An Amusing, but Underwhelming End to the New Star Wars Trilogy

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2020)

The story takes place after The Last Jedi. Rey, Finn and Poe all go on an adventure together to stop the First Order from ruling the galaxy and Rey has to overcome her inner demons to become a Jedi master. Palpatine has returned to destroy what is left of the resistance. Just like The Last Jedi, this film the consensus on this film is divided. However, I wanted to see this film with an open mind. I have been cautiously optimistic, but then after it came out, I got more nervous about how the film would turn out. After seeing, I am both pleased, but also a little disappointed.
The final film in the new trilogy gets a lot right. First of all, the performances are excellent from across the board. Daisy Ridley kills it as Rey, Adam Driver is wonderful as Kylo Ren, John Boyega does really well as Finn, Oscar Isaac is great as Poe and Billy Dee Williams is a joy to watch as Lando. They are very energetic and they bring the best out of their characters. The visuals were once again excellent with beautifully shot and edited action sequences, cool creature designs, solid set designs and breathtaking cinematography. It is crazy how Star Wars has evolved on a visual level since 1977. The action scenes are fun to watch and the lightsaber fights between Kylo and Rey are awesome. My favorite scene is when they fight telepathically. That was such a cool fight. There were also so moments in the film that surprisingly made me emotional. I was getting sad at some parts and then getting creeped out by other parts, mainly with the scenes with Palpatine. The climactic battle was very intense to watch and the outcome was pretty great. There was plenty of great fan service in this film that will excite fans of the old films. Alas, the story left a lot to be desired.
The biggest problem I have with ROS is the script. It is better than Last Jedi as far as the focus is concerned, but it still has dumb moments, particularly the last line of the film and with Rey. Rey is just too overpowered in this movie. She does so much stuff that the other Jedi from previous films could never do. She actually nearly drags a ship down on her own. I know she is strong, but that was the moment I knew I would never feel Rey get in danger of dying. I actually like Rey a lot, but they made her too strong in this film for me to ever truly worry about her. There are also some twists in this film that feel forced such as the spy. I felt that it was a scene created for the sake of a surprise. Jannah felt very underutilized and more could have been done with her character. Rose gets completely sidelined instead of having her character improved on. The chemistry of the cast is inconsistent. You can tell from several scenes that Rey, Finn and Poe get along very well, but then, you would think they were forced to work together with the way they just bicker and argue with each other in other scenes. It felt somewhat unpleasant at times. There was some funny humor in this film at times, but nothing that really cracked me up except for a line by Poe.
Overall, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker was decent. However, as the final movie in the Disney trilogy, it should have been much better. It could have been a lot worse, but it should have been better. I enjoyed the film, but I wasn't crazy for it. It is still worth seeing on the big screen, but I would recommend trying to get matinee price for the film.