The Skywalker Saga Finale Falls Flat

Rating: 5/10 (29 December 2019)

Please, hang with me. This is a fairly long review. I'm going to say some things that some readers will disagree with, some things they might find offensive, and I'm sorry about that. I adore Star Wars and hope that people who disagree can still engage in healthy, respectful discussion. My Star Wars fan friends disagree with each other about certain parts of the saga, but we always remain respectful, and we have plenty of fun and insightful conversations. Hopefully readers will use this review as jumping off point for conversations of their own.
Here we go.
It was doomed to fail from the start.
"The Rise of Skywalker" creatives made a concerted effort to sweep away everything from Episode 8, "The Last Jedi." Many fans were ticked off about Rian Johnson's vision and execution of the film, going so far to call it Star Wars blasphemy.
Writers of Episode 9 decided that charting a storyline that swiftly and starkly deviates 9 as the only way to appease angry Star Wars fans. It was this choice that doomed Episode 9. There was simply no way to successfully pull off the finale of the Skywalker saga given this chosen direction. Writers were forced to spend the first 40 minutes attempting to explain the reason for this sudden shift in the story, and the explanation does not go well.
All the exposition in the first third of the movie is rushed, crammed, forced, and confounding. It's impossible to make sense of because there is little sense to be made. The writers would have been better off beginning the crawl with,
"We would like to apologize to all the fans who were upset by Episode 8. This is our attempt to make you feel better. This first part of the movie will be confusing, but we believe the gobs of fan service will ultimately relieve your untamed ager. May the force be with you."
It's a real shame. The entire movie overflows with choices made out of fear of upsetting fans. There's zero courage, which powerfully limits the movie's capacity to produce compelling and memorable moments. Also absent in the film - in a saga renowned for its classic dialogue - are any lasting quotes. Likewise with all of its scenes and settings. The story takes characters so abruptly quickly from one unfamiliar planet to another that one can hardly recall the names of any of them. The memorable scenes are startlingly few and far between. At the moment, I can remember a couple Rey-Lo moments. That's about it.
Ok, it's time for some MASSIVE SPOILERS.
Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter. Why? Why do this? It doesn't seem to make much sense, or any sense, really. Perhaps it's done to explain Rey's power level, but that's unnecessary. She can simply be powerful. There's no need to reduce the limitations of powerful force-sensitive characters to only those who descend from Skywalkers and Palpatines.
Since we're in this area, let's talk about why Palpatine is here. The choice to include him is an unnecessary one. Palpatine's presence here is essentially the writers' admission that they don't believe in the new characters they created. They're telling everyone that Kylo and the First Order aren't enough to be the "big bad" in this movie. So, they brought back a previously effective bad guy back from the dead. It's deeply disappointing.
Next up, I'll run through a few important moments that turned out to be entirely inconsequential.
C-3PO has his memory wiped, which we all saw in the trailer. In the trailer it was presented as a sort of emotional climax. In the movie it absolutely was not. The movie plays it as a joke, as our shiny droid friend stumbles around making introductions to all his friends until R-2 gives him his memory back. Not stakes. No consequences. Viewers are led to believe the memory wipe matters and then the movie quickly reassures us that everything is fine. No need to get upset.
Chewbacca dies. Then he doesn't. Again, fans are cheaply deceived, this time into thinking Rey's inability to control her power resulted in her striking a ship with force lightning, causing it to explode, killing the saga's beloved Wookie. At least until 10 minutes later when we see Chewie is alive. This reveal means all the stakes have evaporated. Instead of having a meaningful moment in which Rey accidentally kills a close friend and popular character among fans, we are again quickly reassured that everything is fine. Rey doesn't have a chance to consider her actions and the path she might be leading down. She can't explore the consequences because there are none. Sadly, the lack of consequences is a common theme throughout the movie.
Okay, that's about all I'll say about this movie, or maybe I'm just tired of ranting. Episode isn't terrible, but it's certainly not one of the best Star Wars movies. I just wished The Skywalker Sage would have ended on a better note.