the Star Wars canon. Why? Because, for the first time in this trilogy, probably in the entire trilogy of trilogies, it made me feel this kind of emotion (Episode IV might have been the only film in the entire series which made me feel the emotion of exhilaration for the action scenes but I was a young child at the time). This is what the all the trilogy sequels to Episodes IV - VI lacked. Where on Earth was this film-making ability in the last two sequels? I should note that this emotion that I felt was not due to any character development on Disney's part, just the situation that the characters found themselves in (analogous to chess pieces, where we don't really identify each piece as a character...but when they get taken off the board, we feel emotion as a result). The final (?) trilogy reminded me of the final film in the 2nd trilogy, Episode III, in that in an otherwise dull trilogy, the final instalment set the bar for the trilogy where it should have been all along...higher than what the previous two films had attained.
Anyway, Episode IX involves the final confrontation between the remnants of armies of the Rebel Alliance and the successors of The Empire. That's assuming that Disney doesn't resurrect the franchise, following on from the events of this...Episode X to infinity, no doubt.
As I stated earlier, I have found the two trilogies which followed Episodes IV - VI to fall well short of an acceptable quality of storytelling, which was achieved for Episode IV- VI (well, especially Episode IV-V). Unlike Episode IV- VI, I haven't found any of the characters memorable and coming into each new film in the trilogy, years since I saw the previous one in the cinema, I've already forgotten the main characters' names and their backstory. These characters have all the personality of George Lucas' figurine merchandise. Unlike how "The Empire strikes back" really makes a landmark of Luke Skywalker's training to be a Jedi, in this latest trilogy, Rey's journey is just a blur and when she appears in this film as a powerful Jedi, you just wish that the trilogy had paced her journey more slowly and deliberately, which I think I stated in my review here for the first film in this latest trilogy.
There is fan service in this film, so some of the people who have watched the entire series in the main franchise may be delighted, no doubt, by the many instances of them, either through characters or places. Some of the fan service I liked and some I was indifferent to. Editing this review again over a week after seeing the film, I can't remember if I disliked instances of this fan service. Some of the imagery is stunning. When a planet with an ocean is visited, the scale of the waves is very impressive.
Even though my knowledge of the series is not encyclopedic (I've seen Episode IV a handful of times or more and only its two sequels more than once), it does seem to me that there are a lot of logical holes in Episode IX or logical leaps, when not so bad. For instance, it didn't make sense to me why the person who targeted Rey's parents would want to do so. I think that Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) gives what is meant to me an explanation for it but I didn't quite catch all that he said. Just knowing the pieces in play for this event meant that I didn't find it believable. Sometimes what appears to be a logical flaw is shown to not be so by subsequent revelations. Still, when you think that people wouldn't do something in that situation or wouldn't know something that they do in the film, you have to query how alert the writers were to this. A variation of this criticism of mine is how people do something stupid, e.g. Finn (played by John Boyega) choosing a particularly inopportune time to want to chat to Rey on that planet with the ocean.
For me, the great "What if...? is "How would George Lucas have written the final instalments in his trilogy?". Now, this question doesn't weigh on me so much since he did such a bad job on Episode 1 - II (as well as showing an unfortunate decline in his powers in Episode VI), but what would he have done for Episode VII - IX had he been in the same league as he was for Episode IV - V especially? Really, I have no doubt that Luke Skywalker would have been central to it.
That brings me back to Disney taking on this franchise, after Lucas, perhaps, lost his nerve in the wake of the reaction to Episode I - III. Many times in this final trilogy, especially for this final film, brought to mind analogies between George Lucas and Disney. Disney has been like a cuckoo, laying its egg in the world of Lucas' nest. Things get Oedipal too, in my mind. For instance (if you haven't seen any of the films in this franchise, then this sentence contains a spoiler), how Disney killed off Luke Skywalker, the hero of the Episode IV - VI. I just can't believe that Lucas would have gone down this path...the dark side, if you will! (The same thought applies to the fates of other important characters from the franchise in this final trilogy. How Lucas would have dealt with the Carrie Fisher situation is a live question, too, for me. I like much what of what Disney has done on that front in this film.) An emblematic example of this interpretation of mine is the final sentence that you hear in this film. It's Disney calling itself "Lucas", in other words, when that is what is in doubt!
That being said, this film eventually ends up being a fine film.
Notes to self:
* The ending...when the villain of the piece seems to change what they said were their plans due to the actions of their adversary...was that their plan all along? Hard to follow!
* A lot of "HOD" in the crew credits...what's that? The name "Wedge Antiles"
there rang a bell for me...but my knowledge of that kind of detail isn't good.
* As the film progressed, I was thinking of scoring it 70% once it started to pick up, then 75% (but giving it 7 out of 10 stars here as is my wont in such circumstances), then 75+%, which would have allowed me to give it 8 stars here. But, like I said at the start, the last 50 minutes or so of the film is good stuff, so I just gave it an unequivocal 80% (and 8 stars).
The final order:
IIII - Star Wars: A new hope. From before I began reviewing films (as a child I would have given it 11/10!)
V - The Empire strikes back*. (* = From before I began reviewing films)
IX - The rise of Skywalker. 80%
III - Revenge of the Sith. 70%
VI - Return of the Jedi?*
VIII - The last Jedi. 70%
VII - The Force awakens. 65%
II - Attack of the clones*. Already forgotten it. Yawn
I - The phantom menace*. Jar Jar Binks? Awful. Just awful. Podracing? Boring. Just boring.