Disappointing, but still watchable finale to the star wars story.

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2020)

I've seen all the star wars movies so I am a fan of the series; although I if I see a bad star wars film, it doesn't outrage me to supernova-sized proportions. I might be temporarily disappointed, bordering on contempt, but then I 'forget' about it, and move on to something else. Therefore, while I care about how good or bad a star wars film is, I have no axe to grind: No requirement to tear it a new one. I try to review it without undue prejudice. I will therefore not be an outraged fan; faux or otherwise. It will not trample on my dreams, even if I admit the phantom menace was shockingly bad. I just have no wish to watch it again - it's a film, after-all. Phantom menace came and went alongside those ill-judged Yoda commercials and the irksome Jar-Jar Banks interjections. I was therefore temporarily disappointed with the above but the world somehow will carry-on.
So I can look the 'Rise of skywalker' squarely in the eye and say it was all right. Yep. Okay. It is not the best of the star wars' films, however I think it might be the weakest of the star wars films; outside the phantom menace trilogy. The latter of which all other star wars film should quite rightly be judged, as a warning at least.
I saw this film a few days ago and the danger of that is that it does allow you time to think about its flaws; perhaps over-emphasising them. At the time I enjoyed the film, but I admit there was no great fulfilment. No feeling that I had watched an event film- that being a truly fitting finale goodbye to this sequence of the original star wars story. I am now more disappointed in the film, and I wondered why. One of the flaws I noted at the time was the early clunkiness of the scripts. The humour seemed forced, and the use of repetition in gag lines jarring, or Jar jar-jarring perhaps?! If the script had carried on that way, then the film would have had far more serious problems. The script though does tighten up; it is still not brilliant but it does suffice.
The film also threatens its own little jar jar binks moment with a 'cute' robot which has a cone for a head, and may or may not be there for commercial opportunities. Fortunately the robot is only on screen briefly and that petty annoyance is not so much of a problem for me at least.
The story itself is a straightforward one: Rey (Daisy Ridley) has to find the Emperor Paladine (Ian McDiarmid) and destroy him, trying to locate palm sized pyramids which are a map to where the last base of the Sith and the emperor is to be found. Wrapped around this story are Rey's emotional battles with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and at the very end the emperor who has raised a gigantic fleet of star destroyers, each usefully equipped with planet destroying lasers.
The major problem with this film I think, is that it really offers nothing new to the star-wars story. The interactions of the Jedi in each other's location have been done before. The surprise appearance of old characters has been done before (Han solo, Luke skywalker and Princess Leia). The planet destroying lasers has also been done before; the only novelty being they are attached to all the star destroyers in a massive star-fleet. There is naturally enough the obligatory destroying of a planet as such. The goodbye to Princess Leia/Carrie Fisher was better done as in the earlier star wars film 'rogue one'. I think because 'Rise of Skywalker' recycled those old star wars tricks, there was really no sense of jeopardy
In contrast to Princess Leia's death, Kylo Ren's death lacked any real emotional punch. This isn't Adam Driver's fault, but probably due to the script forcing an ending that felt trite. You knew that Rey was going to defeat the Emperor. There have been elements of crowd-pleasing as a criticism aimed at the rise of skywalker. I think if the Star Wars writers had been braver then that could have been avoided. Yet because this was the last 'true' Star Wars, they perhaps felt they had to do a farewell tour and not upset anyone. The only real jeopardy in the film comes from when what appears to be Chewbacca's prison transport being blown-up with him on board. Even his 'death' is not allowed to be suspenseful for that long. He appears not long after to be alive and well, with the fact it was not his transporter. It feels like a cheat now, at the time of watching I went with it. If the directors had been brave and killed Chewbacca, yes there would have been Wookie like howls of outrage at this, but it might have skewed the film in a more thoughtful direction. It didn't and what we get is a Star Wars by the numbers, but not with the ingredients that made the previous star wars films in this sequence at least so good.
The crowd pleasing elements therefore do feel like a film franchise that has nowhere else to go - in this guise at least. This feels like the right time for this sequence of star wars films to finish as has been reported. The original cast that helped make star-wars great, are getting much older, or have died. The sense of that star wars scale also seems to be diminishing. The half-destroyed death star stranded in the waves was meant to be an epic feature, but it lacked the impact of the crashed star destroyer that Rey used to scavenge from in 'the force awakens'. Again it is problematic because we have seen the tricks before. The CGI doesn't work all that convincingly in some cases; the Starfleet doesn't have the feel of a real star fleet. There are moments of absurdity as well. The riding of camel like creatures across a star destroyer by the rebel combatants was well ludicrous, and distanced you from the film. If the destroyer on the other hand, was on the ground for repair or as a result of damage then maybe they could get away with it. Here it doesn't work.
I didn't always mind the cute creatures that worked their way into some scenes. The original star wars has always had 'cute' comic moments. The little robots on the original death star that Chewie scares into running of by roaring at them is still funny. I liked the birds looking on bemused as Skywalker raises the X-wing in this film. That by the way is another moment that should be exciting, but doesn't quite have the impact I wanted it to have, because it was better done in the empire strikes back.
There are plenty of negatives in this film, but there are also positives. It certainly doesn't drag for one. The action sequences are well done. The light sabres fights do deliver if perhaps they go on too long. The acting is on the whole fine if unremarkable. Richard E Grant hams it up a bit, but I think that maybe is shown up in away by the cast who are maybe a bit subdued overall. Ian Mcdiarmid also does his best with a role in which he can only be over-the-top villain in. He also has an atypical Mordor like hall surrounded by giant statues of various Sith Lord worthies. It seems a little harsh to be criticising a series in which the director JJ Abrahams has played a significant part in revitalising. Star Wars has also moved with the times; by having Rey at the centre of proceedings, it has given the star wars a credible female hero other than Princess Leia. It was also nice to see Lando Calrissian back in business for some much needed if limited diversity in a film series which still has a predominantly 'white' feel to it. This film therefore has its faults, and lacks those moments that truly excite you, but it still felt like good enough (just) company all the same.