Too Fast and Tries To Do Too Much

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2019)

I really enjoyed The Force Awakens. It was familiar yes, but felt fresh and new with interesting things to be resolved. When Rey meets Luke at the end of the film, the music rising, so did the goosebumps.
I didn't feel as connected to The Last Jedi and it was full of misdirection and not what I expected. But the message of the film was pretty clear; Rey had insignificant parents, you could change the universe with a single lightsaber and anyone can have and use the force. I still don't like some of it but it, but has grown on me more and more. The scene at the end with the child using the force left the film on a positive note, one with possibilities, but also removed the main villain.
So The Rise of Skywalkers starts in an abrupt way, even from the opening crawl. The film has so many elements to it, some that just feel dumb and so forced that you loose the connection to the characters. Unless I missed something, which would be easy to do, some things you are just meant to accept without ever wondering how!
Thankfully it does slow down long enough in places that you get to enjoy the cast. The use of Carrie Fisher and her unused scenes was amazing and worked so very well. It was scary to think she was gone and yet still playing such an important role in the resistance. You could argue the plot had to fit what they had of her and that was no easy task to get right. Knowing she wasn't alive but interacting with the cast was always going to feel sad.
Some of the messages and dislike aimed at The Last Jedi are clearly addressed here. Some messages are reinforced, others just acknowledged and some clearly changed.
It felt like more happened in this film than the previous two, which is why it feels like it flys along at breakneck speed. It was clear they were going for "bigger is better" and for me, it just removed some of the feeling, which should have been more about the characters.
Daily Ridley and Adam Driver were both fantastic. C-3PO gets lots of screen time and the rest of the cast were great.
Yes I enjoyed it, I had tears in my eyes twice and jumped out of my skin at one point, but sometimes less is more. This is definitely the case here, which is a shame. In the words of Luke Skywalker "This isn't going to go the way you think" but can't wait to see it again!
May the force be with us.