A disgrace to the heart and soul of the original

Rating: 1/10 (21 December 2019)

One of the first movies I remember seeing in the theater as a child was Return of the Jedi. I can still remember the loud applause of the crowd at the powerful scene where Darth Vader saves his son and throws the Emperor to his death. My dad stood up and cheered as did many others in the audience. As I got older and watched that entire trilogy (and later on, as a young adult, watching the prequels) I realized the overall theme of that franchise and the importance of that moment: A person's fall from grace because of the seduction of evil and their redemption through the light. It made the moment of Vader's/ Anakin's redemption at the end of ROTJ that much more powerful; the emperor was destroyed and Anakin fufilled his destiny as the chosen one.
Well, that powerful theme of the original was destroyed by this one. Like others, I was somewhat disappointed by the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi. However, I didn't hate them, enjoyed them for the entertainment they were, and figured we judge a trilogy as a whole. Well, the judgement is in and Rise of Skywalker not only fails on it's own right, it brings down Disney's entire trilogy as the story didn't even continue of the themes of it's own sequel trilogy, nevermind the originals. Here are some of my issues, especially as it spits on the spirit of the originals and even prequels:
1-The Emperor- We find out suddenly, within the first seconds of the "opening crawl" of the movie, and out of the blue, that the Emperor is alive. That erases the entire story line of the first six movies and erased the emotional impact of the end of ROTJ and Anakin's redemption I just spoke of. Ok, well, at least we can get a cool backstory of how the Emperor survived being thrown down a shaft of a soon exploded death star? Nope, not a one mention of how he survived other than the throw away line of "unnatural abilities." And other characters in the movie don't seem shocked about his sudden return. It's just a simple, oh, Palpatine is alive....so anyway. Remember, he was the ultimate bad guy of the universe. The universe celebrated the end of an evil empire upon his death. It shows the poor writing, in the same way we never find out how Kylo got Vader's helmet or how Maz got Luke's light saber. The "story for another time" line gets even weaker if the trilogy comes and goes without the explanation or the story. And what did Finn want to tell Rey? I guess we don't need to know. But I do guess good writing doesn't matter as long as you have cool CGI special effects and "woke" characters.
2- Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter. The whole theater laughed at the reveal. Yes, laughter. Not the gasps of the "I am Your Father " line of Empire. There should be laughter as this is just another example of poor writing. When did Palpatine have time for a child? I must have missed that in the prequel trilogy. If we do the math, he would have to have been the older man during his time as chancellor when his son was born. As simple as Rian Johnson's explanation in The Last Jedi was, "your parents were nobodies", I can even accept that over the Palpatine connection. Heck, at least that showed any average person can have force abilities.
3-New force powers- No one studies them, but rather they just learn them out of the blue. Giving objects through the air. Lol A sudden ability to heal and bring back to life. Wow, Anakin sure could have used this to save Padme. Again, bad writing.
4-The character of Rey-I like her character and she really could have been a strong female character for young girls to look up to in the same way Leia was in the original trilogy. However, they, in modern Hollywood fashion, had to go to the extreme and pander and make her a perfect character, more powerful than anyone in Star Wars history, without the need to train or have flaws. It's almost like they brought the dead Emperor back for the sole purpose of her being the one to kill him.
5-Kylo's redemption. This was also handed too quickly. And the ending kiss with Rey, the theater laughed at this part as well. Kylo also spent three movies trying to talk to the spirit of his dead grandfather Vader...how powerful would it have been to have the Force ghost of Anakin appear and talk to him about his own errors and redemption. That could have really tied three trilogies together.
5- The whole final battle- Horses running on star destroyers, Sith lightening into space, all destoyers lined up in a row for an easy target, I could go on about the mess of the whole ending. Or how about Palpatine sucking the life force out of Rey and Kylo. I mean, he should have just done that to Luke in ROTJ and moved on.
I'm done with my perspective. I don't blame the actors, they only read the lines they are provided with. Given better writing, this could have been a great trilogy. You wonder if these people even "got" what the old movies were about? Even John Williams' amazing score couldn't save this one. Everyone is free to have their own opinion, but as for mine, this movie will not be judged well. This movie lacks the heart and soul of George Lucas, which is clearly missing. This is the first and only review I have ever written on imdb, which shows my disdain for what they did to this once great franchise. For anyone wanting a true sequel to the original movies, read some of the old novels, starting with the Thrawn trilogy. They build on the Star Wars and Lucas legacy, without trying to destroy it.